How do you communicate with someone who isn’t right next to you? It’s a problem humans have worked...
Have you ever tried calling a customer service phone number, only to hang up before you even had a chance to ask your question because the hold lines were so long or the automated system was so frustrating? Or have you ever just not bothered calling at all when you had a problem, and instead switched to another company or brand instead?
If you answered yes to either question, you’re not alone, of course. And that probably means that as a small business, you understand how important customer service can be for your bottom line.
Study after study shows that good customer service is key to increasing sales and building brand loyalty, and that customers are more willing to patronize a company that offers excellent customer service. The inverse is true, too — customers who have bad experiences will be more likely to share their negative stories with others, hurting your business in the long run.
Luckily, there are always opportunities to improve your customer support — particularly to make it as convenient as possible for your customers. In particular, more and more businesses are turning to one of the most convenient customer communication channels out there: text messaging with a public phone number.
Although there are lots of reasons why text messages (also known as SMS messages) are great for marketing purposes, don’t overlook the benefits of this form of communication for customer service as well. Below, we’ll share some tips and best practices for providing excellent support to your customers via messaging.
1. Be Available to Answer Questions and Resolve Concerns
There are a lot of advantages to being available via text message to support your customers. For your business, text messages are much more cost effective and less time consuming than lengthy phone calls. Texts are also much more likely to be read than emails.
Texting benefits your customers as well. In fact, more than two thirds of customers stated they’d rather text than talk or email with a business. No one wants to be caught in an endless game of phone tag to solve a customers’ problem or answer a question — especially not your customers! Text messaging eliminates having to wait forever on hold just for a chance to have a conversation with a person, too.
Depending on the texting service you use, you may have options to automate answers to FAQs via texts. For example, you could give customers the option to text you a keyword to get details on your location, hours, or return policies.
Even if you do incorporate some automation, just make sure that you’re always available (at least during your business hours) to handle questions and resolve concerns that can’t be automatically answered as well. Acknowledging receipt and responding to concerns promptly will be key to maintaining good relationships with your customers, too.
2. Keep Them Informed and In the Loop
Customers pretty much uniformly appreciate getting text messages from businesses that keep them informed and up to date. These types of communications could include texts on the status of customers’ orders, shipping updates and tracking information, appointment confirmations and reminders, and more.
According to ZipWhip’s 2021 State of Texting report, 64% of customers surveyed said that an appointment reminder was the most valuable text they received from a business last year, followed by updates on the status of a delivery or item shipment.
You can also use text messages to keep your customers in the loop on important information about your business — such as changes in your location/hours, contact information, product offerings, and more.
Of course, as with all kinds of business text messages, you should be transparent with your customers about why and when you’ll be texting them. To maintain a good relationship with your customers and stay on top of the law, remember to give your customers opportunities to opt in and easily opt out of receiving these types of messages from you.
3. Ask Customers to Text You with Feedback
One of the most essential principles of good customer service is listening to your customers. Asking for feedback is critical to improving your service, but it’s also important to respect customers’ time.
Text messages are a perfect solution here. Texting is quick, easy, and immediate, while also being less obtrusive than a phone call. It’s easy and convenient for your customers to respond to a quick text — especially if they can answer in just a few words or with a numbered option. They can respond when it’s convenient for them.
Consider sending a “Tell us how we’re doing” message to your customers at key touch points, and then you can follow up further as appropriate. Always thank them for their feedback, whether positive or negative, because it’s all valuable to you.
4. Be Brief but Personable in Your Messages
When it comes to sending SMS customer support communications, remember to keep your messages short and sweet. Concise messages with clear information are always going to be the way to go.
At the same time, keep in mind that even in the abbreviated form of a text message, every communication represents you and your brand. Add a personal touch whenever you can to reflect who you are and strengthen your connection with your audience.
Along those lines, the more personalized you can get in these messages (using customers’ names, details of their purchases, etc.), the better response you’ll get. Customers almost always prefer when they can feel like they are texting with a real person compared to an AI chatbot, no matter how good the bot.
66 percent of consumers also reported that they’d switch brands if they felt they were treated more like a number than an individual.
5. Write Up Your Own Customer Service Standards
Take some time to decide what your customer service goals and approach will be, and jot it down in writing. This can include things like the maximum amount of time you’ll take to reply to a customers’ text message to the types of information you choose to communicate via text, and so on.
This may seem like a weird thing to do for a business with just one employee. But putting things in writing can have a powerful effect on your outlook. First of all, it’s never a bad idea to put your standardized procedures in writing, just to make sure you follow them every time. Consistency is one of the fundamentals of effective customer service.
But beyond that, you may have just started down the path to a mission statement. Think about Google’s “Don’t be evil” slogan. It’s a good best-practice! Standards and rules are much easier to follow when you’ve carved it in stone — or at least saved it in a Google Docs file.
6. Get Proactive to Get Better Results
Remember that great customer service doesn’t always have to be reactive — you don’t always have to react to and solve customers’ problems. You can also use text messaging to offer proactive customer support — to solve your customers’ problems before they even realize they are problems. (After all, solving problems before customers know they’re problems is also just another way to describe sales.)
For example, you can send periodic text messages to proactively check in on customers you haven’t seen or heard from in a while. You can also offer them incentives to come back or try new offerings (such as unique discounts). Another option could be to send notifications when you have last-minute appointment openings that your clients might not otherwise be aware of.
A personalized check in or proactive follow-up note will make customers feel noticed and appreciated — and that will increase their loyalty to your business and brand.
TL;DR:
Text messaging offers an excellent communications channel for customer service and support. You can use texts as a way to answer questions and resolve customer concerns while avoiding lengthy hold times or tedious games of phone tag. They’re also great for keeping customers informed and getting their feedback. Being clear, concise, and personable is key to success in all your text communications; and being proactive can help you strengthen your brand loyalty. Be as consistent as possible, too, by setting yourself clear customer service standards to follow.
Are you ready to build stronger connections with your audience and more?
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