Texting software for business allows you to reach your audience right on the phone with text messages that are easily managed from a centralized platform. Customers want a convenient way to reach the companies they do business with, and companies need a scalable solution to be able to text their customers. A texting solution for business can help your team manage texts, live chats and even voice so you can provide the best possible customer experience possible. Here are some of the benefits of using a texting software for business:
- It’s a two-way communication channel with your audience
- It’s a way to reach your audience where they are
- It’s quick, convenient and effective
- It offers integrated, centralized control
- It can include live chat
Two-way communication
Texting software for business give companies a unique way to reach customers that has the potential to cut through the noise. When done well, texting customers using texting software means you can ensure your messages are highly targeted and therefore entirely relevant. You can send messages to large groups of customers at once while still keeping them personal. And when text message open rates hover around 98 percent, there may be no better way to reach them.
Unlike email and even phone, texting has a casualness and immediacy that encourages two-way communication between customers and businesses. Text messaging is a great way to personalize your interactions and maintain a relaxed and informal atmosphere. It’s the best way to field messages from customers that warrant an immediate response and be able to deliver that response as quickly as possible.
Two-way communication is critical for brands today that are looking to enhance the customer experience. Your audience wants you to relate to them on a personal level, and they want to get in touch quickly and easily when there’s an issue or when they want to be heard. A texting solution for companies allows your team to give customers the personalization they’re looking for in all their interactions.
Plus, it’s what customers are looking for. Eighty-eight percent of customers want their order updates, reminders and order confirmations sent as texts. Texting software for business helps companies organize and manage messages like these — the messages customers are asking for — seamlessly.
Reach your audience where they are
Smartphone use has exploded over the last several years, with many people finding it tough to be without their phone even for small periods of time. In fact, 85 percent of adult respondents in a recent study say they have their phone within arms reach most of the time. Thirty-eight percent of millennials say they have their phone within arms reach all the time. It’s no secret that our phones have become a treasured means of communication, and for companies looking to reach consumers where they are, they should look no further than smartphones.
Text messaging has long been a favorite form of communication for many consumers with smartphones, and it’s increasing every year. American adults have spent even more time messaging on their smartphones in this last year than they have in the past, averaging 24 minutes a day on messaging apps — a 20 percent increase from 2019.
If texting is consumers’ preferred means of communicating, why aren’t more brands taking advantage of this? Some will cite fear of appearing spammy while others simply don’t know how to get started. A texting software for business can help brands overcome these hurdles by allowing your team to personalize and target their messages so they’re engaging rather than spammy. Plus, using texting software for brands means your marketing and customer service and customer experience teams can get texting right away without wasting valuable up time.
Quick, convenient, effective
In a recent study, roughly twice as many B2B customers cited slow interactions as worse than high prices when making a purchasing decision. When it comes to communicating with the brands they want to do business with, customers want speed. They want fast help when they need it and fast responses when they are ready to make a decision.
Texting software allows your team to give customers what they want: the speed and convenience only text messaging can provide. Ninety percent of texts are read within the first three minutes, which means not only can you reach consumers faster this way than any other way, but you can also meet the growing demand for fast response times to make the customer experience go even more smoothly.
It’s not only speed that matters. Effective communication that’s done efficiently matters just as much. In fact, 97 percent of companies that have launched texting initiatives say those initiatives help them communicate with consumers more efficiently. That’s because texting software for business can assist brands in managing multiple conversations at one time, while still maintaining the personalization that is expected of texts.
Integrated, centralized control
Managing more than one conversation at one time sounds like no easy feat for any marketing or customer service or customer experience team. But with the right texting solution, businesses can use a centralized platform to route messages to the appropriate contact within the organization quickly and easily. Plus, texting allows one single agent to handle multiple conversations at once and therefore not leave customers on hold — unlike phone calls, which inevitably need to be taken one by one. Centralized control over text messaging also means that teams can enable better personalization with the customer they’re texting by simply accessing past interactions with that customer through the software platform.
Integration is another essential part of what makes texting software for business so powerful. You want your text messaging solution to integrate with the apps your team uses every day so it’s convenient for them and the information you need is easily consolidated and centralized. Find a texting software that integrates with platforms like Slack, Salesforce and Microsoft Teams to track all touchpoints, customer communications and chat with customers in-app.
Live chat
A high quality texting software for business will include a live chat feature. You should be able to easily install a chat widget on your website so you can engage with customers there. The discussions initiated in the live chat should transition to text messages with ease to keep consumers engaged, even when they’re no longer using your website.
Chat allows customers to reach you when they want to, and they can avoid waiting on hold for a customer service representative, saving them time — and saving you valuable resources.
Live chat is also one of the most effective ways to ensure the customer experience is seamless. Live chat allows customers to ask their purchase-related questions and get help in real-time. This tool is so powerful since it could just be the extra incentive a customer needs before they make their purchase. As any salesperson can attest, the quicker and more seamless the purchasing process is, the more likely you are to get a sale then and there.
Texting software for business: Next steps
Think you may be ready to start texting with your customers? Choosing the right platform can be time-consuming. We want to help: Take a look at this one-minute video that explores the features of Avochato’s texting solution for business.
Or, jump right in with your free trial of the Avochato text messaging software and see how far texting your customers will take you.
