SMS marketing is not solely used to send mass messages to your customers with your latest offer or promotion. There a lots of other ways that businesses can use SMS marketing today. More and more brands are realizing the full potential of SMS and are using them to increase customer loyalty and satisfaction, boost conversion rates, streamline services and create a lasting and meaningful relationship with customers.
With the increasing and vast usage of mobile phone day by day, there is hardly any part of the population left which is not aware of the mobile phone and its features. In fact, at least 98% of smart phone owners open every single text they receive and text messages are usually read within the first 3 minutes of receiving. Based on such numbers, it’s evident that text messaging is in fact one successful means of communication between business and customers and that any business can raise the bar of their customer service by leveraging on SMS marketing.
Text messages can be used for a huge number of cases. From sending order confirmations, delivery notifications, appointment reminders to SMS alerts and more. SMS messaging is a hassle- free and simple marketing tool and it is also less expensive making it the most preferred marketing tool by most businesses today.
In this article, we are going to explore and look at a variety of ways SMS can be used.
1. Promotion and Marketing Campaigns
Texting can be leveraged as a powerful and cost effective promotional tool. When compared to print, mobile offers are redeemed 10 times more often with 98% of SMS messages being read within 3 minutes. Also, customers who receive SMS have a 40% higher conversion rate than those who don’t.
2. Discount Coupons or Vouchers
SMS coupons are easier to get compared to signing up for an email newsletter for a coupon, which can be a barrier to purchase. You can send a special discount coupon or voucher as an SMS that your customers can show at a point of purchase.
3. Order Confirmations and Reservation.
Some companies allow customers to order by sending SMS and responds to them notifying that their order has been received, ready or on its way. This reduces barriers to entry which can occur when a customer has to fill out a huge online form.
Quick Tip: After you have received an order from a client, send an automatic confirmation message – this will improve customer satisfaction.
4. Appointment and SMS Reminders
One of the biggest problem for doctors, beauty spas, real estate agents and anyone else who operates their business on an appointment basis is no-shows. If sent in a timely manner and consistently, appointment reminders have proven to reduce no-shows by up to 40%.
SMS reminders notify customers when a service is due to expire and this gives them the chance to opt for an extension on cancellation. These SMS are cost effective and less time consuming than manual calls and emails.
Quick Tip: These type of SMS messages should contain the exact date and time of the appointment, the location, your name (or your company’s name), and your phone number.
5. Alerts and Notifications
This is probably one of the most common use of SMS by businesses today. Alerts and notification SMS can be used by IT specialists to quickly resolve issues with servers after they receive an SMS server error alert, travel agencies send their customers messages with flight changes details, companies send delivery updates and tracking information and financial institutions such as banks can send clients notifications about the account activities.
Alerts and notification SMS help businesses communicate better with their customers and can help increase customer satisfaction.
Quick Tip: Avoid using too many words and only include important details.
6. SMS Feedback and Survey
SMS is the fastest and easiest way of finding out what your customers think about your brand. Email survey response rates are typically low – less than 25% – so implementing some micro survey via SMS might be a better idea.
At Bongo Live we have SMS services like Two Way SMS (short code and long code) and USSD that can particularly cater for this use case.
7. Staff Communication
Companies, especially those with different departments, projects or teams that need to collaborate can use SMS messaging to communicate. And since almost every employee now days have a mobile phone, this provides an opportunity for forward thinking companies to take advantage of SMS messaging service in their workplace.
There are various ways companies can use SMS messaging e.g. to share company news, inform the staff about their shift schedule, send meeting reminders or sending invitations with details about an end of year office Christmas party.
HR managers and recruiters can use SMS to send out interview confirmations to candidates without everyone in the office hearing about it. Team leaders can also use SMS messaging to survey about issues at the office.
All the above improve employee retention as it makes them feel valued and generally improve their performance.
There are so many other ways businesses can use SMS messages, the above 7 examples are just a tip of the iceberg. Mobile ownership is growing every single day and as more people realize the advantages of SMS messaging, they will find more innovative ways to use this powerful medium.
Here at Bongo Live, we’ve got the features and experience to help you leverage our SMS services in your business.
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