Is texting the new email for businesses?

A compassionate and responsive communication strategy is a key aspect of building loyalty to a brand. These days the brand outreach has to be more focused and customized to grab and hold the attention of tech-savvy customers. In a world where everyone is online with a fleeting attention span, it is important to have non-intrusive yet intuitive contact points to reach the right customers. 

Many businesses try to create these intuitive contact points through their mass newsletters and updates. But as email is currently running into spam and credibility issues, many of them don’t get opened and read. In fact, consumers now consider 90% of email as spam rendering it ineffective for many businesses.

While email is losing out in click rates, another simple yet effective form of communication is taking over: text messaging. Texting is the preferred mode of communication by 80% of people; statistics reveal that 8 trillion text messages are sent every year. Even with these massive text exchanges, text marketing has a 98% open-rate. Most texts are read in under 3 minutes, especially when they are from business customers’ know.

With these benefits, SMS is growing and evolving, and is becoming one of the most preferred methods of communication between brands and their customers. Text marketing is straightforward and easy to set up. In fact, if you have a database of your customers’ mobile numbers, you can get started with text message marketing right now. One easy way is to send your customers a text message asking them to opt-in to receive updates and special offers so they are incented to do so, but promising them you won’t inundate them.

Why should your business adopt text communication?

Text message customer service is a great way to start and is beneficial for small and large businesses alike. Some of the unique benefits of providing customer service oriented texts  over email are:

• Texting is personal. Text messages are usually from friends, relatives, and known business associates. Brands that use texts to reach their customers belong to the inner circle of close relationships… as compared to brands that send out mass emails. A digital personal touch is powerful because it serves the basic yet powerful need of humans: bonding.
• Texts appear as instant notifications on the phone. So, if the CTA is good, the customer can be propelled to take action. The first few words in a text are critically important, unlike the subject line and details in the email. With well-crafted texts it is not unusual to get 25% or more response rates which goes well beyond what you can achieve with email.

Here are some powerful examples:

• Provide Superior Customer Service:
  Confirm orders, delivery times, appointments, warranty expiration, or ask for feedback on service or products. Send messages with personalized shortcodes for appointment reminders and queries. For instance, sending a response gives access to “express customer support” and the history of the conversation is maintained. Users can text “STOP” if they want to opt-out.
• Enable customers to buy and place orders:
  Send incentivized messages to convince your customers to place orders. For example,” Text OilChange to 87000 to get 20% off on your next service.” You can even send them a link to make their own appointment easily.
• Announce new products and services:
  Send text messages that inform people about the new products and services you have launched.  Here’s an example:

Various companies use text marketing services to keep customers in the loop. They send messages to announce offers, sales, and order updates. Let customers opt-in to receive these messages by texting a keyword “Updates” to get all the latest sale information.

Okay, you’ve built a connection with your customers. Next, here’s how you can leverage business texting services to maximize your ROI. You can craft emotive and powerful texts to: 

• Attract new customers: It is better to target your audience accurately through text messages, rather than send out broadcast emails that may not be relevant to each of your customers. For example, you can promote offers such as 10% off on the first visit or purchase. For frequent customers, you may text special invites to exclusive events.
• Run targeted & seasonal campaigns: Text relevant content and messages that align with the needs of the users.
• Provide access to important updates: Text your customers to keep them posted about important announcements and notifications.
• Increase Sales: Inform customers about upcoming special deals, flash sales, and coupons you have.

So, how do you pick the best texting solution? 

Here’s a checklist; make sure your texting solution ticks all the boxes:

The best texting app for business must:

• Text-enable existing business numbers to start receiving texts right away
• Make sure you are encouraging two-way communications
• Create texting campaigns easily using images, links, videos that engage
• Use appropriate keywords to help create new segmented customer phone lists
• Offer CRM integration capability
• Offer calendar integration, allowing users to set mutually convenient appointments
• Provide easy monitoring and measuring of results.

Going forward, business texting services can offer brands the ability to put their identity in their communications, images, and colors. Take the preemptive step of moving away from spammy and irritating emails that evoke unpleasant & intrusive feelings in the hearts of customers. Choose the best texting service and begin an interactive journey to automate your campaigns and drive your profits.