The way businesses of all sizes are communicating with customers is changing. In a similar way that the digital revolution displaced phone calls with emails, the mobile revolution currently taking place in retail and other industries has replaced emails with the real-time engagement of text messaging.
One of the biggest reasons that business texting is hitting all the right notes with small businesses and consumers alike is because it provides unique advantages for both sides. Simply put, customers prefer to be engaged via text than through other channels. 89% of consumers prefer to engage with businesses via text rather than phone calls, and this number is only poised to grow as Millennial and Gen Z consumers – groups already notorious for their reliance on text-based communication – engage with small businesses alongside their older counterparts.
Business texting is a unique, engaging way to enter into two-way conversations with customers that actually prompt responses from both sides. People are more likely to respond to a text message than they are to call a business back after receiving a voicemail or to reply to a marketing email. This puts small businesses in a great position to cultivate brand-loyal, long-term customer relationships that go beyond a single transaction. Business texting can help create customers for life.
In addition to increasing customer satisfaction, business texting can also help small businesses address:
Automation: For many small businesses, daily processes typically involve doing the same amount of work as a larger operation without as many full-time resources. This means that automating processes wherever possible is incredibly important to ensuring small businesses run smoothly and operate at the highest level. Small businesses can pre-schedule direct-to-consumer text messages and even automate messages based on frequently asked questions or responses.
Phone Tag: If you work in an industry that requires direct-to-consumer communication, feedback, and responses, playing phone tag isn’t always the most efficient way to get things done. In fact, leaving voicemails, waiting around for a customer response, and repeating this process when you don’t hear back can be incredibly wasteful. Text messaging can decrease the number of voicemails left by small businesses by 84% by reaching customers where they want, when they want, every single time.
Unread Emails: When it comes to emailing customers, there are two ways small businesses can share information. The first is a mass marketing email, which goes out to a huge list and contains a whole host of information around promotions, updates, and more. The second is a personalized, targeted email that contains information tailored for a specific consumer. The problem is that, when both of these messages are in the inbox, a customer can’t tell the difference between the two and more often than not will delete both messages without reading either. Text messaging takes critical, personalized updates and puts them right into the hands of customers where they are guaranteed to be read. 95% of all texts are read within just three minutes, making it the perfect channel to ensure your customers are receiving your updates.
You can learn more about how texting consumers can help your small business increase customer satisfaction and streamline internal operations by getting in touch!