Customer engagements have significantly evolved over the past few years. We have made some great strides from traditional telecommunications to modern smartphone and internet based interactions such as social media, live chat, instant messaging and text messaging. According to research studies, around 68% of the American population owns a smartphone and 75% of smartphone owners use the texting feature at least once a day. Text messages also have an incredibly high view rate of 97%. This makes it one of the most successful marketing tools for any business, you are almost certain customers will read your message. What’s more, they are instant and can be used to drive immediate reaction from your target market. Here are a few tips on how to use texting in your business for better customer engagement.

a) Run a sales promotion using text

You can easily run sales promotions and campaigns through text messages sent directly to customers. The great thing about text promotions is that customers receive the message instantly. Unlike computers, phones are very portable and people carry them everywhere they go. This makes messaging the ideal solution for one-day campaigns. You can get insights from https://www.getweave.com/business-texting/ on how to take full advantage of text message promotions. If you are selling weekend tickets to a performance for instance, you can send promotional texts about a temporary discount on ticket prices for the first 100 buyers within the hour. This can be done Saturday mid morning when most people start to think about the late-night performances they can attend that day. Make sure your promotions are sent to the right target market.

b) Personalize interactions

Referring to your customers with their real names instead of the conventional “valued customer” goes a long way in improving your relationship with them. Studies have shown increased conversions and better customer retention and loyalty when businesses personalize their communications. Everyone likes to be recognized and personalized promotions always perform much better that grouped messages. Text messages give you the opportunity to spur close interactions with your customers. All you need to do is establish a carefully verified database that collects and stores all the important information about your customer. This can include names, phone numbers, emails, interests and shopping patterns. Make sure each customer is referred to by the right name.

c) Send out tips via text

Text messages are a great way to send tips and helpful insights to your customers. If you are a tattoo artist for instance, you can send text messages containing tips on how to wash and treat new tattoo wounds for the first few days. Any business (airlines, dentists, concrete contractors, hairdressers, web designers…) can send tips. Whether you provide a product or service, there is always valuable information you can relay through text messages. It does not always have to be tipped. It can be a simple gratitude or appreciation you send the customer for choosing your business. You can also include links to other offers they might like.

d) Reminders

People are forgetful and that is why we have reminders and sticky notes. However, your customers are not necessarily going to remember their next appointment and what happens if they forget? You lose an opportunity to close the deal. Fortunately, you can take full advantage of text messaging to remind them about upcoming appointments. Messaging can also be used to send reminders about various other services including automatic subscriptions, delayed payments and new or upcoming offers. If you have a big event or day scheduled, you can send weekly countdown reminders leading to the final date.

e) Offer customer service

Customer service through messaging is proving to be one of the most appreciated benefits of texting. A conventional customer service offered through emails and phone calls is not only time consuming and inconvenient, but can also be expensive especially when customers are calling your networks. Not to mention everything has to stop when handling a customer service call. Texting on the other hand is very convenient and customers can continue doing other things while getting the needed help. You can also automate part of the process so as to send customers to the right department.

f) Organize contests

Contests are a great way to engage your customers, especially since people are attracted to freebies and giveaways. They can also be used to increase opt-ins to your programs. For instance, you can organize a contest for your customers with free giveaways for the winners. It can be a smartphone, gaming box or anything of value to your customers. You can then make opting into your text messaging program part of the way customers enter the contest. This way, you engage your audience while getting more people to sign up for your marketing list.

Text messages have indeed revolutionized the way businesses engage their customers. If used correctly, it can be a powerful tool that allows you to market more effectively and also gives you the chance to collect feedback and useful insights about your market. Nevertheless, you should have a proper set up in place to ensure customer messages are given first priority. More importantly, focus on offering quality engagement. Bombarding your customer’s inbox with hundreds of promotional text messages will not help you accomplish any goal.