SMS
Text Marketing That Feels Personal, Not Spammy
The exact text sequences our partner farms use before, during, and after a visit. When to send, what to say, and what to absolutely avoid.
Most farm owners are scared of SMS marketing, and with good reason. Done wrong, it feels invasive. Families opt out fast, and the damage to brand trust is hard to undo.
Done right, SMS is the single highest engagement channel in agritourism. TicketSpice’s SMS platform gives you a dedicated 10 digit number for brand recognition, and text open rates of up to 98%. Almost everyone reads them. So every message has to earn its place.
Here’s how we use SMS for partner farms without making families want to opt out.
The opt in is everything
Before tactics, the most important thing: get the opt in right.
Default TicketSpice purchase flows often check the SMS box automatically. Don’t do this. It produces high opt out rates and the occasional angry email.
Instead, ask explicitly. Frame the value: “Yes, send me one heads up text the morning of our visit (parking tips, weather, day of updates).”
Families who opt in this way actively want the texts. Engagement rates are dramatically higher, and complaints disappear.
The three sequences every farm needs
We run three SMS sequences for partner farms. That’s it. Anything beyond three is usually too much.
1. Pre visit prep
One text, sent the morning of the visit. Maybe two for evening events.
Content: parking instructions, what to wear, what to bring, weather note, and a confirmation of arrival time. Helpful. Specific. Practical.
Example: “Hi from Sunny Acres! Just a heads up for your visit today: parking is in the south lot (follow signs from Main St). Bring boots, the field is wet from yesterday’s rain. We open at 10. Can’t wait to see you.”
This single text does three things: reduces support questions, smooths the arrival experience, and signals competence before the family even pulls in.
2. Post scan welcome
The post scan text is the most underused SMS feature in agritourism. When a family’s ticket is scanned at the gate, an automatic text fires with a custom landing page link.
Content of the landing page: today’s map, schedule, food options, weather updates, photo policy, and any time sensitive notes (“Hayride starts at 2pm”).
Families pull this up on their phones during the visit. It reduces “where is the bathroom” questions, gets families to the photo opportunities they’d otherwise miss, and dramatically improves the overall guest experience.
The post scan text experience turns a ticket scan into a full guest orientation. Your team’s day gets smoother. Family satisfaction goes up. Reviews follow.
3. Post visit thank you and review request
One text, sent 18 to 24 hours after the visit.
Example: “Hi! Hope your family had a great Saturday at Sunny Acres. If you made a great memory today, we’d love it if you shared it:
That’s it. Short. Genuine. One ask, one tap link.
This single text routinely produces a 5 to 10x lift in Google reviews compared to email only requests. The timing matters. The simplicity matters more.
When NOT to send
Three rules we follow strictly:
No promotional SMS to past guests. Email is for promotions. SMS is for utility. Mixing them turns SMS into spam.
No SMS during family time. No texts before 9 AM or after 8 PM. Ever.
No “almost sold out, buy now” SMS. That kind of urgency belongs in email, not text. Families perceive it as manipulative when it shows up by text.
These rules feel restrictive at first. They’re the reason opt out rates stay near zero.
Flash sales: the one exception
Sometimes a farm has genuine flash sale moments. The Tuesday before Halloween, with a small block of unsold Saturday tickets. A weather contingency. A surprise discount for loyal members.
For these, we send a single, well crafted SMS to an opted in subset of the list. Subject: short and useful, not breathless.
Example: “Quick heads up: we just released 50 tickets for Saturday’s Flashlight Corn Maze. Goes fast:
One text. Real value. No follow up. Families respond well to this, because it’s an exception, not a habit.
Pre season text reactivation
The hidden SMS opportunity most farms miss: a single pre season SMS to last year’s opted in list, sent in late August.
Example: “Hi, Sunny Acres is opening Sept 28 this year. Early bird tickets just dropped, family list gets first access: . Reply STOP to opt out, REPLY to chat.”
Open rates on this single text often run above 90%. Click through is usually 12 to 20%. That’s better than any other channel for pre season conversion.
What to do if you’ve already burned your SMS list
If your past SMS campaigns were heavy on promotion, you may have higher opt out rates than ideal. The fix: a one time reset.
Send a single message: “We’re cleaning up our text list. Reply YES to keep getting one heads up text per visit (parking, weather, post scan tips). No promotions. We promise.”
Yes, you’ll lose a chunk of the list. The ones who stay will be deeply engaged, and engagement on the smaller list will outperform the bloated one almost immediately.
What we do with our partner farms
We set up all three sequences in TicketSpice. We craft the post scan landing pages. We write the messages, segmented by event type. We monitor engagement weekly and adjust.
SMS, done right, isn’t a marketing channel. It’s a guest experience tool that happens to drive a lot of additional revenue. Treat it that way and your families will thank you.