How mobile messaging enhances the customer journey

It’s a fact that customers are becoming ever more attached to their mobile phones and mobile messaging. According to Ofcom, people in the UK check their smartphones every 12 minutes of the waking day, and two in five adults first look at their phone within five minutes of waking up.

Unsurprising, then, that smartphones also now play a significant and increasing role in modern consumer journeys. From researching products and services to making purchases via websites and apps, mobile devices lead the way.

Google’s recent study, ‘Getting Things Done on Mobile,’ recognised the importance of the smartphone in this process. Calling it ‘indispensable’, they found that 75% of people say their smartphone makes them ‘more productive’.

This empowerment of consumers gives brands a real challenge – how can they support customers and meet their emerging demands for efficiency? A seamless mobile journey surely forms the foundations and lets brands build a solid base for future customer relationships.

Five key MessageCloud products pave the way:

Send

A fast, reliable and easy-to-use system, the MessageCloud Send product lets you send SMS mobile messages to a list.

The most straightforward application of Send, for businesses just getting started with SMS marketing, is sending simple promotional or communication messages like company updates of blanket product offers. Think Dominos and their Friday text message offers! For a more advanced user journey, this product can be used for automated processes like booking confirmations or delivery updates.

Verify

With 78% of people regularly forgetting their passwords, account security codes that allow people to get back into their online accounts can be lifesavers! The Verify service secures transactions by giving people one-time passwords (OTPs) to verify purchases. These often result in immediate action because people don’t tend to be far from their phones.

If your business website handles payment transactions above a certain amount, or you often see long gaps between purchases, you can send a one-time code to your customers just before their purchase is complete to confirm identity. Once the correct code is entered on the website, the order can be processed and the transaction completed.

Numbers

The Numbers product makes SMS messaging a two-way conversation between you and your customers. Both long and shortcode numbers are offered that allow you to receive messages from an advertising campaign. You can also use it for a simple reply-to-text feature if you want to generate leads from a Send campaign.

For example, our clients have had success with to reply-to-text campaigns. By using a virtual number, you can message your customer list offering them a service, a product or an appointment, with the option to reply to the text message to confirm. You then have a list of leads with a confirmed interest in your product on which to follow up.

Pay

Mobile payments are becoming increasingly common as people’s devices become their wallets. They can browse and buy via mobiles, so also being able to pay through them was the next logical step. Our Pay product allows customers to pay through mobile carrier billing for anything from membership subscriptions to car parking.

A great example of simple, effective mobile payment is the text to donate calls-to-action frequently seen in charity adverts and fundraising drives. A simple word text to a five-digit number and people can authorise payments through their phone bills.

Analyse

Everyone who handles large amounts of data knows the importance of data cleansing. This is especially important if you’re looking to get started with something like mobile messaging.

For example, if you’ve collected customer mobile numbers over a long period of time and now want to use them for marketing purposes, the first thing to do is make sure the numbers are still valid. The Analyse tool gives information about the validity, format and country location of the mobile number. This means you can produce an accurate, up-to-date list for your marketing activities.

These five core products recognise mobile’s emerging position as an aid to productivity and provide brands with real opportunities to build and enhance the customer journey.

About MessageCloud

MessageCloud is a multi-award winning mobile messaging provider. Its cloud-based SMS and messaging products enable companies to set up and manage one-way and two-way communications effortlessly. Also, it offers products to analyse phone numbers, verify users and accept payments by mobile.

And with more than a decade of delivering messages for diverse markets around the globe, it is a service on which you can rely.