There are a lot of pieces of technology to do with your small business, ranging from big to small. One particularly important technology for certain industries is automated text messaging. Automated text messaging is a useful tool to help keep in contact with customers and employees alike. But how does it work? And do you need it for your business?
The basic explanation of automated text messaging is that it allows you to get a message out to the intended recipients quickly and easily, and on a schedule that you decide. Automation, in general, is a good idea, as by going automated, you are able to free up time for your employees, as you don’t have to task anyone with making these messages day-in, day-out. This system has done a world of good to help companies be more efficient on multiple levels. Automated text messages also have the advantage of being able to be sent out at any time of day, meaning that you don’t have to have someone at the ready to do it at whenever you wanted or needed to send it out.
If you end up setting up an automated text messaging system, you should make sure to look up automated text message examples so that you format them the right way. Going into it half-cocked can make it more difficult to get the most mileage out of it that you can.
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What Industries Benefit from Automated Text Messaging?
The benefits of automated text messaging will ultimately come down to what industry you’re in, as well as what you intend to use it for. Automated text messaging can be used to get in contact with employees without having to send a text to each employee individually. This also helps when you have recurring alerts that you need to send to all employees.
As far as customers, automated text messaging systems are obviously going to be more important in customer-facing industries. For example, it is now standard practice to have automated text reminders or automated phone calls to remind people of their doctor appointments. Banks also have automated text messaging systems. For example, a bank may have an automated text system to remind people of their balance, or perhaps if the recipient’s bank balance has gone overdraft. Other businesses could also benefit from implementing this kind of system.
When deciding what, and how much, you communicate to your customers regarding your products and services, you kind of have to decide what you want to leave out. There is little more annoying than getting a dozen text messages a day from a single marketing campaign (which absolutely can happen). When approaching this, make sure that customers can choose which of your text messages they will see. For example, if you have multiple very different products and services, you should offer your customers the ability to decide that they want to hear about X product or service, but not Y product or service. Having to dig through a bunch of useless text messages to get to what they actually care about is the last thing they want to do, and they will sooner not bother. You need them more than they need you.
Is Text Message Automation Always a Good Idea?
One issue people face when trying to implement automated text messaging, or other automated systems, is that they go a little too far with it. One example of this is a company that tries to automate too many aspects of their customer and employee communications. If a person is wholly unable to get in contact with a human throughout the campaign process or customer contact process, they may decide that your business is not even worth it in the first place. No one wants to have their time wasted, after all. The best solution for this issue is to have an automated text messaging service that creates a doorway for customer engagement but is not the end all be all of it. Eventually, engagement with these customers should lead to them either dealing with a live person, or it should at least be appealing to them throughout. If you want to set up a full-text message automation system, be sure that it’s a solid one.
