Today’s most successful businesses are using the power of SMS messaging to great effect. Many customer service companies and business processing organizations believe that they can’t be part of this trend - but that isn’t true! There are myriad ways to make use of SMS in your customer service strategy.

The bigger problem for these organizations is that they often don’t understand SMS integration. Thankfully, some of those same famously popular and successful brands we mentioned previously are happy to share their secrets of success. Check out how they make proper SMS integration look easy - and how you can make it easier for your staff, too!

First - Ensure That Consumers Want to Receive Your Messages

Before you can even think about SMS integration improvement, you need to ensure that the consumers you are contacting actually want to hear from you. How can you do this? It’s simple - confirm their interest and get explicit permission via text messaging.

Since you’re going to be utilizing text messaging to communicate in the future should your consumer agree, it only makes sense to use this platform for your initial confirmation. Automate the process to make it quicker - your consumer will thank you for the simplicity. Simply program your software to send a confirmation message upon receiving a lead with a consumer’s phone number.

You may also want to send additional messages asking for permission to send ongoing messages if your plan is to do so. Many of the most successful companies who use SMS messaging provide information in these initial messages about how many texts to expect per month and remind consumers that standard messaging rates - if any - will apply.

Next, Learn the Secrets of SMS Integration

Once you have permission to message your consumer as needed, how can you make the most of this platform? It all begins by doing your research.

First, your company will need to figure out what the optimum delivery time for these messages is. There isn’t a hard and fast answer to this; it will largely depend on your target demographic.

Good timing does a lot toward improving the impact of your messages. No one likes receiving messages that interrupt their meals, important events or gatherings, or sleep. Those are obvious guidelines for setting a schedule for your message deployment.

Experiment to find the right delivery times for your consumer base. Use consumer feedback and metrics such as opening and engagement rates to determine how well you’re doing at hitting your target. These figures will give you the most accurate picture of how your consumers are interacting with your texts and if adjustments need to be made to your delivery schedule.

Next, it is important to employ automation to streamline the process of sending these text messages and receiving the replies. Why? Because there is no team of agents or employees in the world who want to spend their day sending hundreds of thousands of identical text messages.

Smaller businesses can use mass texting features that many providers offer, but larger companies can use automated software that produces text messages, sends them automatically at preprogrammed times and dates, and even gathers and utilizes consumer responses to provide the next steps they need. All of this can be done from your agents’ current user interface, making it a perfect addition to your current customer service efforts.

Personalizing the SMS Message

So, now you know when and how to deliver your text messages - but what do those messages contain? The most important thing for the actual text of your texts to contain is personalization. Today’s consumers need to know that you are tailoring your service to their needs and desires. Few things deliver on this like personalizing your communications with them.

It isn’t enough to slide their name into the body of the texts, although that is certainly advisable. No, you will need to go a step beyond that to create the kind of messages consumers will actually interact with.

In this case, it pays to pay attention - or at least give your consumer the impression that you are. Mention recent consumer activity in your messages, such as purchases, an abandoned cart, or a recent interaction with an agent. Provide actionable next steps, such as a satisfaction survey to take with an incentive to do so or links to provide reviews or ask questions.

You may also want to mention less positive actions, such as an abandoned cart or a disconnected call. If you have the resources to track these things and can reach out to consumers about them, you are more likely to rise to the challenge of meeting the needs that may have caused these instances and closing the sale or resolving a consumer’s concern. Yes, you can do all of this through automation, but that quickly-deployed, automated text can mean the difference in a sour and a satisfied customer!

Another important tips is using the following types of language in your message creation:

• Exclusivity
• Urgency
• Excitement

Your consumers want to feel like they are getting value from your messages, so if you’re marketing to them, provide exclusive ( or seemingly exclusive) offers that come with short time frames to take advantage of. You should also lead with these offers to boost excitement and make it more likely that consumers will open your entire message. That way, they’re more likely to see all the details and you’re more likely to see success!

Harness Technology to Your SMS Success Advantage

Before you can improve your approach to SMS integration in your center, you will need to rethink your technology. There are so many ways to outfit your operation with the tools and technology your agents need to succeed - and you can find all of them through the industry leaders at ChaseData, We offer the software solutions your staff needs to provide excellent customer service and to improve consumer satisfaction by integrating SMS and other modern technology. Give our knowledgeable experts a call today to learn more!