2018 is in full swing. It’s time to test new (or well-forgotten) ways to grow your business. If you aren’t including mobile messaging (SMS) in your marketing plan, you may be missing a great opportunity to lift your sales and step up your customer service.
Here are 7 actionable ways to use text messaging for your small business:
Expand your marketing campaign
Zenith media estimates that almost 80 percent of internet use would be through a mobile device in 2018. That means consumers are going to be spending a lot of time on their phones. If you want to reach them, it’s time to expand your marketing campaign. The same study found that smartphone ownership is projected to grow 40 percent from 2012 to 2018. Look for opportunities to reach your customers and target market through their smartphones.
Also Read: 7 (Good) Ideas for your Next Email Blast
Millennials prefer text marketing. They don’t mind receiving marketing messages on their phones. In fact, they want to interact with your business through texting more than any other way. A study found that an astounding 80 percent of millennials surveyed would prefer to text the 1-800 customer service line for your business instead of calling in. Take advantage of the desire that people have and reach them with your message!
Send discount coupons
Cell phones are no longer just phones. People use them as an address book, TV, camera, planner, and even as a way to pay for items thanks to virtual wallets. Consumers like the convenience of having everything at their fingertips.
The Krazy Coupon Lady, a money-saving internet celebrity, even focused on the topic of saving money through text coupons for her followers. She shares why it is a good idea to receive coupon codes via text from retailers and provides a list of businesses that have this option. With a Facebook following of well over 2 million buyers who heed her advice, businesses should take notice.
Send order confirmations
Reassure your customers that their order has been placed. Customers appreciate transparency and real-time communication. And since people carry their phones around with them, it’s nice for them to have access to their confirmation number right in their text messages. Let’s take the retail industry as an example. Experian discovered that 65 percent of customers found it to be helpful to receive this type of text message from retailers.
Automate appointment reminders
Missed and canceled appointments mean one thing to businesses – lost revenue. This happens with various businesses from salons to doctor offices. According to Dentistry iQ nearly 10% of dental appointments are no-shows.
They have found by using text messages to send appointment reminders that, on average, dental practices can experience a 20 percent increase in revenue. And more than half of patients preferred to receive text message reminders, while only 35 percent preferred receiving an email reminder. And you can save time by updating your schedule without a lot of manual processes by automating this whole process through a marketing automation tool that integrates with your SMS software.
Send important notifications and alerts
There are some time-sensitive events that customers want to know about as soon as possible. In these circumstances, they’d be more than thankful to receive an alert or notification. Text customers for appointments that need to be rescheduled, a flash sale that could save the money, or changes to plans they have made like flight dates.
Communicate with staff
Text messaging can be used in many ways to communicate with your staff. HR departments use texts when scheduling interviews and testing new candidates. It is also an effective way to schedule training, send motivational messages, and answering employee questions instantly.
Sending a text is also a quick and efficient way to communicate with staff members that do not work in your office building. If you have crews out on job sites, you can stay in constant contact with them.
Conduct surveys
As a business, you can gain valuable information by conducting surveys of your customers. However, surveys are useless until the results come in. Pew Research ran a study to see if text messages regarding surveys would have a better result than sending emails about surveys. They found that survey results came in faster when customers were contacted by text and not just email. By the end of the first day, 50 percent of the test subjects contacted via text had completed the survey. The study found overall that the numbers end up very similar after ten days; however, the numbers come in faster through texting.
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Numbers don’t lie: text messaging works well for marketing purposes. Not only that, but many people are starting to prefer being contacted by businesses via their phones (and especially texting) than other lines of communication. So, why not to benefit from such simple yet powerful strategy like text message marketing?
Ready to build your customer base and grow your business? Check out our full list of Marketing Software and use the software category page to find your perfect software fit. Or call one of our TechnologyAdvisors today to schedule your free 5-minute tech assessment.
Alexa Lemzy is the customer support manager at business SMS software company TextMagic. She loves working with customers and ensuring they achieve their ambitious business goals by using mobile messaging.
