All kinds of content is constantly at our fingertips. Plus, businesses regularly send us flyers, pamphlets, and ads. It’s no wonder that about one in every five people feels constantly overwhelmed by information. So how can your company cut through the noise? Business text messaging is a great way to start.
SMS is already a channel that customers pay attention to. In fact, 98% of SMS messages are read. But you need to take extra care to ensure your texts reduce information overload—and don’t add to your customers’ pile of unwanted business content. Showing that your business respects customer time will increase customer loyalty and the chances that customers will read each and every one of your texts.
Read on to learn how to cut through the noise with business text messaging.
Ensure Each Message Has Value
Customers receive a lot of ads every day. Sure, some of them are helpful. But if customers receive too many of them from a specific business, they may decide to opt out of that channel. With business texting, which is even more personal than other channels, it’s especially important to tread lightly. You must provide value in order to keep customers on your business SMS lists.
Your teams should:
- Send tailored texts to small lists
- Focus on customer service, not sales
- Prioritize business updates, in-stock notifications, and VIP services
Focus on automating informational texts that will save customers time. For example, proactively send shipping updates via SMS, so customers don’t have to look them up online. If each of your texts provides this kind of value, customers will be sure to read and appreciate them. If they don’t, customers will consider your texts part of their daily dose of information overload.
Keep It Short
Customers can only read so much on their phone screens without getting distracted. Your texts should be as short as possible to keep their attention. Ensure that each message only contains vital information.
To make your sentences short and easy to read, you can:
- Delete adverbs, like “actually”
- Eliminate unnecessary phrases, like “as a matter of fact”
- Break long sentences in half, especially those joined by a conjunction like “and”
The shorter and clearer your texts are, the more likely customers will take the time to read them.
Show You’re Human
A lot of the content that businesses send customers comes across as mass advertising. On the customer service side, customers feel as though they are communicating with bots. Texts, which are usually sent between people and their loved ones, naturally feel more personal than emails or print communications. With a few additional tactics, you can make business texting even more personal.
Ensure customers know that they’re receiving texts from a human by:
- Using a clear, authentic voice (e.g., “Hi there, {{customer name}}” instead of “Hello valued customer.”)
- Including custom fields or mentioning past history (e.g., names, past orders, and order preferences)
- Adding a signature at the end of each messages (e.g. “—Becca, from Customer Success”)
These small touches will let customers know that real, live team members are texting them—not bots.
Use Extra Features to Emphasize Tone
Sometimes, the tone of written content can be lost in translation. This is especially the case when customer service agents are managing customer complaints or problems. However, business text messaging offers great tools to help convey tone.
You can use:
- Emojis or GIFs to lighten a short message (“Yes, we’re open! 😊”)
- Pictures to show what part of a product you’re referring to
- Videos to help with training or other in-depth explanations
These extra business SMS and MMS features help your teams ensure that the tone or meaning of a message is never lost.
Text Sparingly
As we’ve mentioned, business text messaging is a highly personal channel. Customers are receiving your texts alongside those from their parents and friends. It’s absolutely essential that your teams only text when you have important information to relay.
Before texting customers, ask yourself:
- Have you shared similar content recently?
- When’s the last time you texted this group of customers?
- Have any other departments texted these customers recently?
Using business texting sparingly will set your company’s communications apart from the crowd, ensuring customers open each of your texts eagerly.
Ready to cut through the noise with business text messaging? Try our business SMS platform for free today.
