8 Examples of SMS forms and how to improve them
Compared to email forms, SMS forms aren’t as popular as they should be. Many businesses choose to only use SMS keywords to help grow their mobile database, but we still think forms should be part of the marketing stack.
We stumbled upon eight SMS forms that we thought you might find interesting. We also included some ideas on how they can be improved. Enjoy!
Delta Sonic
Delta Sonic is a car detailing business, offering promotions to customers who sign up for their SMS alerts.
Their landing page is both bold, exciting, and mobile-optimised. We like how they offer you two choices here: text in with an SMS keyword or fill in the SMS form. Both are bold and easy to read.
But they don’t have a clear or compelling offer. Promotional alerts don’t mean much. We recommend offering something tangible, such as a 10% discount on the next car wash.
Mental Health Champions
Mental Health Champions is a not-for-profit initiative that focuses on destigmatising mental disabilities.
They send educational and inspirational content via SMS and email. On their landing page, they teach their visitors how it works and how they can make a difference when they sign up for these messages.
Their SMS form leads the way here, followed by their email form. Unfortunately, it’s near the bottom of the page, and we think it should be near the top. It does have a neon green border to separate itself from the rest of the page though. Simplicity is appreciated here—as it only asks for a mobile number and has a checkbox.
Saks Fifth Avenue
Saks Fifth Avenue is an apparel store.
There are a couple of redeeming qualities and also some gaffes. The headline is a clear call-to-action, and the description has some personality. The page is also mobile-optimised.
That said, we recommend that they offer their new mobile subscribers a tangible offer like a discount on their next purchase, which should help improve opt-in rates.
If you look closely, you’ll find that the image on the left advertises their mobile app, so we’re not sure what the goal of this page is here. Is it for mobile app downloads or SMS subscribers?
Last but not least, we recommend that they change their submit button to something like “Join the Saks Club” to make it feel more exclusive and exciting.
Victoria’s Secret
Victoria’s Secret is a lingerie and beauty store.
They have a signup button at the bottom of their landing page.
When a visitor clicks on it, a pop-up form appears, and the rest of the site goes out of focus, which is a nice touch.
The form doesn’t have a compelling offer though, and with the number of items, including two checkboxes, it may deter visitors from completing it.
Loft
Loft is also an apparel store, similar to Saks.
First and foremost, their SMS form and landing page aren’t mobile-optimised, and the overall design needs a bit of work. The white text on the light-pink gradient background makes it hard to read.
But they have a compelling headline, and the call-to-action button is big and exciting.
Jersey Mike’s Subs
Jersey Mike’s Subs is a breath of fresh air, only if when we refer to their headline. It’s tangible, and you know exactly what you’ll get from subscribing.
But overall, the landing page is text-heavy. We recommend that they reduce the amount of information and provide some of the details after they subscribe. For example, they can send an SMS auto-response with a link to a web page with more details.
Like Delta Sonic, we like how they offer both the SMS keyword and form option.
Ulta Beauty
Ulta Beauty is a cosmetic store.
Compared to all the examples here, they use a different approach. First, the landing page is on a separate page away from their website. Customers have two options here: subscribe or leave. There are no other distractions.
Second, they lead with an email form and have an optional SMS field. You may wish to consider doing this if you’re only collecting emails right now.
Topgolf
Topgolf is a global sports entertainment community website.
Their landing page is clean and mobile-optimised. The form only has two fields, making it very easy to complete.
We don’t want to keep beating a dead horse here, but they don’t have a tangible offer like almost all the other examples we provided.
Final Thoughts
There you have it. SMS forms aren’t as common as we think they should be, and we believe they should be part of your marketing stack. For the examples we found, it looks like SMS forms are an afterthought. For this reason, it’s maybe why many of them need adjustments to make them more effective.
What do you think about these SMS forms? Did any of them stand out to you?
