Customers are everything when it comes to business. Ensuring their happiness and hearing what they have to say is essential if you want to be truly successful from gathering feedback to providing service updates and responding to inquiries, there are plenty of ways to reach your clients.
But more options might not always be better. Smartphones have ushered in an era of shorter attention spans and information overload, so how do you get your business to stand out in the crowd? The average open rate of an insurance marketing email is just under 22%, and with smarter inboxes that filter out automated messages, email might not be the best way to get to our intended audience.
An increasingly popular and successful way to get your message across is by text messaging clients. According to statistics published by Leftronic, 50% of people worldwide use email, but nearly 70% own a mobile device. Sending a business text is, quite literally, the best way to get information in your customers’ hands. Upwards of 90% of text messages are read versus the 20% opened emails.
In this article, we’ll tell you all about how to use business text and the best practices around text messaging clients.
What is SMS Communication?
SMS stands for short messaging service. In the infancy of texting, this was the way texts were delivered. In this format, messages are limited to 160 characters and do not contain any multimedia like photos or videos. Text messaging has evolved in the last decade, and, in most cases, there are no limitations on the size and content of messages. You may still hear mobile service carriers refer to SMS; however, the term is synonymous with texting as we know it today.
Why Use Business Text?
Text messaging clients is a quick and easy way to send information about your business. You can share many kinds of updates with your customers, including product or service specials, appointment reminders, and delivery status. You can even open a two-way dialogue with customers, as many business text platforms allow the client to respond to your text. Text messaging clients is a great way to enhance your customer service and improve customer satisfaction.
How Does Mass Texting Work for Businesses?
One of the advantages of text messaging clients is the efficiency of communications that can be automated through a customer relationship management (CRM) platform. There are many kinds of platforms that are easy to use and, in some cases, offer free trials. CRM tools allow you to upload a database of customer contact numbers, which you can use to send out your business text messages on a large scale. Most CRMs even filter out any phone numbers that are not associated with a mobile phone or can’t receive text messages.
With a CRM tool, you can create template text messages to save in your system. When you want to send a business text, the tool will auto populate customer names and other personalized info like appointment times or order updates. You can then schedule the exact time and date you’d like the business text to be sent out.
The automation features of CRM for text messaging clients can improve the efficiency of your communications. Your agents and client managers can pre-schedule business text messages in bulk and in advance, freeing them up to focus on sales and growth activities. You can even program your CRM text messaging features to auto reply if a customer should respond to one of your messages. If a personalized response is necessary, that can be done right within the CRM platform.
What Should You Text?
When it comes to text messaging clients, it’s not just “anything goes.” It is important to keep your business text messages as professional as you would an email, phone call, or face-to-face communication. Try to limit your texts to information that is relevant and useful to the customer and avoid overspending, or spamming, the client with unnecessary messages.
You should only be using text messaging to contact clients who have opted in for this form of communication. This means they must voluntarily give their number and agree to receive business text messages from you. Do not use texting for cold sales contact.
When you are crafting the content of your text messages, keep a few things in mind.
- It should be very clear who the message is from
- It should be written in a professional way with no abbreviations or typos
- If you have a call to action, be sure it is clearly stated
- Include information on how to contact your customer support
- Include how to opt out of future messages.
Getting Value With InsuredMine
InsuredMine is a state-of-the art CRM platform designed to help insurance agents manage all sales and marketing aspects of an agency, not just client communication. InsuredMine is an all-in-one platform that helps you manage customer relationships throughout the entire customer journey. You can use the platform to capture leads from your website and social media pages, and it helps streamline the process of following up on those leads by letting you automate follow-up emails or setting reminders for phone calls or follow up meetings.
InsuredMine has all of the capabilities and integrations you need to create a valuable business text messaging system, but the added value is in the end-to-end solutions that can totally transform your agency operations and drive new revenue. With over 47% of agency owners saying a CRM tool has made a positive impact on their retention rates and growth, it is likely your investment in the InsuredMine platform will pay for itself.
As another added benefit, InsuredMine is a safe and secure cloud-based program, meaning your agents and staff can work anywhere with an internet connection. You can always find out how well InsuredMine is working for you with real-time analytics reports that are easily accessible right in your client value. There are many CRMs and tools for text messaging clients on the market, but none can compare to the value and performance of InsuredMine.
Try Insured Mine for Your Business Text Needs
Are you ready to improve your customer communications with business text messages with InsuredMine? Our all-in-one insurance software platform is everything you need to grow your agency and engage with clients. Try InsuredMine for free today.
