For many of us, SMS text messaging isn’t just accepted — it’s become our preferred mode of communication. And as SMS becomes more commonplace, more and more businesses are embracing what SMS has to offer, and are integrating this technology into their communications services with impressive results. There are plenty of good reasons for this. After all, practically all of us carry smartphones, and check our text messages as soon as they come in. In fact, according to a 2019 report in ‘SMS Comparison,’ a market research firm that covers the SMS sector, over 98 percent of all text messages from businesses are opened by the recipient, compared to just a 30 percent open rate for emails — which shows exactly how effective SMS is in connecting customers and colleagues.
Quick, Convenient, and Private: What SMS Has to Offer
SMS is also less intrusive than receiving a phone call, because SMS is based upon asynchronous communication.
As opposed to a voice call, which requires both parties to find a convenient time to talk, users can start or respond to a conversation whenever is most convenient for them — meaning if you’re in the middle of a meeting, driving, watching a movie, or at dinner with the family, you don’t have to put your life on hold to respond. Indeed, with the constant schedule demands on our everyday lives, getting two or more parties aligned for a phone call can be a challenge. Calls are often missed. Voicemails are unreturned, and businesses and customers often fail to connect, resulting in a host of missed opportunities.
In certain sectors, that failure to connect can have real consequences for the business and the consumer. For example, if a doctor needs to change an appointment with a patient, the immediacy of a text message is by far the best way to get hold of the patient. The same dynamic holds true with any type of service professional, like an HVAC technician or a plumber. Scheduled repair needs to be confirmed or changed, text is far more efficient than any other medium. And if a business has a specific offer or promotion it needs to get out to its customers, SMS does the job quickly, and is a much more efficient vehicle. In fact, SMS Comparison predicts nearly 50 million Americans will opt into SMS-based marketing in 2020, representing a 40 percent increase from 2016.
Another important benefit for SMS: it is discrete. Imagine, if someone receives a phone call from a doctor, or the auto repair shop, or the beauty salon. Chances are that everyone around the recipient will have some idea of the conversation just based upon proximity—regardless of how quiet that individual tries to speak. SMS is radically different. The user has much more control of who can view a screen, ensuring privacy and confidence for the customer.
The ABCs of SMS
How businesses go about leveraging SMS services is important. Organizations always want to project a professional image in all customer communication, so having their staff send out messages from their personal mobile phone numbers can be counterintuitive. A savvy business wants to ‘own’ each customer interaction to reinforce the power of its brand. Having an appointment reminder come from the personal number of a receptionist as opposed to the main phone number can suggest that the business operates in an informal — or worse yet, haphazard — manner.
The way which a response is handled is also vitally important. When a customer returns an SMS message, to confirm a meeting, ask a follow up question, or finalize a purchase, the business needs to know where exactly that message is heading within the organization.
Is it going to a general mailbox in the company, where busy staff can easily overlook important messages? Or is it routed to a centralized platform, such as the business’s unified communications or contact center system, where it can be managed just like an important voice call? Efficient communications platforms should be able to relay SMS messages to the appropriate individual and department, ensuring prompt and accurate handling. By treating SMS in a manner consistent with voice and other customer communication channels, the organization can provide customers with the highest level of prompt and attentive service.
A Simple, Effective, and Professional Way to Communicate
Our SMS solution delivers the essential text and multimedia messaging tools businesses need to engage with customers in an increasingly popular medium. Users can send messages through their UC client and mobile app to individual customers, or groups of up to 10 recipients, allowing them to connect with customers from anywhere, at any time and from any device. Response times are quicker, leading to quicker resolution of potential issues and more satisfied customers, and important updates and marketing offers can be delivered to customers in a moment’s notice. And because messages are sent from a business number (even when sent from the user’s personal device), the organization still projects the highest level of professionalism to its customers.
The SMS solution also automatically replaces phone numbers with known contact names, enabling businesses to deliver much more personalized service when communicating with customers. In addition, the system automatically notifies employees when incoming messages are received. From a management standpoint, owners and managers can use our SMS platform to easily access message histories by subject, phone number or customer, providing the organization with message content, timestamps, action items, and list of all participants throughout the engagement. This feature not only helps improve internal operations, but perhaps more importantly, it can also demonstrate organizational compliance in regulated industries like financial services or healthcare.
The SMS solution gives your employees a compelling communication tool that will only gain stature in the years to come. Mobility is already disrupting the business-customer relationship. Users love their smartphones, and savvy organizations must learn how to adapt their business communications practices to these new environments. This is a great opportunity for businesses, who can leverage SMS capabilities to address these ever-evolving needs, and remain relevant in a rapidly changing marketplace.
The Time Is Now
We all know the power of mobile communication. Our smartphones are already lifelines to family and friends, and the trend for consumers to interact with businesses through their mobile devices will only accelerate with each passing day. Mobile communication brings great benefits to consumers and businesses, but it also brings challenges, with the need to manage SMS communication the top priority. Our SMS tool provides an immediate solution for managing these critical communications. It’s easy to deploy, simple to manage, and gives organizations powerful features to ensure that they operate in a professional, consistent manner.
Mobile communication is not going away. It is becoming more prevalent, and SMS is rapidly gaining favor as the preferred mobile communication medium. Now is the perfect time to offer this solution to customers and reinforce your position as an indispensable resource for navigating the constantly changing technology landscape.
