How Two-way SMS Improves Customer, Community, and Employee Support and Engagement
There have never been so many ways to communicate as there are today. From face-to-face interactions and phone calls to using electronic media such as email, Slack or social platforms, there is no shortage of ways to reach customers, employees, and community members. While it’s great to have options, not all communication channels were created equal – and only one has a proven track record when it comes to both increasing response rate and improving community engagement: business SMS.
Business SMS has changed the game by reaching people where they are and engaging in the way they prefer. When it comes to business communication, 85% of customers prefer receiving text messages versus phone calls or emails and 69% of consumers across all age groups want to be able to contact a business via text.
Business texting isn’t just for businesses, however. Bulk SMS is similarly effective for employee and community support and engagement. Likewise, the best business texting platforms empower you to go beyond one-way notifications and start conversations via two-way SMS for true engagement.
What is two-way SMS?
Two-way SMS is a business texting platform feature that facilitates both outbound and inbound text messages, making real communication with customers possible for all types of businesses and organizations. In a nutshell, two-way SMS is the best communication tool to improve customer communication and encourage community engagement.
Use Two-way SMS Software for Better Customer, Employee, and Community Communication
Text messaging services like Pidj typically come with a whole suite of features and applications – however, two-way texting might be the most powerful tool in the business texting arsenal. The many benefits of two-way SMS communication, including those outlined below, cannot be overstated.
Initial Lead Engagement
No matter how you generate leads, your initial lead engagement shouldn’t be a one-way street. Meaning, that while it’s important for your initial lead outreach to encourage engagement, that effort is wasted if your leads don’t have a straightforward and simple way to reply. Two-way SMS makes initial lead engagement seamless and facilitates the type of back-and-forth communication that turns leads into customers.
Automatic Responses and Intelligent Inbound Routing
Whether you’re using two-way SMS to communicate with customers, employees, or community members, you’re bound to encounter frequently asked questions and inbound common requests. With two-way SMS, you can set up automatic responses that are triggered by keywords, making responding to common questions effortless and instantaneous. Similarly, keywords can be used for intelligent inbound routing for topics that require a human response.
Real-time Troubleshooting
Two-way SMS allows you to be there for customers, employees, and community members when they need you most. Instead of navigating automated phone systems, wasting time on hold, waiting for an email response from support, or simply trying to solve an issue on their own, people can access real-time troubleshooting with live support via two-way SMS.
Level Up Your Contact and Support Center
Two-way SMS is the easiest way to quickly scale your contact and support center agent capacity by adding another channel on which your customers can reach you. Two-way texting is fast, easy, and convenient for both customers and agents, alike.
Increase Agent Productivity
In addition to improving agent capacity, two-way SMS increases agent productivity by allowing more simultaneous interactions than legacy one-on-one voice conversations. With two-way SMS, agents can assist multiple customers at once, improving efficiency and meeting the needs of more customers, faster.
View Historical Interactions with Customers
Save your team and your customers time by reviewing past two-way SMS conversations within their archived communications history. Whether a customer has contacted you about an ongoing issue or something new, historical interactions can help your team respond efficiently and effectively without having to start over from square one.
Personalize for Future Conversations
Likewise, two-way SMS features allow you to add notes, bookmarks, and relevant tags to ensure all future communications are as personalized as possible. The more personal you are in your communications, the more likely you are to retain customers, support employees, and foster genuine community engagement through two-way SMS communication.
Start Two-way Texting with Pidj
Two-way SMS is one of the best and most efficient ways to build better relationships with your customers, employees, and community members. Pidj’s two-way SMS platform makes communicating with your audience simple and allows you to reach them in the way they prefer.
And unlike legacy communication channels, it delivers the best of automation and personalization, increases response rates, grows sales, empowers engagement, and builds authentic connections all through the power of text.