Three things are certain every holiday season.

1. You’ll probably eat too many cookies.

2. It’s hard to cut through the marketing noise.

3. Everyone in the family will be on their mobile phones.

And while we can’t help you with the cookies, we can help you with the other two.

Reach your customers while they binge holiday movies and recipes, text friends and scroll social media. Forget email, especially during a time when people are signed off their computers and signed on to their mobile devices. Plus, did you know that texts have a 98% open rate, compared to only 20% for email.

With Bubble by Broadvoice, it’s easier than ever to send personalized texts to your customers, whether it’s wishing them happy holidays, communicating changes in hours, or offering up holiday discounts and specials.

Without further ado, and in honor of the season, here are twelve ideas and ways to communicate with customers via text message this holiday season.

1. Send personalized holidays messages

Want to send well wishes out to different groups of customers? Bubble allows you to easily create different contact lists and customize messages to those individuals. Plus, contacts in Bubble are dynamic. By adding tags to customers, you can reach out to a select group for a more personalized connection. And unlike other providers, with Bubble, there’s no limit to the number of contacts or number of tags you can use.

2. Schedule a series of messages leading up to the holidays

Text your customers leading up to the holiday countdown with updated info about store hours, promotions or sales. With Series, you can schedule a series of messages, and the interval of time between them. Then simply use tags to determine who will receive which series, allowing you to be as broad or narrow with your messaging as you’d like to be.

3. Send your loyal customers a personalized holiday “card”

Build stronger customer relationships by using Bubble’s Textcasting feature, which allows you to add a personal touch to your texts. Automatically include their name in the message, and indicate which contact lists you’d like to send it to. If you want to add a photo to your message you can do that too!

4. Cut through the holiday marketing noise

During the holidays, people are actively looking for gifts, but they may be too overwhelmed by ads and decision paralysis to stop and remember how much they like your business. Send them a personalized reminder directly to their phones that you’re here and an option!

5. Send out special holiday promotions

When it comes to promotions, deals, and bargains, sending a quick text to existing and potential customers is a great way to ensure that they hear about your holiday promotion or sale.

6. Give the gift of time

Get your customers’ answers faster. With Pathways, you can automatically route customers to the right department when they text you. Bubble allows you to enter the message your customers will receive, giving them options to select. Simply enter responses and actions needed and your customers are able to find what they need.

7. Text out personalized promo codes

Help foster closer relationships with your customer base by sending exclusive, personalized discount codes directly to their phones. It’ll feel like a personalized gift from you to them!

8. Send links directly to gift ideas/products

More and more consumers are doing their shopping directly from their mobile devices every year. Last year, holiday shoppers spent more than $50B by smartphone, and this year it may be even more. Make it easier than ever for your customers to shop this year by sending them links to products via text. You can even include images. You do the work, all they have to do is click “purchase.”

9. Time it right

While texting is a great way to reach consumers, the last thing people want over the holidays is to be bombarded with messages at all hours. Be respectful and thoughtful when scheduling your messages. With TimeText, you can easily schedule a single message or your series of messages at the appropriate times.

10. Notify customers their gift(s) shipped

With Bubble’s API integration, you can easily text-enable your software to send shipping notifications, order updates or more.

11. Send helpful, relevant content

Not every communication with your customers has to be a direct sale. Think about what problems consumers face during the holidays that are relevant to your brand. Then share links with answers to those problems. This helps keep your brand top of mind and builds trust with potential customers.

12. Be merry and bright!

The holidays are a festive time of year and customer engagement isn’t all about coupon codes and sales. Use personalized texts to entertain and delight. Drive customers to fun contests or promotions. Send links to holiday gift guides or helpful content, or remind them of (safe) holiday events. Be creative and don’t forget to be human!