What’s the easiest and most effective way to do marketing? SMS marketing of course. But knowing about it and implementing it are two different things. You can send promotional and new product launch messages easily. But there are many points to consider. First being the sourcing of data, knowing what your customers want, which type of content they would like, how will they respond, and so more.
Hence, you need a text messaging CRM that does all the work without putting a burden on your team. There are several factors to consider before deploying such tools such as the kind of automation you want, segmentation, integration, personalization, and the features of the SMS service you choose.
A good SMS service should offer easy-to-use platforms, integration with existing workflows, and ensure security and compliance.
The best and top SMS marketing platforms let you bridge the gap between brands and customers. It’s an effortless way to get the most out of your investment. Also no online ad blockers or any other content related issues occur in such marketing.
What is Text Messaging CRM?
As a business you can send, receive and manage text messages directly within the CRM platform. You can automate customer interactions and send SMS messages to improve organization and communication efficiency. One of the major issues that we face in business is replying late to customers.
You can improve response times easily by using automation or using a mobile friendly CRM, and replying manually to customers. SMS are viewed nearly by 98% recipients. This is a direct indication of how impactful it is.
Text Messaging CRM lets you create personalized text campaigns. The content is short and crisp. So you can take advantage of that and interact with the customers one to one.
Basic things can be done easily. Like setting up the meeting, sending offer discounts, alert them for any mis-information going on about your brand on social media, holiday messages.
Note: Text messages have a response rate of about 45%, significantly higher than the 6% response rate for emails.
7 Best Features to Watch Out for in Best SMS Marketing Platform:
1. Two-Way Messaging
I don’t like brands that just talk about themselves, their products, and new offers. What about my requirements and pain points?
The answer to that question simply lies in the advantages of SMS marketing. You have a two-way messaging medium. Customers can send queries to you directly and have a live conversation; they can let you know their past issues with your brand, give you reasons for leaving the previous brand so you don’t make the same mistake, etc.
To set up two-way messaging, look for a CRM that offers APIs for integration. They acquire dedicated phone numbers or short codes through the provider, which serves as the point of contact for contacts and customers.
Two-way messaging can be used to create interactive marketing campaigns, run competitions, and gather feedback, making it a versatile tool for engaging customers. It also ensures that both sent and incoming SMS messages are clearly displayed, facilitating contextual conversations and reducing confusion.
What it does is removes the communication barriers by allowing customers to respond directly to messages giving them a better experience.
Booking confirmations can be done, where customers can confirm or reschedule appointments via more personalized text messages, reducing no-shows and improve efficiency.
It allows customers to opt-out of brand communications easily by replying with keywords like “STOP” or “UNSUBSCRIBE,” which is crucial for maintaining compliance with regulations.
2. AI-Driven Sentiment Analysis for SMS Conversations
When we talk about trends in marketing, we have to include AI for texting. What a marvelous achievement it has made so far. It has helped improve open rates personalized texts, clicks on links mentioned in the message, selling through messaging, and more.
However, one thing that is really out of the box is sentiment analysis. It’s very important to understand your customers. All your efforts should amount to something.
The emotions and opinions expressed in a text based communications can be grasped. Using NLP you can classify sentiments as positive, negative or neutral.
You can identify customer satisfaction levels and respond accordingly so that issue resolution is done properly.
Text messaging CRM involves feeding messages into AI models that analyze the text for emotional cues. These models are trained on vast datasets to recognize patterns and nuances in language, which lets them classify sentiment. AI-driven models can understand context and intent, providing a more accurate assessment of customer emotions.
Incorporating advanced sms software like Twilio can enhance this process. Twilio’s customizable features and integration capabilities make it a versatile tool for developers and non-developers alike. Its backend functionality allows for seamless automation and connection with other services, making it a powerful tool for businesses looking to utilize SMS capabilities.
You get insights into customer preferences, it helps you for the next step: ‘Next message will be based on this sentiment and the products to advertise will be favourable by the customers rather than the one I want to promote.’
It’s a great SMS marketing strategy! It can be applied any business. All you have to do is be specific with the AI model you are using, and consider it for a long term use.
3. Automated Escalation of Critical Conversations with Automated SMS Messages
Urgent or critical issues should be addressed promptly. Using predefined criteria such as specific keywords, you can automatically escalate conversations to higher-level support teams or managers.
You save a lot of resources and time in the future by doing this. How? These minor issues escalate into major problems. And the next day, you have to figure out too many things.
According to a study, 90% of CX leaders believe AI will resolve most customer issues without human intervention in the future, highlighting the potential of automation in customer service.
Set up a system that monitors customer interactions for specific triggers. Keywords such as ‘emergency’ or ‘urgent’ or negative sentiment detected through AI for texting can be triggered.
Once it is detected, the text messaging CRM automatically escalates the conversations to a more senior support team or manager. Text messaging is often preferred over phone calls for these urgent issues, as it allows for quicker and more convenient communication. So every critical issue receives immediate attention, reducing wait times and improving resolution rates.
You can prevent customer frustration and dissatisfaction. According to Totango, efficient escalation management can significantly improve customer retention rates by ensuring that customers receive the support they need when they need it.
These tools can be deployed in various customer service scenarios. In a call center, it can quickly move up the complaints to senior representatives.
Read more related topic: SMS Marketing Automation & Text Message Services
Note: 72% of customers have made a purchase after receiving a text from a brand, indicating the potential of timely communication in driving sales and loyalty.
4. SMS-Based Customer Journey Mapping
CRM with text messaging takes your customer approach to a whole different level. We aren’t talking about just sales terms or customer queries but about building a relationship that is beneficial for both parties.
The latest AI tools are so powerful that you can automate the whole conversation between customers and your brand. Even train the Chatbots to be your representative, give them brand voice, tone, and more.
They can send appointment reminders and order updates. Its very crucial to define customer journey, that’s where you as a brand learn and customers also understand how you will be able to solve their problems.
“If you make a sale, you can make a living. If you make an investment of time and good service in a customer, you can make a fortune.” – Jim Rohn.
A journey is a visual representation of the stages that customers go through when interacting with a company. By using text messaging CRM, including the ability to send bulk text messages, you can know how customers interact, what are the touchpoints, what was the main issue, and how your employees addressed it.
Data is well synchronized, so customer information is up to date. This also helps in personalizing the various communication channels, by creating targeted SMS campaigns.
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5. Intelligent Message Routing Based on Customer Behavior
Each customer has a specific query or sales issue, hence personalized attention is required. Intelligent message routing uses machine learning to analyze customers’ behavior and preferences.
So the incoming messages are directed to the most suitable team member or department. Billing issues go to the finance team. Product inquiries are sent to the sales team.
The process of intelligent message routing involves several key steps. First, the system collects data about the incoming message, such as its content and the customer’s interaction history. The data is analyzed using set rules and criteria to find the best recipient.
The system considers factors like the type of inquiry, customer preferences, and the expertise of team members. Once the analysis is complete, the message is routed to the chosen team member or department.
This smart routing helps customers get special support. It boosts the chances of resolving issues quickly and well.
When businesses use intelligent message routing in their sms services, they can send messages to the right teams and respond faster. This also boosts the chances of solving customer questions in the first go.
This feature optimizes resource allocation. It ensures each team member manages messages that match their expertise. This way, productivity improves, and workload decreases.
6. Real-Time Feedback Loop for Continuous Improvement
It’s always beneficial to collect feedback from customers. Because there is a business relationship, they will be honest, and you can improve your brand identity.
Text messaging CRM enables a primary channel for gathering insights. You can automate feedback collection processes, so that customers’ experiences are captured and analyzed.
You adapt quickly to their needs, and customers are happy to receive your service. This SMS feedback works by sending surveys or feedback requests to customers via text messages.
These messages are triggered by specific events such as after a purchase or service interaction. Then it is collected, tracked and studied within the system.
Example: A restaurant might send a text survey to diners after their visit, encouraging immediate responses while their experience is fresh. This approach leads to higher response rates and more actionable feedback.
You can identify areas for improvement quickly and make adjustments to the service or products. The customers spend most of their time on mobile devices, so it’s easy to collect feedback using mobile apps. These apps enhance the overall SMS marketing experience by providing user-friendly interfaces and effective two-way communication.
A/B testing lets users compare different subject lines. Then, the better-performing version is automatically sent to the rest of their audience.
7. Scheduled Broadcasts and Bulk Text Messages
The easiness that you can have with SMS marketing is unmatchable. There are plenty of times when I scroll through text messages to check new offers on anything. The reason why I go to text messages for that is because it’s easy, rather than email or anything else.
Use this psychology to schedule broadcasts and bulk messages. That’s one of the biggest advantages of text messaging CRM. You can segment customer data and send bulk messages to them.
This is utilized best in marketing campaigns, promotions, or announcements that let companies reach a large audience. You can even automate these broadcasts.
Let’s say a festival is coming in the next 3 weeks. So pre-plan your messages, create it and schedule it. So your messages are sent at the right time aligning with the trends.
This helps in increasing conversion rates by sending targeted messages to the right audience at the right time.
Example: A retailer or web app can send exclusive offers to customers who have shown interest in specific products, enhancing customer loyalty and encouraging repeat business.
This also reduces the burden on the employees and saves time from their routine tasks.
Scheduled broadcasts also facilitate real-time communication between businesses and customers. By sending timely updates and reminders, companies can keep customers informed about important events or changes.
Conclusion:
As a brand if you want to grow then SMS marketing is the best thing. Make your team understand how trends and this text messaging can be aligned. Use emoji’s, MMS and more to make the SMS look interactive.
Use CTA and keep the messages short, and your sales numbers will increase. Always segment your data, and only then will you be able to understand who your audience is. It’s one of the most cost-effective and high-ROI-bringing mediums. Also, the majority of customers prefer to interact one-to-one and fast. Hence, using text messaging CRM will be of use to you in many ways in terms of marketing, the sales process, and after-service.
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