People love to text. It’s a way of life for 5 billion people around the world. And while SMS is becoming a fundamental part of the customer experience, a surprisingly small number of companies are capitalizing on this communication channel.
In a recent AVOXI survey, that number was 40%.
While it may be more popular with younger generations, everyone is texting. And consumers want SMS communications as an option to connect with their brands. This is where telecommunications professionals need to take notice. The statistics support it:
- SMS yields a 98% open rate. (Gartner)
- 58% of people say texting is the best way to reach them. (Zipwhip)
- Consumers are 4.5X more likely to respond to a text than an email. (EZTexting)
- Three-fourths of customers want to receive SMS offers. (SmallBizDaily)
- 45% of consumers would choose a product or brand after receiving a text message. (Slick Test)
An SMS strategy in your brand’s contact center is an excellent way to grow long-lasting customer relationships. Texts are personalized, convenient, engaging, and a rewarding revenue channel for international businesses. It’s all about improving customer satisfaction to increase your ROI and truly delivering a complete brand experience.
Opening channels of communication with inbound SMS
Inbound text messaging is essential for business success. Conversations are initiated by the customers on their time. This is a big deal for customer satisfaction!
Support ticketing is a great example of an inbound SMS use case for businesses. Customer support doesn’t end at the point of transaction – it’s continual, a closed loop. Virtual mobile numbers with SMS capabilities allow call center agents to respond to customer messages from their email inbox using SMS forwarding functionality.
Here’s how it works:
Automatic SMS outbound campaign for businesses
SMS messaging can help organizations add value by refining productivity and workflows. Automatic text messaging cadences keep operations moving and your customers informed of the latest product news and updates.
Outbound case examples for your business might include:
Notifications & alerts
Push notifications and alerts are activated and sent after an event is triggered. These automated messages are sent to the recipient’s mobile device in real-time.
Businesses might use notifications and alerts to:
- Send messages to employees
- Inform users of unusual account activity
- Notify changes to appointments or reservations
- Dispatch incomplete setup or missing documentation notice
- Deliver offers or promo codes to recover abandoned carts
Password retrieval
Unauthorized network access poses serious security risks. 2FA, or two-factor authentication, strengthens network security by requiring two unique identifiers (factors) to verify the user and the legitimacy of the request made.
A one-time password (OTP) is delivered to the user’s phone when a password reset has been requested. But it’s not just siloed to password recovery – businesses also enable 2FA to authenticate devices, register users, and for two-way SMS communications.
Polls & surveys
Conducting polls and surveys help businesses obtain feedback they can learn, improve, and grow from. Whether it’s determining NPS, or polling innovations to a targeted group, all your research can be piloted through outbound SMS solutions.
Reminders, appointment scheduling & confirmations
Receiving text reminders is what customers want. 83% prefer to get their appointment reminders this way. Setting up SMS reminders, scheduling appointments, and confirming those appointments reduces no-shows and allows customers to amend their appointments at their convenience without penalties.
Reliable SMS delivery improving the full brand experience
Customer service is everything to a consumer. Even one bad experience can upend their loyalty. Your call center depends on SMS-enabled voice technologies that serve customers well, so they’ll spend more with your business – not a competitor’s.
Reliable two-way SMS delivers. Here are the benefits it brings to businesses:
Elevate performance
When agents can successfully multi-task, it shows in their performance. SMS contact center platforms elevate productivity by pushing out notifications and automating replies from a centralized management system that would otherwise take hours to do over the phone.
Your customers stay informed, and your teams are freed up to carry out more pressing tasks that require an agent’s knowledge and expertise.
Give customers more control
Texting provides customers with instant delivery of critical information. Letting them respond directly to the message thread gives customers more control over their communications preferences. They can reply when it’s most convenient.
Drive engagement
Standard SMS is already highly engaging. Yet, another text-based solution businesses are banking on is rich communications services (RCS) messaging as a means to target highly-engaged customers and prospects using high-resolution and interactive multimedia. With its increasing popularity on WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, the next generation of SMS is here.
Reduced costs & hold times
Did you know that SMS communication is 97% cheaper than speaking to a representative? Text-based conversations significantly reduce operating costs, leaving call queues open and agents available to handle more complex cases.
Give the omnichannel presence your customers want with an SMS platform for your call center. And if you do, you’ll be steps ahead of the competition.
Sourced from: Avoxi. View the original article here.
