Business texting is a relatively new addition to the small business marketers handbook, but it has quickly become one of the most important tools on the market today. Thanks to an incredible growth in cellphone reliance, it’s nearly impossible to find an adult person in America without a cell phone. And this doesn’t just mean people are taking more calls – in fact, people are using their phones not to make calls but for texting.
For today’s businesses, business texting basically guarantees your message will be read by anyone who receives a text, making it an incredibly popular marketing strategy with an amazing ROI potential.
Text messaging is transforming the way businesses operate on multiple levels, both inside and outside the organization. Here are 5 ways texting is changing business for the better:
- Texting connects your business with consumers where they want to be engaged.
Thanks to the onslaught of online marketplaces, retail apps, and delivery services, the way consumers engage with brands has changed. It’s no longer enough to just have an amazing product or great customer service. Consumers expect to have valuable interactions with brands where they want and when they want. Enter text messaging. Nearly 89% of consumers prefer to interact with businesses via text rather than a phone call, an incredible statistic for a form of communication that was only introduced two decades ago. Instead of hunting consumers down via phone or through an email, small businesses can quickly and efficiently enter into two-way conversations with consumers through texting.
- It has uncovered unprecedented consumer insights that can help your team grow.
Thanks to the widespread growth of cell phones and smartphones, it’s easy for companies to learn more about their consumers through their mobile actions and responses. For small businesses, knowing and growing with your customers is the key to building a successful company. 31% of customers respond to text surveys within 6 minutes of receiving them. If you want to know what your customers are thinking, just ask them! With these insights in hand, your team can make strategic, data-backed decisions to help move your business forward.
- Texting can help turn new leads into customers faster than traditional methods.
Traditionally, businesses would have to wait for customers to fill out their contact information, send them a confirmation email, and then switch between calling and sending an email until maybe receiving a response. Even then, this response doesn’t necessarily mean new business. With text messages, small businesses can send out coupons, offers, and other incentives to prospects that encourage action. Plus, an incredible 95% of all texts are opened within 3 minutes of receiving them, making it faster than ever before to engage with prospective new consumers.
- Texting helps your business attract repeat customers and build a loyal following.
Business texting isn’t just for finding and engaging with new customers either. Current customers check their phones just as much as new ones and this audience have even more potential for text message success. Take a local car dealership, for example. Just because a customer buys a car there doesn’t mean they’ll return for service appointments. While most companies turn straight to the email, innovative small businesses can send service reminders, appointment reminders, and even updates (aka, ‘Your car is ready!’) to current customers. Because marketing emails stand only a 10% chance of being opened and read, text messages are a much faster, easier way to connect with your clients faster.
- It helps streamline internal processes for a more productive, efficient small business.
Unsurprisingly, business texting doesn’t just benefit consumers and current customers. Small business teams can also leverage this innovative technology to build more efficient operations. By diverting cumbersome phone call and email processes to a text-based messaging solution, businesses can decrease voicemails by 84%, decrease on-hold time by 81%, and save almost 20 hours per month for every person in a service department.
Want to learn more?
While business texting may seem high-tech and out-of-reach, it’s actually incredibly easy to get up and running with a text messaging solution. With Kenect, businesses can leverage our best-in-class text messaging platform to connect with more consumers, close more business, and truly stand out from the competition. Request your personal demo here.
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