Even before the exponential rise of ecommerce due to the pandemic, Customer Experience (CX) has been a priority for small to medium-sized businesses. Statistics demonstrate that 75% of customers are more inclined to buy from companies that provide a good customer experience. And 80% of customers are likely to switch to a competitor after only a single bad experience.

What we learn from these stats is how important it is to make your customers feel acknowledged and appreciated. Your margin for error is slim. It’s not enough to have a quality product, you also need to support and nurture your customer relationships. Communicate too little and they may feel neglected. Communicate too much and they may feel suffocated. The balance comes from understanding what each of your customers require to feel confident in their relationship to your business.

What Does Exceptional Customer Service Look Like?

Interactions with a business need to be smooth and painless. Friction in doing business with you is likely your number one hurdle to conversion. Good customer service begins with empathizing with the specific needs of your customers and addressing their questions and concerns with speed and reliability. Imagine a restaurant having menus but no serving staff to guide patrons through the many options. A server’s main job is to provide personalized and professional consultation to ensure the guest gets exactly what they want. 

The same principles apply to all businesses in the digital era. Websites need to be user-friendly by following user experience (UX) best practices. They need to be easy to navigate, with accessible information.

Emails and social media posts need to have a clear message with a clear call to action to ensure they’re meeting customer needs and expectations. But where these digital experiences end, one-on-one service needs to begin. This is where direct contact either through phone calls or business texting is essential to providing that last piece of quality service. Your team needs to respond to customer interactions with messaging that is personalized, professional, reliable, meaningful, fast, and convenient to your customers.

Business Texting For Superior Customer Experience

While phone calls may provide a channel for personalized service, they’re not convenient. Many people don’t have the time to wait on the phone and many find the experience of voice communication to be a bit nerve wracking. This is one of the top reasons why business texting has become a preferred method of communication. Customers can reach out in the same way they are used to communicating in their day-to-day lives. 

Business texting addresses the most important elements of quality customer service:

• Personalized. Customers can ask specific questions to get detailed answers regarding the information they need to make an informed buying decision. Messages can be tailored to each individual and be addressed personally. 

• Professional. Your customers can connect to your entire team so responses can be generated from every level of your organization. This ensures that answers can carry the full weight of your team’s expertise.

• Reliable. Rather than a call center employee, your team has a deeper understanding around your products and your customer needs. By providing accurate responses to customer queries, your customers can be assured that all information is reliable and valuable.

• Meaningful. By providing customized business texting communications, you can reach out directly to your customers with messaging specific to their interests. Sales and promotions can be more meaningfully targeted across your database and analytics can supply critical details about the effectiveness of every communication and campaign.

• Fast. Websites can take time to navigate. Phone calls may not get answered in a comfortable time frame. Business texting occurs in real time and is ideal for getting messages out quickly. This means your customers can get answers to timely questions and help them make faster buying decisions. 

• Convenient. Since your customers have their mobile devices with them most of the time, it’s an easy way for them to reach out to you, or vice versa. However, they can also take the time they need to respond or read your messages. When you allow customers the freedom to communicate on their own timeline, they are more likely to follow through with both the communication and the sale.

How Business Texting Can Drive Engagement

The more that your customers feel connected to you, the more they will come to trust and depend upon your messages to keep them informed and supported. This allows you to reach out to customers with personalized messages and direct marketing content. The key here is to remain relevant by providing messaging that actually matters to your customers and prospects. The benefit of business texting is that it can create an immediate conversation that requires a response. This gives you an opportunity to build a relationship with your customers and open up avenues of communication where you can not only demonstrate exceptional service, but you’ll have more opportunity to communicate marketing messaging as well.

Here are a few business texting examples that can drive engagement and sales. 

• Follow up with a customer after a purchase to get any feedback or to ask for a review

• Promote similar products based on purchase history

• Alert customers to upcoming events or promotions

• Share exciting news or helpful resources and provide a link to your site

• Get the word out and advertise new product offerings, services, or features 

• Offer limited time deals that require immediate action

• Build interest in joining your social sites for a multichannel customer experience

Quality customer experience requires strong communication. And it’s a two-way street. Your customers want to be listened to as much as you do. The more you can get involved in ongoing conversations within your industry and your customers’ communities, the more likely you’ll be seen as a trusted source of information.

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Interested in building a business texting strategy to drive engagement with your customers? Contact or text us at 757-818-8010  to learn more about how to apply the tools, technology, and marketing strategy to get the most from this effective channel of business communication.