4 BENEFITS OF USING SMS FOR YOUR BUSINESS
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June 19, 2020
BIZTECH CEO PROFILE
December 9, 2022
Reaching your customers in new and innovative ways is a key focus for many businesses. New technologies and social media platforms have transformed the way businesses engage customers. They are fantastic ways to extend reach but they must be adopted as part of a multi-channel approach. When adopting that multi-channel method, many businesses may be forgetting a technology that has been around for a long time but has incredible results. Implementing SMS messaging in your business is not to be sniffed at and has to be a consideration. Why? Let's consider 4 reasons.
1. Give customers communication channels they prefer
We live in a messaging society where sending and receiving messages is clearly the preferred option. Speak to many people and they will tell you they hate talking on the phone. The world we now live in means that businesses of all sizes must create multiple channels for customer contact. Facebook recently carried out a business messaging research study. It found that 75% of 8,214 adults ages 18 and older want to communicate with a business the same way they do with friends and family, through messaging. Adding business SMS as one of your contact methods will drive growth. Failure to do so can mean a loss in sales or customer retention.
2. Minimal training required
Following on from the first point, as messaging is a part of all of our daily lives, it comes naturally to us. This is important because it means that if you add SMS messaging to your channels of communication, your agents will easily understand the technology. As a knock-on effect, the time it takes to train agents on how to use the SMS messaging system will be minimal.
3. SMS has higher open rates
Research reveals that 68% of phone users check their phones regularly for messages. Other websites report SMS read rates at over 90% compared to an email read rate of only 20%. There are many factors as to why that is but the fact that an SMS message is short and it only takes a couple of seconds to read will surely play a part. SMS marketing needs to be treated with care as it could easily border the line of being perceived as spam. However, clearly, when carried out correctly, it has massive customer engagement which would otherwise be missed.
4. Immediate and spontaneous customer engagement
Because an SMS is short and to the point, it creates a conversation with the customer that feels natural. Sending a follow-up SMS to a client after a purchase asking how they are getting on with their product will keep them engaged. Letting a customer know that an engineer will be late to an appointment keeps the customer happy, making a better atmosphere for the engineer when they arrive. SMS messaging can be used in a wide variety of ways. But it is important they are always used to drive further engagement instead of irritating clients with generic marketing content.
Set up SMS with 3CX today
It's clear that no matter the application, using SMS messaging in your business is an absolute must. Check out our guide on setting up SMS/MMS in 3CX using one of our supported providers and start repeating the benefits of SMS in your business today.
US customers take note
According to US legislation (A2P 10DLC), SMS numbers must be registered with a wireless carrier to avoid being blocked. This only applies to A2P numbers (Application to People) and not P2P (People to People).
