SMS is an excellent customer service channel because it is highly personal, and customers appreciate talking to a human being behind the texts. You can quickly and easily answer common customer questions with an SMS and follow up with personalized follow-up messages through the same channel.
Prioritize Incoming Messages
One of the best ways to streamline customer service is to prioritize incoming messages. With the help of a customer support tool, you can tag incoming messages according to customer type and business value. This way, you can easily find the letters you need and focus your time on the most important ones.
If your business handles refunds, refund requests should be the priority for customer support representatives. Responding to refund requests quickly will help you reduce the potential cost of the process. Similarly, handling refund requests is essential to a business continuity plan. For example, handling refund requests can prevent a significant problem from escalating if you run a restaurant.
Prioritization is essential to customer service and can be done manually or automatically. Whether you prioritize incoming messages depends on the size of your customer service team and the nature of your business.
Customize Templates
You can easily use SMS templates to improve efficiency if you’re a customer service team. Representatives can focus on essential issues and automate repetitive tasks using a template. SMS templates are also helpful for sending personalized messages to customers. For example, a company that sells software may receive notifications from customers regarding bugs. A template allows the representative to acknowledge these messages and send follow-up messages, improving customer retention.
SMS templates can also automate specific processes, such as sending subscription notifications. These notifications can be sent to customers who have recently subscribed to a service and when a customer cancels a subscription. SMS customer service templates can be set to send these messages a single message or can be set to send them on a recurring schedule. These templates can be easily customized to your company’s specific needs.
Utilize Business Texting Tools
To increase customer satisfaction and reduce support costs, businesses should implement business texting tools. These tools can help companies automate customer support processes. Besides sending reminders, alerts, and notifications, they can also help companies create a text marketing campaign. In addition, these text messages can help businesses reach potential customers.
For a seamless customer support experience, businesses should use a business texting tool that integrates with their existing backend tools. This will allow a company to maintain a consistent message history and ensure consistency across channels. The device should also allow customers to switch between channels without disrupting the flow of communication.
Communicate With Customers Over One Channel
SMS for customer service is a powerful tool that can improve customer communication. It can also help you resolve escalated support cases. In addition, SMS platforms can connect with other messaging channels to enable seamless transfers of messages. SMS can also be a helpful tool in proactive customer service, where your team anticipates customer needs and responds to them as quickly as possible.
When implementing SMS for customer service, it is critical to follow best practices. First of all, ensure that your business is compliant with SMS regulations. There are specific guidelines that need to be followed. Secondly, you should have written consent for any SMS marketing. Finally, having a phone number list of business contacts is not enough.
Save Money
SMS is a cost-effective way to communicate with customers. You can use it for marketing purposes, appointment reminders, and delivery notifications. It is a much cheaper alternative to phone calls, which can add to huge bills. SMS can also save you time, as it can save you from making multiple calls. It is an ideal option for businesses that need to stay in contact with their customers but can’t afford the expense of a live customer service agent.
SMS is one of the most cost-effective customer support channels available today. It costs just $0.10 to send a customer an email or text message, compared to $16 per phone call. Even better, text interactions are scalable and cost less than voicemail. One study by Forrester found that the average customer service phone call costs $16 per minute, while an average text thread costs between $1 and $5 per interaction.
