Lotsa Pranks, Lotsa Pollen: 6 Texts to Send in April

April is a tough month. For some of us, it’s not really spring yet. For others, it marks an onslaught of spring-breakers. And for those of us in ecommerce, it’s a good time to finally pause and reflect on what happened last year, while refocusing on big goals for the year ahead.

If one of those goals happens to be sending more texts, then you’ve come to the right place! Let’s start you off with a solid 6 to send this month.

Here’s a challenge for the SMS gurus out there. Subscribers are waiting for a joke on April 1, but even if you can’t pull one over on your audience, making them laugh is the ultimate goal.

There were a few standout April Fools’ texts from last year that we couldn’t wait to revisit. Here are a few that made us LOL at our desks.

We made it even easier for you to send a text on April Fools: check out these templates right in-app! 

Raise those steins—because this is the first National Beer Day that alcohol brands can send a text on Postscript. We’ll drink to that!

Last year, brands from all different industries fanned out over a frothy mug. (So even if you don’t actually sell beer, there are plenty of angles you can take to get in on the fun.) Here are a couple we loved.

Men’s accessory brand Elegatto came up with a clever way to celebrate—and even let subscribers know they were cutting out early to have a pint at their local pub.

Supplements brand EZ Lifestyle sells hangover pills and took advantage of being able to help their subscribers post-libation.

One thing to note: brands that are approved for alcohol texts have different standards than other brands leaning into holiday trends. If you do go this route, be conservative in how many times you use an alcohol term if you are not approved for alcohol texts.

We all love our pets. In fact, 70% of U.S. households—or about 90.5 million families—own a pet, according to the 2021-2022 National Pet Owners Survey conducted by the American Pet Products Association (APPA). That’s a pretty staggering stat! 

So if you’re looking for a way to connect with almost everyone on your subscriber list, this is one way to do it.

Unlike other SMS providers, Postscript can receive incoming MMS. So, ask your subscribers to send in a selfie of them with their pet. You’ll be amazed at how well this type of campaign will perform (when Gunner did this, they almost broke the app!)

No matter how you mark the occasion, this is a holiday that can work for virtually any brand. Though it goes without saying, if you’re a pet brand, encourage pet parents to buy their furry family members a gift. 

Here’s how Hasty Bake Grills celebrated.

Beauty brand Kosas shared pics of staff pets. Cue the awwws!

Or maybe it’s just a great opportunity to show off your own furry family member, like Bite did with their office mascot.

Last year, we saw several brands take advantage of Tax Day—which falls on April 18 for 2023—by offering ideas for spending that refund.

This is the perfect time to offer up an SMS-only sale, a tax day promo, or a cheeky little 18% off in honor of the date. Here’s a Tax Day template you can use right in our app. 

And here’s what a few brands sent last year.

Finally—the perfect excuse to spark some friendly banter with your subscribers (and to segment them in an impactful way). We love a one-two punch!

But most importantly, this is an opportunity to find out more about who is on your subscriber list.

Consider what segments would be most impactful to you—and them—while they are on your list.

You could ask questions around buying habits (gifting for yourself or for others), find out what types of products they are most interested in, or simply keep it open-ended and ask them to text back and let your brand know what they want to see/hear/buy from you!

And don’t miss out on the opportunity to engage with everyone who responds. You might even want to thank them with a promo code!

Go green and use Earth Day as an opportunity to educate your consumers about your brand and alert subscribers to your sustainable practices or the sustainable organizations you support.

What we don’t recommend is a sitewide sale urging customers to shop more—especially if your brand doesn’t fall into the less-is-more category. But don’t worry, there are plenty of other reasons to send a text this month!

Here are a few planet-friendly brands with universal text appeal.

A few other texting tips for March:

• Consider an opt-out campaign for anyone who doesn’t want to receive Mother’s Day content next month

• Focus on list growth by adding a “Sign up for SMS” banner to the footer of your emails. Start collecting now—don’t sleep on it!

• Follow us on TikTok for more text inspo! We’ve got our in-house textperts cranking out fun content over there.

We’ll see you next month!