Key takeaways
- Integrate customer-service features into SMS marketing to improve customer experience and gain an edge over competitors.
- SMS can handle account balances, notifications, sales confirmations and fraud warnings, not just promotions.
- Texts are highly visible: they have a 98% read rate and most texts are read within 15 minutes.
- There’s no one-size-fits-all approach. Start with the big picture of service and build from audience data.
- Sustain effectiveness by promoting the service, testing new features and continually refining based on customer needs.
Introduction
When you think of great customer service, chances are some blend of interpersonal conversation, intimate knowledge of the product or service in question, and a willingness to go above and beyond for the consumer help establish an acceptable ideal for this process. While there’s definitely merit to championing all of these points, it’s also important to understand that with every modern advancement via mobile technology, the consumer experience is moving farther and farther away from just what happens within the doors of your brick-and-mortar shop. With this in mind, let’s talk about how adding in a few customer service features to your SMS marketing operations could give you a crucial advantage over the competition that’s still stuck focusing on the best practices of the past.
The Particulars of SMS Messaging as a Consumer Service
If you’re familiar with how SMS marketing works, chances are you’re probably wondering just how this medium actually helps enhance the service offered to your customers. Sure, you’re already offering deals, discounts, and vital product information via text, but what else can you really do to make this connection even better?
According to Michael Essany of Mobile Marketing Watch, it’s all about answering the questions and inquiries that matter most to these shoppers. Whether it’s offering account balances and notifications via text, or firing off sales confirmations and fraud warnings, utilizing texts to handle any problems that would require the helping hand of a customer service professional is the key to deploying this SMS “trump card” on behalf of your brand.
Supporting This Shift
Obviously, all of this sounds nice, but is making this move really what your customers want? If the information offered up by T.J. McCue of Small Business Trends is any indicator, the answer to this question is an emphatic yes. Essentially, there’s nothing your customers would rather be doing than texting – especially when compared to more traditional methods of reaching out to brands and organizations. Considering that text messages have a 98 percent read rate, in addition to the fact that consumers read most of these texts within 15 minutes, it’s safe to say that there’s plenty of extraordinary data to back up such an extraordinary claim.
Making This Move Your Own
Logically, now that we’ve set up the reasons why customer service deserves a complimentary role beside your standard SMS marketing tactics, it’s time that we tell you how to implement this system. Unfortunately, there’s no “one size fits all” method or process that translates to every brand. With each audience you add into the mix, as well as an ever increasing number of products and services with their own problems and concerns, the formula for success becomes even more muddled and convoluted.
However, that doesn’t mean you’re completely in the dark when it comes to establishing a customer service texting system that goes hand in hand with your brand’s other text operations. As Kern Lewis of Forbes magazine explains, your best bet to adding text messages to your customer service repertoire and giving these shoppers what they want is by starting with the big picture, specifically in terms of service, and working your way up from there. By doing this, you can build peace of mind and spread quality service among the loyal shoppers that rely upon your brand.
For instance, as you delve into the consumer data surrounding your audience, think about what problems and issues face these individuals on a daily basis, as well as how you could eliminate these concerns with a simple text. Even if you have to get a little conceptual with your thinking by putting yourself in their shoes from time to time during the development of this system, you’ll still find that all of this hard work is well worth your time and effort.
Going Above and Beyond for Your Customers
Of course, this is simply the beginning of the steps that go into integrating customer service into your text operations. As great of a start as this discussion has been in terms of getting you acclimated to this new take on two formerly disconnected services, if you want to stay one step ahead of the competition on this front, you simply can’t stop here. Whether it’s increasing your marketing efforts and spreading the word about this new take on customer service within your target demographics, or testing out new features and offerings from time to time, avoiding the temptation to rest on your laurels is the key to sustained success on both the SMS and customer service fronts.
FAQ
Use texts to answer customer questions and deliver service-related messages such as account balances, notifications, sales confirmations and fraud warnings, essentially handling problems that would otherwise need a customer‑service rep.
Customers prefer texting over traditional contact methods and texts are highly likely to be seen: they have a 98% read rate with most messages read within 15 minutes, making SMS an effective channel for service communication.
Begin with the big picture in terms of service. Define the service outcomes you want to deliver, then build text operations that support those outcomes.
Examine your consumer data to identify daily problems and concerns, then design texts that eliminate those specific issues. Put yourself in customers’ shoes during development to find practical solutions.
No. There’s no one‑size‑fits‑all method: each audience and product mix changes the optimal approach, so tailor your system to your customers and offerings.
Don’t rest on initial success: promote the new service to your target demographics, regularly test new features and offerings and continually refine your approach to maintain sustained success.
Text messages have a 98% read rate and that consumers read most texts within 15 minutes, indicating rapid and wide visibility for service messages.
