How Text Messaging Improves the Customer Service Experience

The rise of the internet and mobile technology have compelled businesses to focus more on their customer experience. Consumers today have more control in their purchasing decisions and the companies that provide the best experiences will succeed in the long run.

Online review websites like Yelp! and Google Reviews are providing the transparency that is necessary for consumers to be more confident with their purchases. Online reviews not only give potential customers insight into the product or service a business is offering, but they also provide a glimpse into their customer service experience.

Consumers hold the power to switch brands faster than ever due to the accessibility of information through their smartphones. A study shows that 49% of American consumers switched companies due to poor customer service. It is becoming more important for brands to concentrate on providing convenient and responsive customer service to gain the trust and loyalty of their customers.

Customer service has always been about solving problems as quickly as possible. Advancements in communication technology have enabled businesses to better support their customers using multiple engagement channels including phone calls, emails, website live chat, social media, and text messaging.

Although it’s not a new technology, text messaging is considered the fastest and most convenient form of communication. According to a Nielson study, 56% of people surveyed would rather message a business than call customer service. This shows that businesses need to meet expectations if they want to stay competitive.

 

Below are ways text messaging can improve customer service for businesses and their customers.

 

Texting enhances agent productivity and efficiency

When a customer contacts a business for support, they want fast communication and quick resolution of their issue.

Texting enables customer service agents to quickly answer multiple inquiries by using templated or automated responses for common questions like “what are your business hours?” or “what is your refund policy?”

Sophisticated texting platforms enable Contact Center teams to improve their productivity by enabling message routing and team collaboration to resolve problems faster. This eliminates the frustration of passing customers off from one agent to another.

Phone and email support are a necessary part of a holistic customer service operation, but these methods can create long wait times. A study has shown that the average response time for a customer service email response is 12 hours! Leading companies are integrating text messaging into their customer service communication tools and allowing the customer to choose their “channel of choice.” When customer service teams utilize texting, it dramatically speeds up response times while enabling agents to focus on more complicated problems.

You may not know it, but people may have already tried to text your business when visiting your website. To make communication more seamless, leading businesses are text enabling their landline phone number(s) to send/receive text messages. Many customers simply do not have the time or desire to call – they want a quick and easy text.

 

Texting builds customer loyalty

To keep customers loyal, businesses need to take a more proactive approach to customer service. This means not waiting until a customer has a problem and contacts you, but getting ahead of the potential problem and avoiding it altogether. Text message notifications and text surveys help businesses with proactive customer engagement.

Text message notifications can instantly tell customers about important and time-sensitive information that often goes unnoticed in a crowded email inbox or voicemail.

When businesses integrate a texting solution with their CRM, it enables them to send personalized notifications to a group of customers based on specific criteria. If a business wants to reduce late payments, they can schedule an automated text message notification for payment reminders. These notifications reduce the need to cancel or suspend a customer’s service simply because they were busy and forgot to pay their bill.

When the power of customer data is combined with the ease of texting, businesses can communicate with customers on a personal level by doing things like sending appointment reminders to reduce no-shows or sending follow-ups messages to ensure customers had a positive experience. Being proactive can help businesses build a stronger and more loyal relationship with their customers.

 

Texting improves customer satisfaction

On average, a one-star increase on Yelp! leads to a 5 to 9 percent increase in a business’s revenue. At the same time, a single negative review can cost a business about 30 customers.

Businesses need to rethink how they collect customer feedback and measure satisfaction to make it more immediate and convenient for customers. Doing so will have two major benefits. First, it enables businesses to get real-time and more accurate feedback. Second, it gives businesses a chance to fix a problem before it gets posted on a review website.

However, getting honest and timely feedback from customers is a challenge. Traditional customer survey methods of comment cards require too much effort and email surveys can get lost in the inbox. Text surveys have significantly higher response rates because they are much more immedicate and convenient for both businesses and their customers.

Sending a short text message survey enables businesses to receive feedback from customers in the moment, right after a purchase or service experience. This will help businesses get a better understanding of customers experience in real-time.

If a customer responds negatively to the survey, customer service agents can try to resolve the problem right away by responding to the text, instead of calling or sending an email later, as it might be too late to recover. The ability to respond and resolve issues quickly shows customers that you care about them and can potentially turn a negative online review into a positive one.

 

Summary

Customers want immediate satisfaction, which is why businesses need to adapt to the preferences of today’s mobile-centric consumers and resolve issues through the fastest and simplest way possible. Texting enables customer service teams to provide a better experience to build trust and lifetime loyalty.

 

Learn how we can help improve your customer service experience with texting by SIGNING UP FOR A DEMO or GET A FREE TRIAL.