Dry spot #1
One follow-up, then silence
A lead gets one email, maybe one call, and then nothing. When they're finally ready, they've forgotten you.
Email and SMS Marketing That Keeps Every Lead Warm
Most buyers aren't ready the first time they reach out. We build consent-based email and text campaigns that follow up, remind and bring past customers back, with opt-outs and quiet hours handled for you.
- Buttered Marketing
- Free tool inside
- Plugs into The Buttered System
- 10 deliverables
Quick answer
What is email and SMS marketing?
Email and SMS marketing uses email and text messages to follow up with leads, remind customers and bring past customers back. Buttered Business builds consent-based campaigns and automated sequences that run through The Buttered System, with A2P 10DLC registration support, STOP handling and quiet hours built in, so your messages are welcome, compliant and tied to sales.
At a glance
| What it is | Consent-based email and text campaigns that follow up, remind and bring customers back, with STOP handling and quiet hours built in. |
|---|---|
| Part of | Buttered Marketing |
| What’s included | 10 deliverables, itemized below |
| Best for | Home Builders, Home Services, Nonprofits, Private Schools, Political Campaigns |
| Free tool | Speed-to-Lead & Follow-Up Calculator |
| Follow-up | Plugs into The Buttered System |
| Pricing | Custom quote, with exact pricing in writing before you commit |
If This Sounds Familiar, Keep Reading
Be honest: how many of these are happening in your business right now?
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Dry spot #2
Past customers drift away
You already earned their trust, but you never stay in touch, so they hire someone else next time.
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Dry spot #3
Texting without the rules
Texts sent without proper consent, registration or opt-out handling can be filtered by carriers and create legal risk.
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Dry spot #4
Newsletters nobody opens
Long, generic emails go out once in a while and get ignored.
Every one of these has a fix, and it starts with seeing your own numbers.
Show Me My NumbersDry Toast vs. Buttered
Here’s what changes with Email & SMS Marketing done right and connected to your follow-up.
Dry Toast
- One follow-up, then silence
- Texts sent without clear consent
- Generic blasts to everyone
- No reminders, more no-shows
- Past customers forgotten
Better with Butter
Buttered
- Sequences that run until leads reply, book or opt out
- Separate, logged consent for texts
- Messages matched to each person's interest and stage
- Automatic confirmations and reminders
- Reactivation and seasonal campaigns
What You Get, and What It Means for You
Features are nice. Outcomes pay the bills.
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Follow-up that never forgets
Automated sequences keep in touch over days, weeks and months until leads reply, book or opt out.
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Messages people welcome
Short, useful, well-timed emails and texts to people who asked to hear from you.
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Compliance built in
Separate consent capture, A2P 10DLC registration support, STOP and HELP handling, and quiet hours.
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Fewer no-shows
Appointment confirmations and reminders by email and, with consent, by text.
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More repeat business
Reactivation, seasonal reminders and newsletters bring past customers back.
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Clear results
Track replies, bookings and revenue, not just opens.
How It Works, Step by Step
No mystery and no black box. Here’s exactly what happens after you say go.
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Step 1: Audit
Review your lists, consent records, current messages and sending setup, and fix anything that puts deliverability or compliance at risk.
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Step 2: Register and authenticate
Support A2P 10DLC registration for texting and set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC for email, so messages reach phones and inboxes.
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Step 3: Map the journeys
Plan sequences for new leads, booked appointments, unsold estimates, past customers and newsletters.
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Step 4: Write and build
Write short, specific messages in your voice and build the automations in your CRM and The Buttered System.
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Step 5: Test and tune
Test every path, launch, then improve timing, subject lines and offers based on replies and bookings.
Everything Included With Email & SMS Marketing
Here’s the work, itemized like a diner receipt, so you know exactly what you’re getting.
10 items, zero mystery ingredients
The Nurture Drip
- Email and SMS strategy and journey map
- Separate, optional consent boxes on your forms
- A2P 10DLC brand and campaign registration support
- Email authentication setup (SPF, DKIM and DMARC)
- New-lead nurture sequences
- Appointment confirmations and reminders
- Estimate and quote follow-up sequences
- Past-customer reactivation and seasonal campaigns
- Newsletter writing and design
- Reporting on replies, bookings and revenue
Total Fully buttered
Exact scope and pricing in writing before you commit.
Why It Matters Now
Independent research on how buyers behave, and what slow or invisible marketing costs.
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23%
of 2,241 U.S. companies never responded to a web lead at all
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42 hrs
average response time among the companies that did respond to a web lead
Independent industry research — not Buttered Business client results. Tap a source to read the study.
Don’t Take Our Word for It. Take Theirs.
We could tell you we’re great. You’d expect us to. So here are our clients, in their own words.
For all your marketing needs, Sublime Digital Marketing and Ken Henderson to the rescue!
Everyone quoted here worked with founder Ken Henderson when his agency was called Sublime Digital Marketing Group. Same founder, new name. Quotes are excerpts, exactly as given. Results vary by business.
On this page 9 sections · 4 min read
Get Buttered!
A free call with a real human. We listen first, then tell you honestly whether and how we can help.
Book My Free Strategy CallThe full scoop
What Is Email and SMS Marketing?
Email and SMS marketing is staying in touch with leads and customers through emails and text messages they've agreed to receive. It covers follow-up for new leads, appointment reminders, quote follow-ups, newsletters and campaigns that bring past customers back. Done well, it feels helpful. Done poorly, it feels like spam, and with texting it can create legal risk.
The Nurture Drip is how Buttered Business builds consent-based email and text campaigns that run through The Buttered System. Messages go out based on what each person did, and they stop when people reply, book or opt out.
Why the Money Is in the Follow-Up
Most businesses don't follow up enough, or fast enough. When researchers sent web leads to 2,241 U.S. companies, 23% never responded at all, and the companies that did respond took an average of 42 hours.
Meanwhile, most buyers aren't ready the first time they reach out. A homeowner collects three quotes. A family tours four schools. A home buyer browses for months. The business that stays helpfully in touch is often the one they choose when they're finally ready.
Email and text make that follow-up automatic, so it doesn't depend on someone remembering.
How We Do It
Get permission right
We add clear, separate consent options to your forms: one for texts, one for calls and one for email newsletters. Each is unchecked, optional and stored with a timestamp. Texts go only to people who said yes.
Register and authenticate
Texting from a standard 10-digit business number requires carrier A2P 10DLC registration, which describes your brand, your messages and how people opt in. For email, we set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC so your messages are authenticated and less likely to land in spam.
Map the journeys
We plan sequences around real moments: a new inquiry, a booked appointment, an estimate that hasn't been accepted, a finished job, a customer who hasn't been back in a while. Each sequence has a goal and a clear exit.
Write messages people want
Texts are short, specific and identify your business. Emails carry one main idea and one clear call to action. Everything is written in your voice and approved by you before it sends.
Respect the rules and the clock
Marketing texts go out between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m. in the recipient's time zone, or in a narrower window where a state requires one, with a cap on how many marketing touches anyone gets in a day. STOP and HELP replies are handled automatically, and we honor other reasonable opt-out requests too, because FCC rules let consumers revoke consent by any reasonable means. Every commercial email includes a physical address and a working unsubscribe, as the CAN-SPAM Act requires.
Measure what matters
Opens alone don't pay the bills. We track replies, bookings, show rates and revenue from each sequence, then improve timing, subject lines and offers.
Sequences Worth Building First
- New-lead welcome: a reply that confirms the request, sets expectations and offers a booking link, followed by a few helpful touches over the next weeks.
- Appointment confirmations and reminders: fewer no-shows, fewer wasted trips.
- Estimate and quote follow-up: a check-in, answers to common objections and a clear way to say yes.
- Post-job review request: one simple ask, handled through reputation management.
- Past-customer reactivation: seasonal reminders and offers for people who haven't been back in a while.
- Newsletter: useful tips and news on a steady schedule, so you're remembered when the need comes up.
Email vs. Text at a Glance
| Text (SMS) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Guides, newsletters, detailed offers | Confirmations, reminders, quick follow-ups |
| Permission | Opt-out rules under CAN-SPAM | Consent before marketing texts, plus carrier registration |
| Length | As long as it needs to be, with one main idea | Short and specific, with your business named |
Who It's For
- Home builders with buyers who take months to decide and need steady, useful updates until they're ready to tour.
- Home service companies that want estimate follow-up, appointment reminders and seasonal tune-up campaigns.
- Nonprofits that need to welcome first-time donors and keep them giving.
- Private schools guiding families from inquiry to tour to application.
- Political campaigns that need consent-based voter outreach, since autodialed or prerecorded campaign calls and texts to cell phones require prior consent.
It's probably not for you if you want to blast purchased lists or text people who never opted in. We won't do that. It hurts deliverability, invites complaints and can create real legal exposure.
What We Won't Promise
We won't promise specific open rates, reply rates or sales. They depend on your list, your offers and your market. We will promise consent-first campaigns, messages written for real people and reporting that shows what each sequence produces.
Where Email and SMS Fit
Email and text power The Spread, the follow-up step of The Buttered System, and Stay Golden, the retention step. They work best with a clean CRM and pipeline, steady lead generation and review requests after every job. To see what slow or thin follow-up may be costing you, try the free Speed-to-Lead & Follow-Up Calculator.
Keep reading: A 7-Touch Follow-Up Sequence That Turns Cold Leads Into Booked Calls, on our Marketing Wisdom blog.
Sources
- Harvard Business Review, "The Short Life of Online Sales Leads" (2011) (opens in a new tab)
- 47 CFR 64.1200, delivery restrictions (TCPA rules) (opens in a new tab)
- FTC, CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business (opens in a new tab)
- FCC, Rules for Political Campaign Calls and Texts (opens in a new tab)
Email & SMS Marketing for These Industries
Each industry has its own rules and buying cycle. Pick yours to see the playbook built for it.
Straight Answers About Email & SMS Marketing
No jargon, no runaround. If your question isn’t here, ask a real human.
Still chewing on something?
Ask a real human. We answer in plain English and never send you down a jargon rabbit hole.
Is text message marketing legal?
Yes, with the right consent and setup. Marketing texts generally require prior express written consent, clear identification of your business and an easy way to opt out. Texts from a standard 10-digit business number also require carrier A2P 10DLC registration. We build all of that in. This isn't legal advice, so check industry-specific rules with your attorney.
What is A2P 10DLC registration?
A2P 10DLC is the carrier system for business texting from standard 10-digit phone numbers. Businesses register their brand and each texting campaign, including how people opt in. Unregistered or poorly described campaigns can be filtered or blocked. We help you register and describe your opt-in process accurately.
How often should I email or text my customers?
Often enough to stay useful, and no more. Event-based messages like reminders and follow-ups go out when they're triggered. Marketing texts should be occasional, so we cap marketing touches and send texts only between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m. in each recipient's time zone, or in a narrower window where state rules require one.
What happens when someone replies STOP?
The texts stop. STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE and similar replies are processed automatically and confirmed with one final message, and we honor other reasonable opt-out requests too, like a message asking us to stop. Email unsubscribes are honored the same way.
Should I use email or text?
Usually both, for different jobs. Texts are short and best for time-sensitive messages like confirmations, reminders and quick follow-ups. Email handles longer content like guides, newsletters and detailed offers. We match each message to the channel that fits.
Can I text people who gave me their number in the past?
Only if they gave your business consent to receive texts. Having someone's number isn't the same as having permission. If consent is unclear, we start with email and invite people to opt in, so you're not risking complaints or carrier blocks.
Do my marketing emails need a physical address?
Yes. Under the CAN-SPAM Act, commercial emails need a valid physical postal address, an honest subject line and a working unsubscribe that's honored within 10 business days. We build those into every template.
Get a Follow-Up Plan for Every Lead
Book a free strategy call. We'll look at how you follow up today, what happens to leads who aren't ready yet, and how your texting and email setup handles consent. Then we'll map the first sequences worth building.
Free. No obligation. No credit card. We never sell your information.
+100 Butter Points for running your audit
Not ready for either? Try the free Speed-to-Lead & Follow-Up Calculator
P.S. Look at the last ten leads who didn’t buy. If none of them heard from you a second time, follow-up is the least expensive place to find new revenue. The free Speed-to-Lead & Follow-Up Calculator puts a number on it.
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