How to Set Up 3 Automated Workflows for SMS Customer Service

A group of cogs symbolizing automations for SMS customer service

Business SMS is a popular tool for customer service teams. SMS chats are usually fast, allowing agents to close tickets faster than they would through email. Plus, agents can manage more than one text at a time, empowering them to close more tickets than phone calls allow. Regardless, there’s always room for improvement. Enter SMS customer service automations. 

SMS automations take over simple, repetitive workflows so your team can focus on more complex projects. You can create an automation for just about any SMS customer service workflow—even if it involves another business app.

To help you get started, we’ve rounded up 3 must-have automated workflows. Let’s dive in.

Want to learn more about using automations to streamline your workflows? Read our ebook Automated Text Messaging: The Complete Guide

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Incoming Message Triage

When your team is busy, incoming messages can pile up quickly. It takes time to let customers know their wait time, scan their messages for hints as to which agent will best serve them, and pass those messages on. 

Your SMS customer service platform can easily manage the message-triaging workflow for your team. To set up an message triage sequence, your team can:

  • Create a during-hours wait time template, then set up a trigger/action sequence that sends the template to customers who text in during your business hours
  • Create an after-hours template, then set up a trigger/action sequence that sends the template to customers who text in after your business hours
  • Set up trigger/action sequences that assign chats to certain agents based on keywords or times during which customer messages are sent

A during-hours template may look like this example: 

Hi! You’ve reached SwiftSoftware’s SMS Customer Service team. One of our agents will get back to you within 30 minutes. Text STOP to unsubscribe.  

With help from an incoming message triage automation, your agents will be able to answer incoming messages faster than ever before. 

Ticket Follow Ups

When agents close customer tickets, there’s still a lot of work to do. It’s critical that agents change custom fields or statuses and send a survey or other follow up in a few days. This process ensures that future agents will have a good grasp on returning customers’ history and that customers will feel as though your team is prioritizing their experience. 

An SMS customer service platform empowers your team to streamline any customer follow up or survey workflows. Your team will need to:

  • Create a personalized follow-up template for complex customer queries, then schedule the message to be sent to the customer at a later time
  • Create a survey request template, then set up a trigger/action sequence that sends the template to customers once you’ve changed their custom fields to “ticket closed” or a similar status
  • Set up an online review request template, then set up a trigger/action sequence that sends the template to customers when they hit a certain loyalty status (e.g. list member for 1 year, etc.)

A ticket survey request template may look like this example: 

Hello, {{customer name}}! Pet Store here. Would you like to leave some feedback for the help you received from {{agent name}} last week? Text back with your rating from 1-5, 5 being awesome, 1 being not so great. Text STOP to unsubscribe.  

Ticket follow-up automations make it easier than ever to check in with customers and ensure they’re having the best experience possible.  

New Customer Intake

There’s a lot to do when leads and customers sign up to receive texts from your team. You need to send them opt-in confirmations at the very least. You may also need to add them to lists. You’ll want your new contact to show up in your CRM, too. 

An SMS customer service can automate the entire new customer intake process. To set up a basic automation that sends new contacts opt-in confirmations, adds them to a list, and records that information in a CRM, your team must:

A welcome text template may look like this example: 

Hi there, {{customer name}}! Thanks for opting in to Shoe Center’s SMS Customer Service Line. Text in with questions, and you’ll receive a reply in 5-10 minutes. Text STOP to unsubscribe.  

Automating the new customer intake process can save your team valuable time. You can use the trigger/action tool to create everything from the basic examples above to more complex workflows. For example, you can set your business SMS platform to change the value of contacts’ custom fields based on keywords detected in their messages. 

Want a step-by-step look at building text automations to expedite every area of your business? Read our ebook Automated Text Messaging: The Complete Guide.

Ebook cover: SMS Automations, The Complete Guide

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