Re-engaging customers: How SMS messaging can play a role in business recovery
While the coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc for UK businesses, marketers and business engagement professionals are being challenged like never before.
The nationwide Covid-19 lockdown has presented brands with both opportunities and threats. Some have survived and even thrived amid the chaos. Consider the recipe box market, a market that was already buoyant pre-lockdown. Providers such as Gousto experienced huge increases in orders, while hospitality brands such as Bella Italia and Café Rouge have suffered well-reported, catastrophic consequences.
So, as businesses of all sizes start to take tentative steps of recovery back to our new ‘normal’, how can brands reach and communicate with those customers who will be fundamental to their future success?
In these unprecedented times, engagement is key and SMS messaging is a crucial part of the communications mix, particularly because it connects in a way that is quick, personal and direct.
Consumers’ fondness for their mobile devices – demonstrated by the fact that more than 90 percent of SMS messages are opened within three minutes – can only have increased in periods of isolation, when technology has proved to be a lifeline for many.
Savvy brands use mobile messaging not just for its immediacy but also for its versatility. SMS suits everything from marketing messages to reminders, whether for a small business or a global corporation.
Here are just five ways in which SMS can add value to important customer communications post lockdown:
1. Voucher Codes
Voucher codes are a great way to reach out to customers and build loyalty and satisfaction. With SMS open rates of more than 98%, one-off coupons, redeemable online or in-store, outperform their email equivalents.
2. Abandoned Cart
Online retail continues to grow and as more customers shop on mobile, rather than desktop, devices SMS can be a useful tool in tackling the issue of abandoned carts. Because of this, messages can effectively alert customers and remind them of the goods and offers they have left behind.
3. Appointments
SMS appointment solutions can deliver confirmations and reminders that integrate seamlessly with appointment software. As a result, costly missed appointments are greatly reduced in all kinds of settings, from doctors’ surgeries to beauty clinics.
4. Mobile Payments
Mobile payments enable payments to be made via a mobile device. The simplest of these allows payment via text message with the amount added to a mobile phone bill. This is used widely in the charity sector and has a number of applications in a range of settings.
5. Surveys
SMS surveys collect feedback in real-time and achieve high response rates. These can be sent as a series of questions to generate instant replies, allowing live results to be analysed.
Automating the sending of business SMS messages for all purposes is simple with the MessageCloud SMS API, and allows complete integration with existing business systems.
About MessageCloud
MessageCloud is a multi-award-winning mobile messaging provider. Our cloud-based SMS and messaging products enable companies to set up and manage one-way and two-way communications effortlessly. Plus, we offer products to analyse phone numbers, verify users, and accept payments by mobile.
With its range of products, ‘Send’, ‘Numbers’, ‘Verify’, ‘Analyse’ and ‘Pay’, MessageCloud delivers tools that maximise mobile marketing; from virtual numbers to payment systems for carrier billing. And with more than a decade of delivering messages for diverse markets around the globe, it is a service on which you can rely.