Question: For those of you who use text messaging to reach clients/customers, what is one best practice you can share with others?
Offer Another Level of Service
"Since we ship physical products, we use text messaging to alert customers about when their order is shipped and when it's gone out for delivery. Since some automated emails hit the spam folder, this ensures customers know their order is coming and we can get them to proactively read our shipping and receiving policies. It's a great way to ensure a high level of service and interaction."
Keep Them Short
"Text messaging is effective, but only if it's brief. No one likes having to read a text message that's more than a sentence or two."
@moneycrashers
Be Personal
"We've found text message marketing works best when the texts are customized and personal. This may not be possible if your customer list is huge, but we saw a greater ROI from sending personalized messages to a small segment of our customers vs. a blanket message to all of them."
@joshaweiss
Limit Frequency and Ensure Quality Content
"People like using messaging to engage with their preferred brands and products. But if you pass a certain threshold where the user perceives they are receiving too many messages, then it can become an annoyance rather than an asset. Also, if you are going to grab someone's attention on the most valuable real estate available -- the phone in their pocket -- it has to be high-quality content."
@songwhale
Don't Reply With One Word
"Give the person a good reply if they are texting with you. I work with people for whom texting is the only way to communicate. Never send one worded texts!"
@johnrampton
Offer Short Answer Options
"At InList, we know many of our clients do not want to be interrupted with a call. In certain cases we will text the member first, and we've found that people prefer short answers. We won't ask detailed questions through SMS. We'll ask questions that have simple answers of one to three words to ensure a faster reply. If we need detailed information, we will text and ask for a good time to call."
@gideonkimbrell
Impart Value
"We text message daily health tips to our users and make sure we are providing value. With power comes responsibility and because they opted in with us, we would not betray that trust by spamming. We also note the high response rates on text message surveys to ensure that we align our content to what they expected after sign-up. Text messaging is powerful because it has high instant readership."
@shr4dha
Ensure They Opt In
"Customers may provide you with their cell number at one point, but that doesn't grant you the right to text them. There have actually been plenty of lawsuits resulting from text message advertising without permission. Always make sure the people you are texting opt in first. "
@robsetsail
