Large companies have nearly always expanded into multiple locations. Now, more and more small to mid-sized businesses are expanding to multiple locations across the country as well. With the help of advanced technologies like business SMS, these smaller businesses are growing faster than ever before.
Business SMS can be used to scale customer communications and internal communications with an identical result—faster and more personal relationships, no matter the distance involved. While all texts have a high open rate of 98%, additional support from a business SMS platform helps businesses increase engagement while managing incoming texts efficiently.
Read on to learn more about scaling communications for multi-location companies with a texting service for business.
Using Business SMS to Provide Seamless Customer Communications
When businesses expands to a new location, a key goal is to start developing a new customer base. Whether a company wants to treat each local customer base differently or manage them together, business texting services help multi-location companies provide seamless customer service. A texting service for business empowers multi-location businesses to:
Share customer inquiries.
For businesses interested in addressing all customer inquiries in a single pool, no matter the location they originate from, business texting platforms often offer a shared inbox feature. Allowing teams to receive messages in a single location, no matter whether they are texted or sent in from third-party apps, this tool ensures that no customer messages slip through the cracks.
Separate incoming messages based on teams.
Business texting services also allow companies to create separate shared inboxes, so that different teams divided by location or department can centralize their messages in a single place. This can be especially useful for teams that receive messages from both in-field staff and customers on a daily basis.
Route to appropriate team members.
Shared inboxes allow teams to either manually or automatically assign incoming texts. Business texting services also enable automated routing, directing messages with certain keywords to appropriate agents. For example, texts including the word “Atlanta” can be directed to an agent in the Atlanta office, while texts including the word “Charleston” can be directed to an agent in the Charleston office.
Send personalized mass messages.
When businesses expand to multiple locations, they grow their customer bases. While this is great for a business’s bottom line, it can lead to some problems with scaling simple customer communications, like notifications or reminders. A texting service for business empowers companies to easily send customized messages to many recipients with a single click, using merge tokens to draw from custom fields for personalized information.
Using Business SMS to Streamline Internal Communications
When businesses expand into multiple locations, internal communications can become difficult to manage as well. Business texting services simplify internal communications across locations, whether your company is staffed with employees or a combination of employees and contractors. Business SMS can help scaling businesses:
Manage scheduling with ease.
For customer service teams and in-field staff, scheduling is a huge part of day-to-day operations. While scheduling emails may get lost in inboxes or simply not opened, texts reach staff immediately and 90% are read within 3 seconds. This can be especially useful for businesses that often have to make last-minute scheduling requests. For example, foodora uses business SMS to quickly text couriers when they expect an increase in orders.
Field internal questions.
Companies that rely on staff working in-field often have to manage incoming internal questions. Home services companies like My Amazing Maid, for example, use business SMS to answer problems that arise as cleaners arrive to their designated homes, such as unexpected locked gates or incorrect addresses.
Gain transparency into internal projects.
Sometimes, employees leave projects for vacation or other, more timely business needs. In these cases, co-workers have to pick up the project where they left off. In most cases, this can be difficult, especially if an employee used private communication channels. Because business SMS relies on shared inboxes, team members can immediately view a teammate’s old projects or communications, contributing to a smooth transition.
Integrate with favorite internal messaging apps.
Maintaining a strong, healthy company culture can be difficult when a business expands to multiple locations, since employees don’t see one another each and every day. However, because business texting services support features like emojis and GIFs, staff can add some personality to their messages, encouraging closer relationships. For example, the Museum Hack scheduling team uses emojis to better connect with tour guides across the country. Business SMS platforms even enable integrations with apps like Slack, which allow team members to send texts to customers from within their favorite messaging apps. These integrations centralize internal and external communications, further streamlining business app ecosystems.
Ready to successfully scale communications across your locations? Try our text service for business for free.
