Of all the methods that businesses use to reach out to their past, current, and future customers, SMS messaging is both the most intimate and most nerve-wracking from a managerial perspective.
Because text messages feel so personal, it can be scary to send a mass text to your customer base.
The following will explore some of the ways that you can consider including SMS messaging in your business practices in a comfortable and non-invasive way. In addition, this will also explain what is an esim?
The Big Caveat: Permission
Of course, before we dive into the wonderful benefits BigCommerce SMS messaging can have for your business and for building lasting relationships with your customer base, we need to talk about consent.
You should never send a text message to someone who has not expressly permitted you to do so. This means that you need a three-step process.
First, you need to be given your customer’s phone number by them (not by anyone else). Second, you need to ask permission to send text messages.
Third, you need to include an unsubscribe option with each message that makes it easy for people to opt-out of SMS messaging from your business if they decide at any point they don’t want to be receiving texts from you.
Coupons And Deals
One of the most fun text messages to get is a discount saved right on your phone. Because of this, one of the most popular uses of SMS marketing by businesses is the sending of coupons, discounts, and deals.
This is going to look different from business to business, but if you have some sort of coupon you want to offer your regular customers, sending it via text is a great approach.
This also tends to save time at the cash register as people typically have their phones within reach, meaning no one is digging through their bag for that paper coupon, and they’re less likely to have left it at home.
Another bonus is that this method is paper-free making it an excellent choice for businesses that want to minimize environmental impact while still offering their returning customers a wonderful reward (and an incentive to come again soon).
Appointment Reminders
No one likes a missed appointment. Not the person who booked it or the person who’s stuck waiting for someone who isn’t showing up. Text messaging offers the perfect solution.
Because people check their phones so often (90% of people read texts within three minutes of receiving them and 98% of texts are opened overall) you massively reduce the amount of missed appointments as those who booked months ago and have forgotten will more than likely be reminded.
For service-based businesses, text appointment reminders are a must.
New Stock
Depending on the type of product you have, there could be certain items that can’t be shipped to your location fast enough to fill the demand.
If you have something like this in your business—something that sells out quickly—text message marketing can be set up to let interested customers know when the item is back in stock again.
For instance, Messente.com emphasizes that SMS messaging can boost your conversion rates by drawing customers into the store when you have what they need.
This works well in situations involving clothing where certain sizes or colors go fast. If customers are constantly checking back in to see if a new shipment has arrived, SMS messaging might be the perfect solution.
Sales And New Item Awareness
As well, people like to know what’s going on with your business. Loyal customers want to know when things go on sale (for how much they’re going on sale for) and when your new items are put out.
This is particularly important for people who sell seasonal products or who have a trend-based product in-store.
Job Postings
This one might not be one that’s typically included on SMS marketing blog posts, but it should be. When you need to hire someone new, where better to look first than among your loyal customers who already love your product or service (and are often talking it up to their friends anyway).
Passion and enthusiasm are hard to come by nowadays, but consistent customers are a good place to start looking.
You can bet that someone who loves hearing about all your new releases is going to be all too happy to become a member of the team (and use that employee discount).
The above list covers only a few of the benefits of using SMS messaging in your business.
Of course, whenever using text messaging, you need to respect your list’s hours across time zones so that no one is getting woken up in the middle of the night by a text. That’s one way to lose out on a good customer.
