How Businesses Should Use SMS to Communicate With Their Customers

Communicating with your customers is the most important component of any business to ensure they are happy. There are several tools you can use to communicate with clients, notify them about crucial updates, and ask for feedback. SMS text messaging is one of the most effective communication strategies you can use for your business.

More than 70% of the people in the world have mobile phones, and they read more than 90% of text messages received. If you want to use this convenient method to link with your clients, there are many things you should know. Read on to learn how businesses should use SMS to communicate with their customers.

Communicate Important Information

Businesses can use a text messaging service to communicate with their customers. They can use group texting services to send important information like appointment reminders, delivery statuses, and other details to a wide range of people. Texting can also be used between team members within a business to enhance speedy communication.

When you operate a business and choose this option to reach out to different people, you must know your boundaries. People not interested in receiving texts should opt out if they want to.

Use Text Abbreviations

Text messaging services only have provisions for short messages with a maximum of 160 characters. Therefore, you need to send texts that can add value to your business or clients. You can achieve this by utilizing texting abbreviations to shorten your messages while retaining meaning. Doing so will help you save time because you will not need to write multiple texts since you only have 160 characters you can use in a text message. Predictive texting also makes your life easier when writing a message. Several abbreviations are acceptable in different places and are widely used to compose texts.

Confirmations for Orders and Deliveries

If you operate an eCommerce business, you can use SMS to send order confirmations and deliver notifications or updates to your customers. These notifications are crucial since they offer reassurance to consumers and eliminate unnecessary inquiries by buyers. Text messages have higher open rates compared to emails. This means there will be a high chance of your text being read by the recipient once you send it.

Use Business Text Messaging Platform

If you intend to communicate with thousands of people, it’s a good idea to use the mass texting strategy. With this method, a text message can reach thousands of people at the same time. This text messaging approach is ideal, especially when you are sending promotional messages to a wide range of recipients.

Several platforms provide text messaging services for businesses. These services are customized to suit the needs of various businesses. With this service, you can choose the text you want to send, then retrieve the contacts from the system. Messages can also be personalized when you use this mass texting system. A text messaging platform also provides auto-reply options.

Customer Service Communications

SMS provides a two-way communication system where you can engage with your clients directly. You can use business text messaging to improve customer service. This is an efficient way of handling customer service issues. Settling customer queries and complaints can take longer if you use other methods like emails. The good thing about SMS is that it is instantaneous, and the recipient can read it the moment they get a notification. This helps create good relationships with your clients.

Emergency Alerts

You can use SMS to send emergency alerts to other team members. For instance, if there is a power outage or accident at the workplace, SMS is an excellent option you should consider for crisis communication. The main benefit of this method is that the transmission of texts is based on a cellular connection, not the internet. This means you can communicate with anyone even when you are offline.

SMS Marketing

One of the common uses of business SMS is to send promotional messages to your customers. This is the fastest way of sending a notification for sale, new product launch, special offer, or other upcoming events you may need to share with your customers. You can also use SMS to conduct marketing surveys to improve your products.

SMS is a viable communication strategy you can use to engage with clients when you operate a business. Many people own a smartphone, and there are high chances that they will open a text message they receive. This is an effective channel you can use to communicate with existing and potential customers. More importantly, you can use it to establish lasting relationships with consumers.