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Every Q4, brands send more texts than at any other time of year. Every Q4, shoppers are also at their most suspicious.
Those two facts are colliding. The FTC's own advice to consumers is simple: never click on links or respond to unexpected texts, and if a message might be legit, contact the company through a number or website you already know is real.¹
Now picture your Black Friday promo. It's unexpected, it has a link, and it's asking for fast action. By the FTC's standard, it looks exactly like the thing shoppers are being trained to ignore.
This post covers why holiday texts get mistaken for scams, what makes a message trustworthy, and holiday marketing ideas that work on both sides of the conversation, the offers you send and the conversations customers start.
Why do holiday texts look like scams?
Because scammers copy the most effective messages, and the holidays are when those messages are sent most.
In 2024, consumers reported losing a massive $470 million to scams that started with text messages, five times higher than what was reported in 2020, even though the number of reports declined.¹ The most commonly reported text scam was fake package delivery, where scammers send alerts about a supposed issue with an incoming delivery.¹ Another long-running pattern is the free gift or reward text that may look like it came from a company you know, like a big retailer.²
Shipping updates and holiday offers are the two message types brands lean on most in November and December. A scam text and a real promo often share the same template: an unfamiliar number, a shortened link, and a deadline. When the templates match, customers can't tell them apart, so they ignore both.
What makes a holiday message trustworthy?
Trust comes from things the customer can see before they tap anything.
A verified brand identity. With RCS, your message arrives from a carrier-verified sender that shows your logo and business name instead of a random number. This is the difference that matters most during scam season. We covered it in depth in Your Customers Can't Tell Your Texts From a Scam. Here's the Fix.
Fewer links, more buttons. Quick-reply buttons and suggested actions let customers browse, choose, and respond inside the thread. There's no mystery link to second-guess.
The experience stays in the conversation. Product carousels, images, and order details show up in the message itself, so the customer can see what you're offering before deciding to act.
Black Friday and holiday marketing ideas that build trust
The strongest holiday programs work in both directions. Outbound messages reach customers who already opted in. Inbound entry points turn holiday traffic into conversations you can keep having in January.
1. Build your early-access list now (inbound)
Put a QR code on in-store signage, packaging, receipts, and October shipments with one message: "Scan to get Black Friday deals first." Each scan starts a branded conversation and captures opt-in inside the flow, with no landing page or form. By late November, you have a list of customers who asked to hear from you, which is the best defense against being mistaken for spam.
2. Send a gift guide customers can shop in the thread (outbound)
Replace the "Shop our gift guide" link with a carousel customers can swipe: gifts for her, gifts under $50, last-minute picks. Add quick replies like "Show me more" or "Remind me Friday" so every tap tells you something about intent.
3. Let customers set their own reminder (outbound)
Countdown messages feel pushy when they arrive, but a "Rremind me when it starts" button flips that. The customer chooses to hear from you, and the Black Friday message lands as something they requested.
4. Turn shipping cutoffs and delivery updates into trust signals (outbound)
Delivery texts are the most impersonated message type, which makes a verified, branded delivery update stand out. Send shipping-cutoff reminders, order confirmations, and tracking cards from your verified sender. Once that trust is there, a relevant add-on like gift wrap, batteries, or a matching accessory is an easy yes.
5. Answer holiday questions by text (inbound)
"Will this arrive by the 24th?" "Can I exchange this?" "Do you have it in blue?" Give customers a text entry point on your site, in email footers, and in your ads so they can ask in a conversation instead of waiting on hold. Conversational AI handles the common answers and hands off to your team when a person is needed.
6. Plan the January win-back before December ends (outbound)
Everyone who bought a gift, redeemed an offer, or started a conversation in Q4 is someone you can reach again. Tag holiday shoppers now so your post-holiday offers and new-year campaigns go to people who already engaged.
How early should you start holiday messaging planning?
Now! Black Friday is on November 27th this year, and getting a branded sender approved takes a little bit of time.
Reaching real customers requires carrier verification of your brand. That takes a few weeks for a branded RCS agent, plus a few days for a regular 10-digit fallback number that carries SMS and MMS to devices that can't receive RCS. A brand that starts in October can build, test, and get verified before the busiest weeks of the year. A brand that starts on Thanksgiving week can't.
A practical October plan:
- This week: build your first holiday experiences and test them on your own phone.
- Next: start carrier verification for your branded agent and fallback number.
- Early November: put early-access QR codes into circulation and grow your opt-in list.
- Black Friday week: send to customers who asked to hear from you.
What about customers who can't receive RCS?
They still get your message. nativeMsg detects what each device can receive and automatically sends the message as SMS or MMS when RCS isn't available, so one campaign reaches your whole list.
Frequently asked questions
Is RCS a good fit for Black Friday SMS campaigns?
Absolutely. Everything you'd send by SMS can go out as a branded RCS message with images, carousels, and buttons, and it automatically falls back to SMS for devices that don't support RCS.
Do customers need to download an app?
No. RCS messages arrive in the phone's default messaging app.
How can shoppers tell my messages aren't scams?
A verified sender shows your logo and business name in the thread. That's much harder to fake than a plain text from an unknown number.
Can I test holiday campaigns before launching?
Yes. The free plan lets you build campaigns and send them to up to five test phones, with no card required.
Build your holiday experience today
The brands that win Q4 are the ones customers recognize at a glance. Build your first holiday experience free, see it on your own phone in minutes, and start verification while there's still time before Black Friday.
Sources
² Federal Trade Commission, Data Spotlight, "IYKYK: The top text scams of 2022," June 2023.