by Murph Krajewski | Dec 12, 2018 | Business Texting
The other night, I went to an Italian restaurant with my husband. We put our name on the waitlist for a table, and I gave them my number to text when a table was available. When they finally sent that text, it came from a short 5-digit number, also known as SMS short code. When I received that kind of SMS short code text, I was feeling pretty excited because it was telling me I was about to get a big bowl of pasta. But, on the whole, oftentimes SMS short code texts are a pain to receive.
Real quick, let me review: what do I mean by SMS short code? SMS short code is a 5- or 6-digit number used to send SMS or MMS marketing messages to phones. Short code messaging is used only for one-way, non-personal communication, and mass texting. Ultimately, SMS short code has its place. But large businesses, especially their contact centers, are realizing that one-way alerts aren’t the way into a customer’s heart.
Instead, companies are switching to a long-code form of messaging which allows for person to person communication. Let me convince you why long-code is the way to go for your enterprise business.
Why SMS Short Code Doesn’t Fit What Customers Want
Customers today are pretty worn out by advertising. It’s everywhere we look and is embedded in nearly every app on our phones. With every purchase we make, we’re asked to sign up for newsletters and for email promotions. The truth is — it gets old. It’s hard to engage with a brand when you constantly feel like you’re being marketed to.
SMS short codes have become similar to those annoying promotional emails that you automatically archive or delete. When you use SMS short codes to get your customers’ attention, most likely, the only feedback you’re getting back from customers is a one-word reply: “STOP.” This isn’t helping anyone. How do you avoid shutting down customers with a text?
Simple – you give customers what they want — the chance to text your business back. A RingCentral survey found that 91% of customers prefer receiving a text from a business to voicemail. And 78% of those surveyed want the ability to text, not call, the business back.
SMS long-code offers this functionality. Long-code, to compare, is a 10-digit number that allows for two-way communication between customer and business. When would you use this?
Imagine this: you need to notify your customer about an upcoming appointment. When they get that text, they realize they’re double booked. Now, if this was a short-code message, that customer has no way to respond via text. Instead, they have to take time from their day to call you and wait on hold to reschedule. But, with a long code text, your customer can, within the same text thread as the reminder text, send a message back to a real person, or even an automated system, on the other end to get a new appointment time.
This meets what customers want and offers an overall better customer experience. It gives your contact center agents a way to build deeper and more personal relationships with customers. And, it gives you an opportunity to gather more substantial feedback from customers over text. What’s more, it cuts back on obnoxious and overwhelming promotion messages for customers.
How to Use SMS Short Code vs. Long Code
Both SMS short code and SMS long code have their place in an enterprise business. But using both effectively requires some understanding of the benefits and how to use it effectively.
SMS short codes offer some useful advantages:
Sending mass texts:
When you need to send customers promotions or coupon codes quickly, SMS short codes are incredibly useful. Or maybe you need to send out an emergency alert to all your customers, blast a short code text to all your customers to give them a quick update.
Easy to remember:
Short codes are short (I know…duh.) But this makes them easy to memorize and ideal when you need a customer to send a text to enter a contest or for a quick and easy opt-in to your subscriber list.
Offering two-factor authentication:
It’s important to keep customer info secure. For companies that need to offer two-factor authentication for a customer account, SMS short codes are an easy way to send customers a verification code.
While, yes, there’s a time and place for these kinds of messages (like finding out your table is ready so you can load up on carbs!), they’re not super useful from a customer support side of things. SMS long code, however, offers its own set of perks.
Here are some of the advantages of SMS long codes:
Two-way texting allows for better record keeping:
With two-way texting, your enterprise contact center can keep a record of communication that stays attached to each customer’s account. When they reach back out to ask another question or schedule another appointment, businesses can route that text back to the original call center agent who they spoke with last, providing that special element of delight that easily improves the customer experience.
You can build a personalized relationship with customers:
Texting is an intimate form of communication. Customers are used to texting friends and family. It’s casual and much less stuffy than an email or even a phone call. So when your agents are able to text with customers, your brand gets direct access to customers that’s flexible and more personal than other channels.
Get real-time feedback over text:
SMS short code doesn’t let you get much feedback from customers. You can maybe send a link to a survey, but these are easily ignored. But with long code texting, your agents can finish a conversation by sending a few questions or a survey in the text thread to get immediate feedback on the customers’ experience.
Offer a new channel of communication to lighten your employees’ load:
Long code texting doesn’t only support your customers. When your agents have an additional way to interact with customers, this lightens your operational load. Agents don’t have to stay on the phones all day — something that often contributes to burnout. Instead, put a dedicated team on two-way texting and lower your call volume while you also lessen stress for your agents.
Ultimately, if you’re weighing your choices between SMS short code and long code, consider which lets you best support your customers’ experience. While SMS short code can offer some benefits, long code texts open the door for direct communication with your customers that also gives you better records, feedback, and efficiency in the call center.
by Murph Krajewski | Dec 4, 2018 | Business Texting, Call Centers, Partnership
Tis the season to drive holiday sales through high-performing communication channels.
Trust us – it’s not just the egg nog making everyone merry. Call center texting is beginning to snowball as enterprise businesses focus on reaching their customers via text across their existing business lines.
After RetailMeNot reported that shoppers are ready to spend at least $60 more on gifts this holiday season than last year, retailers have been working to find creative ways to get in front of their consumers. Specifically, they’re looking for ways to stand out from their competitors and reach more consumers first, and more effectively.
RetailMeNot uncovered that 95% of those retailers believe that deals and discounts are the most effective way to drive purchases during this time of year. And it should come as no surprise that 72% of their marketing investment is happening across mobile.
Why? Because, it’s where their customers live!
It’s a fact that has caught the attention of more and more call centers as they try to produce an omnichannel communication platform that targets customers in the way they want to be contacted.
Yet, (if you remember from our recent article: An Easy Business Texting Strategy to Improve Revenue in 2019) only 48% of enterprises have text-enabled their business phone line. <cut to Macaulay Culkin slapping his hands against his face in sheer terror!>
So, in an effort to make the holidays just a bit brighter for the call centers who still aren’t using text to enhance the customer experience, we offer these 5 gifts (or benefits) to using business texting to help ring in a successful new year.
5 Ways Business Texting for Call Centers Drives Holiday Sales
- Get Your Customers’ Attention
First and foremost, you must reach your holiday shoppers on a channel they’re currently using. The good news is that text messages are opened 98% of the time and the recipient often takes action immediately after reading. Besides being optimized for response, this channel helps you communicate with the most consumers in the fastest way.
- Invite Them Onsite for a Holiday Promotion
Customers are looking for an excuse to swing your way – give them a great one. Share your holiday promotion with customers and invite them to your business to be a part of something special. And just so they know exactly what awaits, send them a fun picture to further entice them to stop in.
- Share an Exclusive Marketing Offer
If in-store business isn’t your forte, send them a text with a link to the special product that you know will catch their attention. With most sales happening across a mobile device, your job is to make it easy for customers by sharing an exclusive offer that keeps them from walking out into the cold and only requires them to set down their hot coffee and click to purchase.
- Send Appointment Reminders to Reduce No-Shows
Guarantee sales by scheduling important automated text reminders that reduce no-shows by up to 50% according to Appointment-Plus. This easily enhances the customer experience by letting them know you’re excited about their arrival – plus, it saves lost revenue by giving them a chance to reschedule if holiday shopping has bogged them down and made them unavailable for the current time.
- Create a Sense of Urgency to Propel Holiday Sales
The beauty of business texting for call centers is that you can alert customers to the sales they don’t want to miss without interrupting their day. These notifications do more than increase customer satisfaction, they prove helpful and thoughtful. Plus, when it’s followed up with a discount offer, customers will be further incentivized to add your product under the tree this holiday season.
Want to learn more about how call center texting can improve your bottom line this holiday season and all year long? Try Textel’s business texting platform today!
by Murph Krajewski | Nov 21, 2018 | Business Texting, Call Centers, Partnership
During this season of reflection and being thankful, customers are raising a glass to finally being able to text a contact center to get the answers they need. Talk about #blessed…
In 2018, more and more call centers are integrating two-way texting capabilities with their call center platforms to create the Omni-channel communication solution that not only improves the customer experience and optimizes their call center agents’ time, but also fattens up the bottom line.
Now that a conversation can seamlessly move between voice, chat, text or online messaging, contact centers are carving out more conversions and revenue where consumers can reach out and be contacted through their preferred channel.
For texting, that’s led to 80% of people using texting for business, according to eWeek.
Setting the Table for Innovation
Textel, a robust business texting service, quickly realized that businesses must go through a digital transformation in order to compete in today’s marketplace. This led them to create a functional, feature-rich texting solution that bolts onto an existing contact center communication platform.
Our integration sits at the application layer between the text carrier and the contact center platform to deliver a best-in-class solution for any business texting needs.
In fact, as more and more business texting results and research pour in, it seems texting and customer service pair together as lovely as mashed potatoes and gravy. Velocify even reported that texting during the sales process can lead to conversion gains of more than 100%. It’s a stat that businesses can’t afford to ignore, yet only half of contact centers have started utilizing text in their communication.
Serve Their Preferred Communication Channel on a Platter
NICE inContact, a premier cloud experience platform, partnered with Textel early to deliver better customer service by adding the function of text-enabling existing business phone numbers to their solution. Immediately upon implementing, brand-side clients who utilized this solution discovered that their customers were already texting them – they just hadn’t been getting through.
But more than just being in the right place at the right time, organizations are very thankful for the increased brand loyalty, significant cost savings and multiple contact center agent efficiencies that the resulting solution uncovered.
For instance, Forrester Consulting research showed that a $6-$20 call can now be switched to a text session that costs pennies on the dollar. Plus, Velocify goes on to say that when the right texting processes are in place for a call center, agents who send three or more purposeful text messages after contact has been made with a prospect are seeing increased conversion rates by 328%. #gobblegobble
Businesses Shouldn’t Be Waiting for the Leftovers
For contact centers, texting is the competitive advantage needed to win customers over easily and quickly. To that end, a messaging strategy with the right tools that fit into your existing platform is critical for success in the new year. Because if you don’t do it, your competitors will.
And since Twilio has shown that only 48% of businesses are actually equipped to handle messaging, it’s no surprise that brands who do (like Vera Bradley in our recent case study) are seeing incredible results right out of the gates, including decreasing call volume by 7%, turning one customer/one call into three customers at a time via text and experiencing a 0% abandon rate when using business texting.
They’re just the latest example of a business who wasted no time in integrating texting with their call center solution and are now feasting on the immediate benefits that followed.
A Harris Poll offers this incentive to get in the game ahead of your competitors: 64% of all consumers have a positive perception of a company that offers texting as a service channel.
So, what’s stopping you from pulling a seat up to the table? Call or text our team at 844-483-9835 and give your customers something to be thankful for!
by Murph Krajewski | Nov 16, 2018 | Business Texting, Call Centers, Partnership
Vera Bradley is touting impressive business results after adding Textel’s integration with NICE inContact’s CXone Business Line Texting Solution. See full press release and additional information here.
The exclusive women’s designer brand sells innovative handbags, fragrances, luggage and accessories across multiple distribution points in the U.S.A. In this B2C channel, eliminating any form of friction from the buying process proves paramount to capturing lost sales and driving additional revenue.
To capitalize on call center agent efficiency and reach more customers faster, Vera Bradley leveraged Textel’s two-way texting to better engage with customers via SMS and MMS on their existing contact center phone number. As a NICE inContact DevONE partner, Textel’s integration is available on the CXexchange marketplace and offers a quicker way to communicate with customers across an application that is very familiar for call center agents.
“It was paramount to have a cohesive application within the InContact platform,” said a representative from Vera Bradley. “Textel’s product works seamlessly through Central. Our Agents don’t even realize it’s a different product within the application.”
Vera Bradley recognized a very common issue with businesses that rely on being an easy point of contact for their customers: these customers may already be texting their toll-free number. To leverage this opportunity without confusing the market with a new number, Vera Bradley turned to Textel.
“Our biggest challenge was being able to enable our current toll-free number for our customers. We didn’t want to add a new number exclusively for texting. We were also unsure how many of our customers were trying to reach us through text messages. We thought it was happening, but there was no way to quantify it. Chat for us continues to grow 30-40% each year and we knew that Text was a natural path to explore.”
Their intuition proved correct as they immediately saw results. Upon text-enabling their existing toll-free number, Vera Bradley activated the Omni-channel communication solution their customers had been looking for all along.
At the initial rollout, call volume decreased by 7% allowing Vera Bradley’s contact center agents to work faster and more efficiently. Additionally, instead of one customer/one call, agents manage three customers at a time via text. And as more agents began interacting with more purchasing decisions, Vera Bradley experienced a 0% abandon rate when communicating over text.
“Our call volume has gone down this year, and we have increased efficiency from our Agents. Our productivity measures show increased efficiency and cost-savings. We can handle more contacts quicker, at a lower cost.”
Susan Campbell, Director of Customer Service at Vera Bradley, understood immediately how important customer communication can be to the bottom line:
“CXone with integrated Textel has helped us better communicate with our customers. The solution works seamlessly and our agents continue to work within a single, easy to use desktop environment. We know customer service expectations are at an all-time high and each customer service situation needs to be handled as efficiently as possible. We are thrilled that so many of our customers prefer to text with us.”
With customer service expectations always at the forefront, Textel and NICE inContact’s partnership lets brand-side customers seamlessly integrate texting into their existing workflow, uncovering the back-end efficiencies and driving the customer engagement that get real results for their business.
Learn more about a text-enabled contact center solution and add another level of customer communication to your business.
by Murph Krajewski | Nov 13, 2018 | Business Texting, Stats
With great business texting comes great responsibility and Textel has a handful of professional messaging best practices that will help you put your best emoji’s forward when communicating with customers.
Here are 10 business texting tips to elevate your messaging game beyond “New phone, who dis?”
- If they text you, don’t call them.
One of the beautiful things about texting with a business is that it lets you cut to the chase. Just the facts, Jack. An unsolicited call after receiving a text basically breaks the unspoken agreement that texting was built around. If you really think a call is needed, text them for approval first!
- You have a sworn duty to respond.
A customer may not always get back to you right away, but your business must remain vigilant in response of any and all inquiries that come via text. This will organically create the warm, fuzzy feelings that are meant to power the customer experience. Replying within five minutes should keep all parties happy.
- Consider the emoji and the correct time to use it.
Listen, we ❤️ emoji’s. They show you’re playful and fun. However, in a business setting, it’s probably best to just forget the ???? emoji exists. And less your business centers around planning children’s birthday parties, sending the ???? emoji will probably get the cops called.
- Sure, sarcasm is a GREAT idea.
Not. It is not a great idea. Unless you have a strong relationship with whoever you’re texting, it is more likely that the intent of your message will get lost in translation when sarcasm is injected. Tone is very difficult to imply via text and it often leads to miscommunication. Use only if following up with All Caps explanation: THIS IS SARCASM.
- ALSO, DON’T USE ALL CAPS!
UNLESS YOU WANT THE RECIPIENT TO FEEL LIKE YOU’RE SHOUTING AT THEM! IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT? The All Caps feature is useful for driving a point home, but doesn’t have a place in the business texting world where any heated conversation should be had in person. To this end, it’s best to avoid hashtags and “text speak” in your messaging b4 u m8k urself look silly lol rofl.
- Be mindful of your text timing.
Keep it courteous when sending out texts. Note the time zone if possible and if one of your texts ends up being their morning alarm, it’s your business that needs a wakeup call. In general, stay within work hours and avoid bulk texts in case they are in a meeting and unable to respond. Overall, be mindful of the actual value of the text before interrupting a life.
- Use auto correct and then read it out loud.
Texting is an excellent, efficient way to communicate, but sometimes that kind of speed can trip people up. As a business, you want to appear professional and courteous in each encounter, so be sure to check the spelling and the word choices before sending anything to a customer. When you read it out loud, it’s easier to determine if that’s how you’d say it to their face.
- Make sure you’re sending it to the right person.
This can be a real showstopper. Sending irrelevant, inaccurate or inappropriate texts to the wrong person can result in some awkward conversations. Similar to #7, this just requires a quick quality check before sending out into the world.
- When possible, use images to get your point across.
Maybe it’s to show the crack in a carburetor that needs repair or maybe it’s to show a specific hair style they might like. Pictures save you 1000 words via text, so make them part of your business messaging strategy. Like sarcasm, pictures without context can confuse so be sure to follow up with a clear, specific explanation.
- Don’t forget to say goodbye.
Best not to leave a customer hanging. When the conversation has reached a natural resolution, don’t just assume they’ve checked out. Send a final text thanking them for their time and asking if there is anything else you can help with. When they confirm all’s well, you can say goodbye and close the conversation so there is a clear ending.
There you have it – a tried and true guide to business texting excellence that will keep your customers informed and happy that you’re only a message away.
If you’re looking for more ways to elevate your messaging strategy, check out how business texting software from Textel improves the customer experience.
by Murph Krajewski | Nov 1, 2018 | Business Texting
For every one phone call we make, we send five texts. And yet, most businesses still don’t have a call center texting strategy for customers. The reality is, according to recent surveys, U.S. consumers prefer companies that offer messaging as a communication channel.
In recent years, over 48.7 million people chose to receive business texts. Almost two-thirds of respondents say they’d switch to a company that offered text messaging as a communication channel. And, 45% of potential clients would choose a product or brand after receiving an SMS. It’s the preferred channel, with 90% of customers preferring text messages over direct phone calls.
Not to mention, offering a texting channel with your customers will help improve your customer experience. How? Texting creates a more streamlined and personal communication with your customer. And, it directly impacts their impression of your brand. It’s faster, convenient, and personal. And, if you text your customers, they will be happy to text you back. As many as 95% of text messages are read and responded to within just 3 minutes of being received.
Incorporate texting to your call center omnichannel solution to eliminate friction with customers while meeting customer expectations.
Everyone wants call center texting
It doesn’t matter the age or demographic — call center texting is a preferred communication channel for just about…everybody. OpenMarket found that millennials prefer two-way texting as a way to connect with brands and companies. In fact, 72% of millennials say they text at least 10 times per day, and 83% open text messages within 90 seconds of receiving them.
And, the generation most comfortable with the idea of texting is Gen Z, with 83% requesting more texts. The study also found that appointment reminders are the most popular form of text that users would like to receive from brands. Around four out of five Generation X customers said they’d prefer text over other channels for these reminders.
Why is it so popular? Because texting is easy.
Place yourself in the shoes of a customer. Texting doesn’t interrupt what you’re doing and it operates on your time.
If you still prefer jumping on a call with a call center, you find that that real-time connection is often slowed by waiting on hold. And, once you reach an agent, there’s no guarantee it will be the right agent or the right department. If you have to call back later, odds are you won’t get to speak to the same agent as before. So, you’re left retelling your problem each time you reach out.
But, with texting a business, you don’t have to worry about drafting out a few formal paragraphs in an email to contact customer service. You don’t have to search through your overstuffed email inbox to find your order details. When you text a business, you just send a single keyword and you receive the info or answers you’re looking for on the first contact. A text-first approach is the future for customer communications.
Customers Don’t Want to Chat with Robots — They Want to Talk with You!
Call center texting is an easy and effective way to build personalized touch with your customers. Sure, the occasional automated text sent out to give a customer an order update or appointment reminder is fine. But, business texting is also a powerful opportunity to connect with customers in a human way. Don’t only rely only on bots to text with your customers.
Create a group of agents during each shift who are responsible for texting with customers. Train them on call center texting etiquette and how to create a personalized tone in their conversations. And, use customer messaging history to make each customer feel known. If possible, route customers to the same agent they’ve communicated with in the past to show you’re committed to resolving any issue accurately in the shortest amount of time.
Improve your Call Center Texting Service and Improve your Business
Great customer service isn’t exclusive to the Zappos and Southwest Airlines of the world. Any brand can create a customer-centric customer experience strategy. Any company that works to meet customer expectations is bound to excel in retaining loyal customers.
Customers today are speaking out loud and clear: they want to be able to text you. Open your call center texting channel for affordable, simple, personal, and efficient communication with your customers.
We originally published this article on November 1, 2018 and updated it on February 9, 2022.
