When it comes to communicating with a business, customers want speed and efficiency. In fact, over three-fourths (76%) of customers prioritize speed to resolution, while nearly two-thirds (61%) prefer convenience. This is why so many businesses are encouraging customers to text or message them instead of call; for businesses speed is just one of many advantages of texting over calling.
This strategy, called call deflection, can be incredibly subtle—and effective. Businesses can emphasize messaging over phone calls by advertising their messaging capabilities (text number, web chat button, etc.) more frequently than their phone line. Some new apps even suggest texting when customers click on the call button.
But why exactly would a business want customers to message rather than call? Read on to discover the advantages of texting over calling for businesses.
Reason #1: Messaging Is Faster
Phone calls take time. No matter the reason for the call, both parties often feel obliged to begin with some small talk. Customers can struggle to articulate their queries. Employees have to figure out where to send relevant links or files.
On the other hand, messaging is fast for customers and employees alike. Whether this is because customers always have their phones on hand or because texts are naturally short, the results are the same: 90% of texts are read within the first three seconds of receipt, and the average response time for a text is 90 seconds. With the help of a tool like a business text messaging platform, teams can increase their speed further. For example, with a shared inbox, employees can quickly see which messages are unanswered and assign those chats to themselves, ensuring that no messages slip through the cracks. Advanced business texting platforms can receive and send messages from both native texting apps and third-party texting apps, like Facebook Messenger and Apple Business Chat, so teams don’t have to waste time switching between platforms to answer incoming queries.
Because messaging is so much faster than phone calls, teams can answer a much larger volume of customer requests and questions. This is one of the biggest advantages of texting over calling for businesses.
Reason #2: Employees Can Multitask When Messaging
Employee multitasking can be excellent for businesses, but phone calls call for undivided attention. While undivided attention is critical for certain conversations, like those involving complaint resolution or detailed product training instructions, simpler tasks don’t require such intense focus.
In many business text messaging conversations, employees experience lags in response as customers look up order numbers or confirm dates with a spouse or family member. While employees wait for this information, they can quickly handle another easy task, like sending out order confirmations to a list of recipients. Once the customer is ready to resume the conversation, the employee can return to the business text messaging conversation.
Multitasking—one of the most unique advantages of texting—ensures that employees are achieving peak productivity levels and increasing the amount of tasks they complete within a work day.
Reason #3: Collaborating On Messages Is Easier
When an employee is on a phone call, it can be difficult to ask for a coworker’s help. As we explored previously, phone calls require undivided attention. Customers pick up on silences, and can hear whispering between employees. And customers hate being put on hold.
But with messaging, team members can easily collaborate without customers knowing. With an advanced tool like a business text messaging platform, employees can even use built-in features to simplify collaboration, like private comments. Private comments empower team members to invite coworkers into customer chats and, without the customer’s awareness, offer advice or guidance. This is an especially useful tool for training.
This kind of seamless team collaboration ensures that customers receive the most accurate responses possible—without realizing how much work went into analyzing their question.
Reason #4: Reporting On Messaging Is Simpler
Phone calls can be stored, and both the length of calls and team response times can be recorded. However, voice-to-text transcription is unreliable, so recorded phone calls are primarily used to check conversations that have been reported as problematic. And for management teams, spot-checking recorded phone calls and analyzing call data can be labor-intensive.
Reporting on messaging is a lot easier. Cutting-edge business text messaging platforms offer advanced reporting capabilities that allow teams to save and quickly review messages. Teams can even apply machine learning to review the overall sentiment of messages. Managers can review extensive reports on team performance, like resolution time and first response time. They can even review team-specific stats like most-used templates.
Detailed reporting allows teams to pinpoint areas for improvement, make adjustments, and determine whether changes have been successful.
Reason #5: Customer Satisfaction Will Be Higher
There are many advantages of texting over calling. Faster exchanges between teams and employees, increased volume of completed tasks, more accurate responses, and consistent improvements based on real-time data are four advantages of texting that will almost certainly lead to a fifth: higher customer satisfaction.
Ultimately, using call deflection to encourage customers to message rather than call will increase customer satisfaction—and boost your business’s performance overall.
Ready to capitalize on the advantages of texting? Try our business text messaging platform for free today.