Four scenarios for building great SMS experiences

Believe it or not, SMS has been around for almost 30 years following its introduction back in 1992.

It’s arguably the most robust, reliable and ubiquitous messaging service around – you don’t even need a smart phone to receive text messages.

Despite that, many businesses have struggled to embed a successful, engaging SMS capability into their customer experience. With so much potential, many organisations assume that a successful SMS implementation is a result of significant spend in both time and budget.

However, it doesn’t have to be like that and integrated SMS communications are very much within reach of businesses of all sizes. Through embracing SMS as a direct communication channel, businesses can deliver messages straight into the hands of their customers; all whilst not breaking the bank.

With SMS being accessible for both internal and external recipients, now is the time to improve communication across your business processes. This will allow you to deliver your company message to a broader audience without the risk of the message becoming lost amongst thousands of emails, or simply being another missed call statistic.

Below are four examples of integrating SMS within your existing business tools – take a look and see how you can be incorporating SMS into your organisation today.

Order Confirmations

Allow your customers the freedom to send their order confirmation receipts straight to their phones. Once an order is placed either via telephone or confirmed on your website, send an SMS to your customer thanking them for their purchase, including details of their order, and even a link to an order-tracking page where available.

SMS order confirmations allow your customer to connect further with your business whilst the purchase is still at the forefront of their mind. Follow up with voucher codes and special offers to generate additional opportunities and deliver additional value to your customers.

Stock Level Alerts

Notify your purchasing team when stock items are running low. Through setting up alerts, your business can quickly respond to fluctuations in demand, ensuring you always have a constant supply available. Inventory management is improved as stock levels are optimised.

Alternatively, SMS alerts can be used to notify customers that their regular purchases are running low, triggering inbound enquiries and purchasing responses.

Back-in-Stock Alerts

For your customers, there is nothing more frustrating than attempting to purchase an item that is out of stock. It is also extremely frustrating for your business, unable to fulfil customer expectations, which is simply lost revenue.

With SMS back-in-stock alerts, your customer can be notified when failed purchases are made available, driving sales which previously would be lost opportunities.

SMS Marketing

SMS marketing will allow you to deliver your brand message to your customers where they are; communicating directly with your customers, right in the palm of their hand.

Your business can benefit from the higher open rates of SMS, compared with traditional email marketing campaigns, and be assured of the delivery success rate also.

Whilst highly flexible, SMS will allow your organisation to strengthen engagement levels with your customers with a consistent, cross-channel brand message.

Integrate SMS Into Your Business

Automated SMS messaging can be driven by most modern-day SaaS software solutions. Integrating with platforms such as Twilio Programmable SMS, simple notifications can be easily set up and maintained by your business.

Get started today, and enable your customers to engage with you and develop longer-lasting relationships through SMS.