What is email automation?

Email marketing automation is a strategy that sees marketers send triggered or timed promotional emails to subscribers on their mailing list. It enables online marketers to send out personalized messages to both prospects and customers on a schedule or when specific conditions are met.

Some examples of automated emails are onboarding emails sent when a customer signs up for a mailing list, similar product recommendations after a user has bought from your site, or a quick reminder that the customer placed something in their cart but never finished checking out.

Email automation takes repeated tasks off your to-do list to free up your time for other valuable tasks, such as responding to customer questions. It can help customers learn more about your brand, encourage them to keep coming back or remind them of why they bought from you in the first place.

Email automation is a way to create emails that reach the right people with the right message at the right moment—without doing the work every time, sending automated messages leveraging a marketing automation tool.

Email marketing automation best practices

If you are wondering where you should begin to create a successful email automation strategy, here are the best practices to get started.

1.Segmentation

All of your customers or subscribers are not the same. That’s why you should be treating them differently.

It’s not enough to simply send out newsletters anymore, not in this competitive eCommerce environment. If you treat every potential customer the same, dumping them into one giant email track, you’re going to rub people the wrong way, which will undoubtedly leave them with the impression that you don’t understand their needs and won’t be able to help.
Instead, you’ll need to make sure that you can identify and separate your subscribers and customers into different segments.

Use WayMore’s marketing automation software and get customers’ personal data automatically segmented and send personalized messages to them. Show your customers how important they are and increase their loyalty.

2. A/B Testing

A/B testing is very important for your email marketing automation strategy. You can try more than just one idea at a time by setting up your communications so that two versions of the same message go out, each with different things you want to test and find the best results for your subscribers.

Here are some great ideas for A/B testing you can start doing today:

• Test the subject lines with a different discount to see if % or $ signs work better for your subscribers.
• Test the same subject line with and without emojis. You will get valuable insight into how your subscribers react to emojis. If positively, emojis will help you get noticed every time you email your list.
• Test subject lines with the subscriber’s name included and removed. See if using their name works better. Don’t forget to review your list of subscribers to see if all the names that the subscribers have entered are valid.
• Try different versions of subject lines, ones indicating limited-time offers and ones without it. You’ll understand if your subscribers react to this kind of pressure to click on the email and buy.
• Test if sending email campaigns from a person or using your business name generates better open rates.

Read more on how to write email subject lines that sell.

3. Web tracking and customer profiles

Understanding your customers and responding to them is an important part of providing to them. That’s why proper tracking is so important.

With WayMore’s powerful marketing automation software you can get detailed real-time reports on customer behavior including time, location, messages read, conversion rates can all be tracked and analyzed.

4. Targeted signup forms

Email marketing automation is all about the subscriber, particularly after the implementation of the GDPR. It’s well known that when a customer buys from you once, they’ll be much more likely to buy from you again and again. A great way to get them started is to have them sign up through any of the signup forms on your website.

That means you’ll have to use advanced signup tactics in your eCommerce marketing automation strategy. You can gather customer details through forms you can easily create and customize, segment data automatically and personalize your business communications as we already mentioned, fast and securely with Forms by Routee.

Email automation in retail

Email automation rules in the retail business. Automated emails enable retailers to have more than one touch-points with prospective and loyal clients. Automated emails bring in substantial ROI, as they are sent based on a subscriber’s behavior or a period of time.

Retail clients want to receive regular updates about their orders, promotions, and sales, as well as other related offers. Automated emails are used to keep consumers updated on purchases and account activity, and they’re often transactional or “triggered,” which means they’re sent because of something the customer did. From welcome emails to shipping notifications to requests for product reviews, there are plenty of ways that retailers can use email automation.

Some of the most common automated emails in retail are:

• Welcome emails
• Order confirmations
• Shipping confirmations
• Email address confirmations
• Password reset emails
• Support notifications
• Cart abandonment emails
• Purchase receipts
• Registration confirmations
• Related product emails
• Review request emails

What’s next for your business?

With all there is to achieve in email marketing automation, it is important that you have some amazing tools in your arsenal. Try out WayMore’s powerful marketing automation software and let your business thrive! Get started now and don’t forget to use everything you’ve learned here for unbelievable results!

Up today, the thought of creating an eshop for your physical store may have sounded daunting to you. You have limited resources, no technical knowledge, and a huge inventory that needs to be taken care of. However, as consumer shopping habits are constantly changing, your ways of conducting business should be adapting too.

Social and technological changes redefine the way customers shop, from the economic boom to the rise of subscription boxes and the internet.

The e-commerce revolution is a case in point. It has transformed the business world and shopping habits, making things easier and more convenient for shoppers. And it has not only impacted the big retailers but also small businesses, with a lot finding success online and growing beyond their expectations.

Why is e-commerce important for your business?

In 2021, according to Statista, over 2.14 billion people worldwide are expected to buy goods and services online.

In a post-COVID-19 world and with all the safety and health regulations in place, it is no surprise that eCommerce is booming. As we speak, there are more online stores than ever, and online shopping is overtaking retail. According to a Nasdaq report, 95% of retail purchases will be made online by 2040, deeming traditional retail almost non-existent.

Some small business owners continue to think that eCommerce is not for them and that their customers are not online. As shopping habits constantly change, so does the variety of people shopping online. In the past, older customers felt uncomfortable shopping online due to the complexity of technology. As the internet is currently dominating all our devices and with peoples’ fears of COVID-19, online shopping is becoming the preferred method for people of all ages.

How can your small business benefit from e-commerce?

1. Greater reach means a larger customer base and increased revenue

eCommerce will help you expand your customer base beyond what is locally possible. You can reach a much wider customer base than relying on traditional face-to-face interactions. Αn online store enables you to sell to customers globally. Even if you are not looking for that kind of expansion, you will still be able to sell to a broader audience within your country.

As you widen your reach and you grow your customer base, it only comes naturally that you will impact your sales and boost your revenue.

2. Low operational costs

As a business owner, you are juggling cost-cutting with growth. One of the benefits of having an online store is that you can grow without the need to invest in physical stores at all the locations where you wish to sell your products or services. Your online store has got you covered, as it is location-free and requires very little capital outlay.
Overall, opening up an online store is a lot more reasonable for your small business as you try to operate and grow with limited finances.

3. Build a strong reputation

A large majority of consumers are very vocal about their customer experiences. They voice their opinions and recommend e-stores to their followers on social media.

Word of mouth is still one of the most popular marketing methods that can help any brand go viral overnight. Social media recommendations can drive customers to choose small business online stores over their mega counterparts. This way, small businesses that remained unknown until now can lock down the buyers with superior quality product and service offerings and personalized shopping experiences delivered through e-commerce solutions.

In comparison to the retail environment where it is difficult to get customer reviews, it is much more comfortable and easier to do so online. By asking customers for reviews online and publishing them on social media platforms and other sales channels you can build credibility.

4. Be present in search engines

Search engines are the holy grail of online activity. Rather than reaching out to your audience by printed advertising or by contacting them by phone, you can optimize your communication through a search engine to make things much easier and comfortable. The search engine pairs a customer’s search inquiries with products and information that exists online.

By establishing an eCommerce business, you can rank high in search engines and start receiving recurring traffic to your store. As you start adopting the best eCommerce and SEO practices, you can convert these visits to a steady customer flow for your business.

5. Greater Convenience and Accessibility

Overall, eCommerce has made things a lot easier for both business owners and consumers. It has made it easier for you to sell more online, while the customer benefits from the simplicity and ease of online shopping.

The fact that the Internet never “sleeps” and that your business can be available 24/7 allows potential customers to research your product or service thoroughly and in the privacy of their own homes. An online store allows them to place their orders around the clock, as soon as they are interested, as opposed to waiting for your physical store to open, by which time they might have lost the urge to buy something from you and might have purchased from a competitor.

6. Have a clear picture of what works for your business

In your physical store, it is probably impossible to study your customers’ buying habits.

Online stores and analytics can give you the chance to keep a constant eye on your customers’ buying habits and interests (e.g., most popular products, days and times when customers buy the most, discounts and deals that mostly interest customers, and so on) to make decisions accordingly.

Based on the vital insights that you can collect online, you can tailor your offerings and provide personalized experiences that match customers’ requirements, satisfy their needs, sell more efficiently and build long-lasting relationships with them.

Make a step forward, take your small business online

You can start your online store by uploading your product inventory and taking advantage of the millions of customers turning to online shopping, without needing to have any technical knowledge or to make a big investment.

Once you take the step, with the help of Routee you can easily integrate your eCommerce solution with our marketing automation tools to reap the benefits of automation and omnichannel communication and make every customer journey count. You can strengthen customer relationships by sending out transactional SMS messages about customer orders, by creating welcome email sequences for newly registered users, or by sending push notifications about abandoned shopping carts. Now is the time for your small business to go online and start meeting its potential.

Find out more tips for newcomers to eCommerce.

Consumers find your business attractive and they are certainly into you. Now it is time to wow your new subscribers with your welcome email and make a good first impression. According to research, 74.4% of users expect a welcome email when signing up or subscribing to a website or newsletter.

A welcome email is the first interaction you have with your new subscribers after they have confirmed their interest in you. The main goal of this first email message is to confirm a new registration and welcome a new subscriber aboard but to also create a welcoming and warm environment for newcomers to feel like they have made the right choice in subscribing to your content.

Why is the welcome email important?

Welcome emails have an average open rate of 52.09%, which is 86% higher than other emails . Besides, new subscribers tend to read those emails and even buy when incentivized by them, reporting an average conversion rate of about 3%, which overcomes the majority of other automated emails sent by eCommerce businesses.

A welcome email conceals many opportunities to approach your new subscribers and build relationships with them. On top of that, this type of email builds up a powerful lead generation engagement. However, if you fail to communicate effectively with newcomers, soon they can turn to your competitors. To help you in making the best first impression possible, we have assembled some tips on how you can make your welcome email stand out.

How to make your welcome email attract attention

1. Show appreciation

“Thanks” is one of the most powerful words to use in your emails, as it adds a human quality to your email and also builds brand loyalty. Show your appreciation to new subscribers for joining your email list, with a short written note, or with the use of images, videos, or GIFs, keeping in mind your brand’s tone of voice of course.

When subscribers know you appreciate them, they are more likely to have positive feelings towards you and your brand.

Communicate in a friendly way with your new subscribers using personalization, so you can help them relate to your brand and enhance their sense of belonging to a group. Including a subscriber’s first name may catch their attention and increase engagement.

2. Be straightforward

Explicitly tell your subscribers what they can expect from you. Your welcome email should be the place where you set expectations.

Share information about the type of content (sales, offers, new blog posts, product releases, company news, and so on) and set the frequency of how often your subscribers will receive emails from you (monthly, weekly, daily, etc.) is essential.

Being as clear as possible helps build trust with your new audience, defines the relationship, and prevents subscribers from being unpleasantly surprised by your email content – leading to spam complaints and unsubscribes. It can also increase the excitement for what you will be offering them and the value you will be providing them.

3. Tell your story

Storytelling is a smart marketing method to show your brand’s personality and start building meaningful connections with your audience. Your welcome email is a great place to share who you are, what you do, and how you can help your customers. It allows you to connect with subscribers on a more profound level and sets you apart from the competition. Keep in mind that not everyone who signs up for your list is already a converted customer. They might need a little extra information about you and your brand to build up trust.

Play your strong cards: beautiful images of happy customers, your most popular products, free returns warranty, and so on. The more subscribers familiarize themselves with who you are and what you do, the better chances you have to sell your product or service in later emails.

4. Build customer care communication bridges

Share with your new subscribers your customer service contact information to make yourself accessible to them. Provide them with ways to further your relationship and learn more about them by giving them the chance to reply to your emails or call you.

Remember to provide them with the links to your social proof by giving them your official social media profiles on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc., and encourage them to follow your pages and connect with your brand. If they like receiving your emails, they will most likely enjoy your social media updates too.

5. Ask to get whitelisted

The first email is the best time to ask your subscribers to whitelist your email address, that is to add you to their contact list, so your future emails make it to their Primary inbox, instead of their Spam folder. It is very likely that subscribers are waiting for your email and will open it as soon as it hits their inbox. Your welcome email is an ideal message to ask subscribers to whitelist your email address, compared to asking them weeks or months later. Offer instructions on how they can whitelist your email address and emphasize the benefits of doing so (special deals, valuable updates, and so on).

6. Place a clear call-to-action (CTA)

Boost email conversion rate by designing and placing an effective call-to-action (CTA) button in your welcome email message. Depending on your goals, you may encourage your customers to complete a series of different actions. For example, you may ask them to visit your website to learn more about your company or products, to read an article on your blog, to provide you with feedback, to enter a giveaway contest for new subscribers, to get a special discount for their first purchase, and so on. Make sure your call to action is clear, stylish, catchy, and simple to act upon for the customer.

When designing a CTA button, remember that every small detail matters. The size and color of the button as well as the font’s size, color, and type may influence the effectiveness of your email marketing campaign. By running an A/B test of your CTA, you can measure the effectiveness of different variants.

7. Keep your message short

No one enjoys reading long emails. So if you want customers to read the entire email, you should keep it short. Instead of writing just text, try to enrich your welcome message with some media content, so you can grab attention and build a strong visual brand identity. It is important to keep your email templates visually appealing to increase your chances of capturing the attention of your new subscribers who most probably receive a bunch of emails every day.

8. Create a welcome series

If a welcome email can prove beneficial, imagine what a sequence or series of welcome emails can do! An email sequence of welcome emails is an ideal way to onboard your new subscribers. Research shows that a sequence of three welcome emails can generate 90% more orders than a single welcome email. By onboarding your new subscribers with more than just one email, you can add more information about your brand, creating and reinforcing a solid first impression that can ultimately boost your sales.

A welcome email series can take many forms. For example, you can send an email when a user subscribes to your email thanking them for subscribing, followed by a second email a couple of days later, offering a special coupon for their first purchase, and a third email a few days after with instructions on how to find you on social media or register for your loyalty program.

What’s next for your business?

Your welcome emails are like brand ambassadors for your business. They have the ability to make or break your brand. It is essential that they create a warm and welcoming environment for your subscribers and that they include elements of your brand identity, embodying its personality. Welcome emails can enable you to grow your brand, building strong and loyal relationships.

Regardless of whether you decide to send one single welcome email or a series of three to five welcome emails, you can always automate the onboarding process with the right marketing automation platform. With Waymore you can easily create automated welcome email workflows, perfectly fit your needs.

Losing customers harms your business in oh-so-many distinct ways! Be it revenue loss, the increased costs of attracting new customers, lower brand reputation, and the list goes on. But let us focus on the bright side of life. Loyal customers are five times as likely to repurchase, five times as likely to forgive, seven times as likely to try a new offering, and four times as likely to refer. So it all comes down to attending to what the customers want.

In this ever-competitive and global market, it comes as no surprise why companies of all sizes and in all industries are abandoning traditional business-driven and product-driven strategies and start embracing customer-centricity approaches. Consumers have limitless choices directly in front of them. If brands want to perform well, they can no longer afford to think only about what is good for their business without taking into account the impact of their tactics on the customer experience. Now, more than ever, businesses must focus on fostering a customer-centric mindset, making the customer central to all their business processes and policies. Research shows that client-centric companies are 60% more profitable compared to companies not focused on the customer. Customer satisfaction, customer feedback, and customer experience are here to stay.

This article will help you understand the concept of customer experience, what it includes, how it differentiates from customer service, and why it is an essential factor for your business. We will discuss how you can measure customer experience and what are the key metrics that you should keep in mind. We will also give you some tips from our very own expertise on how you can improve your brand’s customer experience. So let’s dive into the amazing world of customer experience!

What is customer experience CX?

Customer experience, widely known as CX, is the customers’ 360 perception of their transactions with a business or brand. CX includes all interactions a customer has with a business, ranging from browsing the brand’s website to talking to a customer representative for information or customer service, and extends way after the customer’s receipt of the brand’s products or services. You need to realize that customer experience does not stop after purchase. It encompasses the entire relationship a customer has with a business before purchase and long after the purchase.

Customer experience vs Customer service

Customer service is often misperceived as customer experience. Things are pretty simple and crystal clear. Customer service is just one part of the whole customer experience. CX is the overall perception of what customers think of a brand based on their interaction with it, whereas customer service addresses specific touchpoints within the customer experience. For example, when a customer requests and receives help from a business (e.g., when a customer calls or sends an email to customer service to solve a problem or make an inquiry about a purchased product) is considered customer service.

How can you measure CX?

Here is a list of the five most important metrics to measure customer experience. Keep in mind that all of these metrics must be accounted for when assessing your customer experience strategy, as they all provide data about co-dependent parts of the customer experience to get the desirable in-depth insights for optimizing your brand’s CX.

Net Promoter Score (NPS)

The Net Promoter Score (NPS), first developed in 2003 by the top management consulting firm Bain and Company, measures the loyalty of customers to a business or brand. NPS employs a single-question survey and typically uses the following question of “How likely is it that you would recommend Business X/Product Y/Service Z to a friend or colleague on a scale from 0-10?”

Based on their answers, customers are segmented into three groups, the detractors, the passives, and the promoters.

NPS is a quite simple, quick, and user-friendly process, as customers only have to select the score they most likely agree with. With NPS, a business can easily identify its potential promoters and reach out to them, asking them to refer the brand to friends and social media followers. Studies have shown that higher Net Promoter Scores correlate with higher revenue for a business. For example, a seven-point increase in NPS associates with a 1% business growth increase.

However, taking into account only this metric, a business cannot have clear insights into what specific touchpoints meet the customers’ expectations. The customer experience with a brand is a much-complicated relationship than just likely-to-refer feedback. Customers may indeed love the products or services of a brand or a business however they can be very dissatisfied with the brand’s customer service or after-sales care. Consequently, other CX metrics must be accounted for in the overall measurement of the customer experience. A business must be able to understand the reasons behind the numbers of customers that are not promoters but simply passives.

Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)

The Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) deals with tracking how customers feel about a brand’s products and services. CSAT employs a set of questions that can determine a customer’s level of satisfaction at key-interaction times, asking questions such as “How would you rate your overall satisfaction with the Product X/Service Y you just received?” Customers are requested to select between a range of answers (e.g., Very unsatisfied, Unsatisfied, Neutral, Satisfied, Very satisfied) for different touchpoints of interaction with the brand, such as the moment of purchase, the onboarding process, a support ticket communication, or a specific communication with the brand’s customer service.

The CSAT is also a simple, flexible, and user-friendly process, where customers only have to select the rate with which they mostly agree. With CSAT, a business can easily have a view of how customers perceive the brand through diverse touchpoints. So the business can easily identify pain points or particular problem areas or its customer journey and take action.

However, if your business operates internationally, you have to keep in mind the cultural differences, as customers from diverse countries tend to rate a brand differently. For example, Japanese people are more modest in the intensity of expressing their feelings, as compared to Americans who express themselves more loudly. Not to mention that ratings may have different meanings for every person, even if they share the same culture. For instance, customers A and B may have both rated one of the touchpoints or a product as “satisfied”, however for customer A, this may mean that he had a great experience, whereas, for customer B, this may mean that she had an “ok” experience.

Overall Star Rating

The Overall Star Rating presents the general evaluation of a business, brand, or product as reviewed by the customers, usually on a rating scale from one to five stars. For example, Google My Business is a review site that includes a 5-star rating scale for the businesses showcased. Users can log in with their credentials and rate any business or brand they have had an experience with. The Overall Star Rating enables customers to review their experience as a whole with a brand’s products, services, or the brand per se.

This customer experience metric is pretty easy to track and -like the Net Promoter Score- higher star ratings mean more revenue for a business. Research has shown that a one-star increase in overall star rating leads to a 5% to 9% increase in revenue.

Besides, many times, when customers rate a business low, they also leave a written description or complaint explaining the reason for their low-rate review. This way, a business can easily identify pain points or problem areas that need improvement and take action.

Of course, the Overall Star Rating also cannot be taken into account on its own as a stand-alone metric. Not every business has enough reviews for overall star rating to be a helpful metric. This may need an extra effort from your company to request reviews from customers. Not to mention the fact that your overall star rating is also affected by customer experiences that took place in the distant past, so it can be helpful to instead look only at reviews posted in a certain recent period.

Customer Effort Score (CES)

The Customer Effort Score (CES) -first introduced in 2010 by the Corporate Executive Board (CEB), a global best practice insights and technology company, subsidiary of Gartner- measures the effort customers had to exercise to use a product or service, to find the information they needed, or to get an issue resolved. CES employs questions such as “Company X made it easy for me to handle my Y issue.”

Usually, customers are requested to select between a scale range rate of one to five, where one represents a “strongly disagree” statement and five represents a “strongly agree” reply.

So the less effort required by a customer to complete a task or solve an issue with the brand or the brand’s product or service, the greater the CES score is, and hence, the higher the customer satisfaction is. In simple words, if your customers think they work too hard to get a solution from your company, there is a good chance they will decide to go to a competitor and thus, ravage your customer retention rate.

Like CSAT, CES surveys customers after a single touchpoint in time. It can identify a single issue and problematic areas however, as a stand-alone metric, Customer Effort Score holds no vital in-depth value for a business that wishes to dig deeper and gain greater insight into its customer experience.

Customer Churn Rate

The Churn Rate measures the scale at which customers stop doing business with a brand in a certain period. For example, assuming that a brand has 100 customers one year, but only 85 of them continue using its products or services the next year, then the brand’s churn rate for the year is 15%.

For businesses and brands that operate on a subscription model, measuring the Churn Rate is pretty straightforward, as they can calculate how many subscribers stayed and how many unsubscribed or did not renew over a certain period. However, businesses that do not use a subscription model will have to dig deeper into their customer data to calculate their churn rate.

The churn rate enables a business to identify customers at risk of leaving by studying the characteristics of the customers who have already left this business. The Know-Your-Customer concept proves super helpful in this case as the company can develop an action plan to ensure retention of these types of customers. As estimated, acquiring a new customer is anywhere from five to twenty-five times more expensive than retaining an existing one, so focusing on reducing a brand’s Churn Rate can prove cost-effective for this business.

At the same time, a business can have a better grasp of its problem-areas and take action in improving them (e.g., customers may leave due to delayed responses from customer service.)
Of course, the churn rate cannot be reduced totally, as a normal number of customers is inevitable that they will leave a brand or business within a period due to numerous non-controllable factors (e.g., some customers may not belong to your target market anymore because of age or other preferences, traits, or competition, and so on.)

How can your business improve customer experience?

Improving the customer experience is not an easy ride. According to marketing research, it takes twelve positive experiences to repair the damage caused by a single unresolved negative one.

We at Routee believe that it takes two to tango; a business willing to walk the extra mile to track its customer experience and optimize it to its greater good and an intelligent tool that will facilitate and boost this effort to produce optimum results.

So, if you are a business with a vision of providing great CX, plan forward and put in action surveys to collect in-depth feedback from your customers and better understand their pain points and how you can resolve them. Make use of Routee’s intuitive omnichannel platform to conduct efficient and instant SMS surveys, build rich forms for capturing customer data, and leverage the power of marketing automation to get the invaluable feedback you need to elevate your customer experience.

Make sure you engage your entire business in the process, as elevating the customer experience is a team effort, all your departments must be aligned with your vision to provide the best customer experience possible for your customers.

Implement the right customer experience strategy and use the proper marketing platform to turn your customers into loyal ones, make your loyal customers your brand ambassadors, start enjoying the fruits of your labor, and watch your business and your profits grow.

Read more on why personalization is key in customer experience.

If you want to be successful in business nowadays, you have to stand out from the competition. The first step is to provide your customers with proper care and support.

If your consumers have important questions or various technical issues with your products or services, immediate support is not only required but expected. High-quality customer support will increase overall satisfaction, which, in turn, can result in nine referrals per one happy customer. Besides, it will also avoid the adverse effects of angry customers who give negative responses.

How can SMS help you?

A growing number of businesses now use SMS messages. Research shows that texting is an effective way to support and service customers. What makes SMS so powerful though? More than 4 billion people all over the world use SMS services. Also, 90% of customers read SMS messages in the first 3 minutes they receive them when the average email open rate at the same time is just 20%. SMS is also an incredibly flexible platform. Your messages can be customized specifically to address individual recipients or key groups of people on your subscriber list. As a bonus, customers don’t have to be connected to a data plan to receive incoming SMS messages.

What is SMS customer support?

When we talk about SMS Customer Support, we mean the support given by a business to a client using text messaging. It needs no face-to-face interaction or verbal communication. eWeek reports show that 52% of people would likely prefer to text with a customer support representative if given the option.

Improve customer support with SMS

If you want to get the advantages of the SMS benefits to support your customers and your business, here are some ideas on how you can get started.

1. Get feedback

Most of the customers that have a bad experience with your business will not take the time to complain. Get ahead of issues by getting customer satisfaction feedback via SMS polls. Customers can submit feedback anonymously and simply, a fact that helps companies advance their customer service experience in the future.

2. Allow 2-way communication with your clients

Two-way communication allows consumers to fix a problem with a company quickly, in the format they prefer. Fifty-two percent of customers would rather communicate via text messaging than a phone call when it comes to dispute resolution. The approach is both convenient and effective for businesses and customers.

3. Send appointment reminders

SMS alerts about meetings and appointments are welcomed by clients. Seventy-five percent of millennials would prefer a text message reminder versus a more traditional phone call or postcard. These alerts ensure a higher percentage of customers show up for scheduled appointments and receive the services they need, creating a positive impression of the business.

4. Select the right customer texting channels

Using multiple texting support channels gives your clients more options and proves to them that you value their time and that you take their feedback seriously. It helps inspire loyal customers, builds your brand name, and can lead to positive growth for your business or company.

5. Share promotional codes

Send ‘thank you’ offers, discount codes, or exclusive sale notifications to your customers if you want them to keep coming back to your brand. Remember to support your customers, even if they haven’t asked for anything.

6. Send digital receipts

Having proof of purchase on your phone makes inquiries and returns easier for everyone. A smooth transaction leads to a positive impression of a business’ customer service approach.

7. Secure password resets

Verify changes to a user’s account—like password resets– using SMS-based two-factor authentication. Skip annoying secret questions and avoid call center requests when a user forgets their password. Sending one-time passcodes [OTPs] during the reset process is quick, reliable, and a secure method that has become an industry standard.

What’s next for your business?

Are you ready to implement an SMS messaging system that will strengthen your customer service performance? Perfect for one-on-one communication, SMS customer service offers a personal experience that puts your customer’s happiness first and foremost. It also leads to time-savings, efficiency, and money-saving benefits to your business. Inform your customers that you offer SMS for customer service, on your website, in your emails, and on your social media platforms.

Customer service is a crucial part of any business — global or local — that must be of the highest quality if a brand looks to have any success moving forward. Use the right technology to further improve your client’s customer service experience, then utilize it in the right way and use the right strategies.