SMS Nudge

A second channel for customers email isn't reaching

The email sequence does most of the recovery work. But some customers never see it, for a few common reasons.

• The address on file is a secondary or throwaway account.
• Deliverability works against the send.
• The email just gets buried.

The SMS Nudge reaches those customers on their phone. It's an escalation layered onto the email sequence, placed where email alone has stalled, not a replacement for it.

For customers whose email isn't a strong channel, that second touch can be the difference between a recovered subscription and a quiet lapse.

One message, by design

Churn Buster sends one text per campaign. Texting customers about a failed payment is easy to overdo, so the Nudge stays a single message rather than a stream of reminders.

Timing is set by Churn Buster to fit your campaign schedule, and the default message is tuned to your vertical. The text stays inside the 160-character limit, with limited special characters, to protect deliverability.

If a customer opts out, we honor it and carry that across future campaigns too.

Why the text leaves out the link and the name

The SMS carries no card-update link and no customer name.

A phone number on file can be out of date or reassigned to someone else, and a billing reminder with personal details shouldn't land with a stranger. So the Nudge points the customer back to channels that confirm who they are, like the no-login link in their recovery email, their account portal, or your support team.

The card update itself happens there, never over text.

When SMS is the right call

SMS should only go out where it's a welcome, useful service to that type of customer. For some high-churn or low-trust models it isn't, and we'll tell you that rather than turn it on anyway.

It's a transactional message about a subscription the customer already signed up for, which shapes a few ground rules.

• No separate marketing opt-in is needed. Signing up for the subscription is consent to be contacted about fulfilling it, including a payment that's failed.
• It never carries promotions, coupons, or cross-sells.
• It stays an escalation, not a primary tactic.

What it takes to turn on

The Nudge can fire only when phone numbers are stored on the subscription itself, not just on the customer record.

Most platforms store them there, so it works automatically. US accounts also complete a one-time carrier registration before the first text goes out, which we handle with you during setup.

Where it fits with the rest of the campaign

The SMS Nudge is one of several escalations you can add once the email sequence is doing its job. A couple of others sit alongside it.

• Support escalations that route high-value accounts to your team.
• Last-chance offers tested near the end of the recovery window.

How the channels sequence together is covered in Adaptive Campaigns.