How do you communicate with your friends?
For most, the answer would be messaging apps as face-to-face communication does not seem to be the first answer that pops into people's minds these days.
Fine, but how do you communicate with your customers, your bread and butter?
Fifty percent of businesses use text messaging to communicate with customers. And their clients are actually giving very positive feedback for this.
Mobile messaging can boost your communication with existing and new customers more than you might have thought, but you have to master five essential mobile messaging strategies.
1. Confirm user sign-up with message
When your customer signs up, depending on the service, you might need to send a PIN confirmation to the customer's cellphone to verify the mobile number and make the sign-up process more secure.
You might also send a greeting text message for a more personal welcome.
2. Occasionally send promotions
It doesn't seem the most orginal way to communicate with customers via SMS but it might still work very well. Occasionally send a promotional SMS if you have sales coming up or special offers for loyal customers. It will show them you haven't forgotten them and that you occasionally make discounts for the most valuable customers.
3. Reduce the pain of temporary service issues
It happens to most companies at least once if not more. Either your server is down and customers cannot access your website, some of the features stop working or you have issues with the customer support line. Always notify your customers. It will make them aware that you are handling the problem and doing your best to get it back up and running. Text messages show urgency and are the best way to reach your customers on this occasion.
4. When you mess up something, admit it and send SMS apology
It partly covers the previous point but even if you did not send a notification about your service being down, definitely send an apology message. We all make mistakes and screw something up occasionally. When you have made a mistake, admit it to your customer. Big mishaps are one of the most common reasons for churn. It gives your competitors the opportunity to steal your customer because at this time you are most vulnerable and customers are very sensitive when it comes to receiving services they pay for that you cannot deliver. So admit if you made a mistake, send a text message, apologize and if needed offer compensation.
5. Notify about new product or feature release
Let your customers know when you have a new product or additional service or additional feature they could benefit from. Send your customers a text message including a link to your new product page or description of your new feature.
Targeting is very important in this case. Bear in mind the customers that need the new service or product the most and maybe send the notification only for them.
These are only some ways to use SMS to communicate with your customers. Steal ideas from big players like Starbucks, UPS, FedEx and Southwest Airlines (to name a few) and see how they use SMS for effective customer communication, implement this into your business and measure the results.
Happy customers are the basis for a successful business.
Author Bio:
Triin is a marketing executive at TextMagic, helping businesses to get the best out of mobile messaging. Previously Triin has helped to start up several businesses, being responsible for business operations and effective customer communication.
