Level-one SMS customer support is all about gathering customer information, answering basic questions, and, if customers have more detailed questions, routing them to the ideal team member. These simple tasks take up a lot of your time. That’s why you may want to consider creating an SMS customer support automation (or three) to take over. 

An SMS automation is a powerful SMS customer support tool. It’s easy to set one up in your business text messaging platform. First, you choose a trigger, like your platform receiving a text with a certain keyword. Then, you choose an action, like your platform replying with an SMS template. 

Read on to learn what level–one tasks an SMS customer support automation can take off your hands.  

Greet Customers

Customers often expect quick, polite greetings before they introduce their problem. Many times, they will start conversations with a simple “hi,” and wait to introduce their issues until you respond in a similar manner. 

Let an SMS automation greet customers as soon as they write in. You can even set up your business text messaging platform to send personalized greetings if recipients are already in your system. You should:

1. Set the trigger to “keyword(s) in incoming message” and “exact match.” Your keyword triggers should include all of the greetings you can think of, including “hi,” “hello,” “hey,” “hey there,” and more. 
2. Set the action to “send a message.” 
3. Create or select an SMS template. It should be a basic greeting that invites customers to continue their query. Leave room for custom fields. Your business SMS platform will insert these details into each outgoing message, so customers will know that you care about tracking their interactions with your brand. 

An SMS template for a greeting might look like the following example:

Hi {{customer name}}! You’ve reached the Swift Shoes team. How can we help? Text STOP to stop receiving texts. 

And just like that, your SMS customer support automation has taken over a level-one task.  

Answer Simple Questions 

After you’ve exchanged a polite greeting, it’s time to get down to business. Because your greeting will ask customers to explain their problems, you can expect to receive more information when they write back. First, we’ll address a common level–one query: FAQs. These include questions like “what are your business hours?” and “what is today’s menu?” 

Your business text messaging platform can easily answer these questions. For each individual question that you’d like your platform to automatically answer, set a new trigger and action. For example, this is the process for setting up a reply to a Thanksgiving holiday hours query: 

1. Set the trigger to “keyword(s) in incoming message.” Your keyword trigger can include words like “holiday hours,” “Thanksgiving hours,” and “open on Thanksgiving.” 
2. Set the action to “Send a message.” 
3. Create or select an SMS template. It should let customers know what your holiday hours are. You can even include an emoji for extra holiday cheer. (If your brand voice allows for it, of course.)

An SMS template for holiday hours might look like this example:

Our Thanksgiving hours are 10am-6pm. We hope to see you! Happy Turkey Day. 🦃  Text STOPALL to unsubscribe. 

Resolving FAQs with an SMS customer support automation frees up your valuable time for more complex tasks. 

Gather Preliminary Information

SMS automations can also help you with more advanced questions. You can set your business text messaging platform to gather initial information for advanced queries. Then, when customers reply, your platform can route those messages to your shared inbox, where you or a team member can reply. 

Create a trigger and action for commonly asked advanced queries. These may include starting a return or product/service troubleshooting. Consider letting customers know which keywords to use for certain situations. For example, on your Contact Us page, ask customers to text RETURN to manage a return over SMS. Here’s a sample automation setup for gathering return information: 

1. Set the trigger to “keyword(s) in incoming message.” Your keyword triggers can include words like “return,” “start a return,” or “begin return.” 
2. Set the action to “send a message.” 
3. Create or select an SMS template. It should ask customers for basic preliminary information regarding their return. 

An SMS template for returns might look like this example:

I’m sorry your order didn’t work out. Let’s get that return taken care of! What’s your order #? Text STOP to unsubscribe. 

After your platform sends this message, it will route the customer’s reply to your shared inbox. You or a team member will receive a chat that introduces relevant preliminary information, so you can jump right in. 

Ultimately, an automation is an SMS customer support tool that helps you streamline level-one queries so you can resolve them faster than ever before. 

Interested in more SMS automations to streamline your workflows? Check out our blog.