As common knowledge serves us, text messaging is a way of communication through which two or more users connect with each other. But looking at the bigger picture, text messaging serves a far bigger purpose than just interaction among people. The newest marketing trend that has hit the industry is business text messaging; an efficient, cost-effective and time effective method of sending promotional text messages to customers or potential clients.
Business text messaging not only serves the purpose of sending promotional texts but also for receiving feedback from customers. Companies can send one-line texts after a business transaction such as ‘Are you satisfied with the experience? For yes, reply 1. For no, reply 2.’ This is a convenient method for a business to assess the quality of their services as well as for the customers as it requires minimal effort. Businesses can then make follow up calls to users who are not satisfied with the quality of service, thus identifying the problems and eradicating them to improve service quality. This justifies the increasing popularity of text messaging as it can be used as a tool to improve the efficiency of a business leading to long-term profits. Moreover, all this comes at extremely affordable prices.
Business text messaging includes a wide variety of uses. Nonprofit business organizations can send mass scale texts to users asking for donations for a specific cause. Government organizations can also do the same e.g. plead for donations through text messaging for flood relief camps. It is important to note that the sender or shortcode used to send messages should be authentic otherwise they will be considered spam. Users are not likely to trust unknown numbers that do not follow the proper procedure for SMS marketing. To send promotional or other business text messages, organizations are required to set up an account on an SMS marketing platform to be issued with a shortcode and keywords. Each company has a unique shortcode so that users can recognize the sender.
Another important thing to keep in mind is that business text messaging is permission based. Without running an SMS Campaign allowing users to opt into the service, companies will be carrying out unethical practices. Users must voluntarily agree to receive text messages to protect the rights of customers as well as businesses. Luckily for business organizations, SMS has become the #1 preferred method of communication. Statistics show that text messaging is 10 times faster in resolving common issues as compared to calls. This is why many companies have set up SMS customer support systems. It is faster, cheaper and more efficient. Call helplines are slowly becoming outdated as they are being replaced by SMS helplines.