Businesses must modify their customer service methods to meet customers' changing needs in an age of rapid communication and unparalleled connection. One such innovation that has gained traction is incorporating business texting into customer service activities. The study shows that 48% of customers prefer direct communication from businesses through text messages. However, customer service teams frequently use business text messaging to provide customers with the best experience possible.
Business texting has become a powerful tool for increasing customer service and building stronger customer relationships due to its convenience, accessibility, and effectiveness. But if you've never done it before, business texting can be challenging. There are several fundamental "do's and don'ts" that can have a significant impact on your ability to succeed on this platform.
But what is business texting and how it can help you improve your customer service? In this article, we'll review everything you need to know about:
Business texting is the practice of using text messages as a channel of communication between businesses and their customers. In addition, to give customers a better experience, business text messaging utilizes SMS and chat apps like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, which are used by billions of people.
Proactive and reactive customer service are both possible with business texting. For instance, you might use it to let customers know when a support request has been resolved or to give updates about when a new product or service will be introduced. By mastering both aspects of business texting, you can maximize the benefits for your company.
Related study: How does Facebook Business Messenger Increase Customer Engagement?
Comparing text messaging to other business communications has a number of benefits for customer service.
Business text messaging offers two-way communication between your company and its customers. Customers can contact your company using SMS, and you can reply to their messages right away.
Other forms of communication can't quite equal the personal touch that texting brings to the conversation. Business text messaging provides the customer gets a more personalized touch. Moreover, businesses can utilize customer information to tailor their communications, addressing customers by name and bringing up previous contacts. This customization cultivates a sense of loyalty in the customer and shows a dedication to comprehending their wants.
Additionally, a text message to a customer invites a live dialogue, which greatly increases their desire to reply to your message.
In comparison to other forms of communication, business text messaging can significantly speed up response times. However, customers are more likely to read and reply to texts than phone calls, and they do so more rapidly than emails. Businesses are able to manage many conversations at once, which speeds up query resolution and increases customer satisfaction.
It's critical to adhere to a few best practices to fully realize the potential of business texting for improving customer service:
You may develop trusting relationships with your customers by treating them as unique individuals and communicating with them on time. Use customer's names when addressing them, and when relevant, mention previous interactions. You may build stronger relationships with customers by sending them personalized text messages.
Customers may leave your business and give you bad reviews if you take too long to respond to their requests. Due to the ability to reply to text messages while still working on another task, business text messaging is quicker than email and phone calls. Additionally, business messaging makes it possible to communicate rapidly, which leads to quicker responses.
Further, make sure to reply to inbound business text messaging as quickly as you can. According to some data, the response time should be between 90 and one hour, depending on your company, the complexity, and the urgency of the message. On the other hand, the study shows that it’s rude to wait more than 20 minutes to reply to a text.
The efficiency of teams can be increased by automating a lot of texts that are important to business. There is no reason to have employees waste their time sending delivery confirmations, promotion alerts, and appointment reminders. Live platform offers to engage with your customers in real-time, via automated business texting that helps you notify customers about the most important updates.
Your employees can concentrate on more essential work when they are not distracted by simple duties.
You need to have their permission before you start texting prospects and customers. Before you begin contacting someone in this manner, they must choose to be included in your SMS list. However, always check to see if customers have approved receiving business text messaging. Respect their privacy and preferences.
Simply asking how you're doing is an efficient approach to determining how well your business's customer service is performing. You may simply plan or automate text surveys that often only ask customers to provide a straightforward one- or two-word response, making texting an excellent way to get customer feedback. Moreover, sending a brief text survey is an easy way to accomplish this via text. No one has more insight into customer service than previous and present customers, so use it sparingly.
You may simply plan or automate text surveys that often only ask customers to provide a straightforward one- or two-word response, making texting an excellent way to get customer feedback. Emojis should only be used in messages if they are appropriate for your brand, and even then, no more than one or two should be used. Use no slang or abbreviations like "Nvm," "Lol," or "Nbd." Although a single SMS can only have 160 characters, most modern phones and networks can handle longer messages, so there's no need for slang or abbreviations.
Proactively reminding customers of appointments makes smart business sense. This lowers the number of canceled or missed appointments, keeping customers satisfied employees active, and your calendar filled. You can set up your business text messaging or calendar application to send appointment reminders when the customer schedules the appointment, a few days in advance, and on the scheduled appointment date. Include a call to action that urges the customer to confirm the appointment and a method for the customer to postpone or cancel the appointment.
Business text messaging is a convenient way to provide information such as links to upcoming events, updates on new arrivals, updates on seasonal inventory, and alerts about limited-time deals and other offers. In addition, reminders for appointments can lower no-shows, increase customer satisfaction, and boost overall operational effectiveness.
There are many ways to use business text messages and a lot of benefits for customer service. The ability to communicate with customers in real-time on their preferred platform, ease for customers, and cost-effectiveness are some of the benefits. Customers expect immediate satisfaction, therefore companies must adjust to the demands of today's mobile-centric customers and find the quickest, easiest solutions. However, to deliver efficient and satisfied customer service, it's critical for companies to keep to the best standards, respect customer privacy, and strike a balance between automated responses and human involvement.
Additionally, texting enables customer service personnel to deliver a better experience to build trust and lasting loyalty.
Don't hesitate to get in touch with us today if you want to learn more about how the Live can help you to boost your global customer experience strategy.
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