Short message services (SMS), or business text messaging, is one of the best ways to communicate with customers and employees that provides personal, instantaneous access. Your customers are using mobile devices for business and personal communication in an increasingly virtual work environment, one where purchasing decisions are heavily influenced by SMS communication.
Likewise, simple text messaging can keep your internal workforce on task and responsive to projects and customers. The goal is to convey instant information that can be communicated to prompt an action without being intrusive. SMS text messaging delivers just this kind of alert all through your Hosted PBX system.
SMS for Customer Service
Market research consultants at Alliance Data conducted a study that found 84% of Millennials use their smartphones in stores while shopping (MediaPost) which highlights this significant behavior. Including SMS Business Text Campaigns in your relationship marketing harnesses the power of this consumer trend to improve interaction with your customers.
For example, SMS routing can help your service teams by sending key personnel within your company a text message directly to their desk phones and/or email address. This could be set to happen if a message is received to a specific phone line provided to a customer that demands immediate attention. Additionally, sales team can be alerted if a call is routed to the general sales extension through your company’s phone menu. This additional prompt alerts staff that a call has been routed to that line and needs immediate attention.
Another great boost to help your team deliver exceptional service is gained by setting up a trigger that alerts support teams if a call has been on hold too long. This alert will let your staff know that direction action is required to address that call appropriately.
According to Venture Beat, 98% of text messages are opened within minutes of being sent. This timely response means your SMS prompt from your sales team can actually outperform the standard email follow-up method used in the past. Adopting SMS messaging as a part of your sales process can help shorten your sales pipeline and boost revenue.
Strategic Functionality of SMS
DLS’ Hosted PBX platform includes robust reports in the administration panel that can be customized to provide managers with the data needed to develop strategies to improve call management and service performance across the business. These reports can be grouped by department or individual to help provide key insights into the ways your customers interact with you, including through SMS text messaging. Specific call hold time reports can also help identify areas where SMS triggered alerts can help improve the customer service goals and keep your employees attentive to metric targets they might otherwise miss.
Many businesses assume their loyal customers won’t ever leave, but using SMS communication with these individuals can prompt new sales through direct, responsive communication with your sales teams. Having the added functionality of sending short text messages from a desk phone or via email helps keep various communication channels open, providing your staff with the flexibility customers demand.
Effective communication is essential to building long-lasting relationships with your customers. By including SMS business text campaigns in your overall service strategy and routine processes, you can improve communication and receive an exceptional return with very little added investment.