If you’re searching for ways to improve the technical services you offer your clients, look no further than the mobile phone. More than nine out of 10 American adults own one, according to a 2013 study by the Pew Research Center, and while only half are smartphones, nearly all have the capability to receive text messages.
In contrast to overlooked email blasts and fliers, text messages grab eyeballs: Research by UK-based mobileSQUARED, which interprets and analyzes mobile research and data, found that 90 percent of messages are read within three minutes and nearly all are seen eventually.
Text messaging can be a powerful addition to a technical services menu, providing you figure out which of your accounts stand to benefit most from a carefully designed text messaging package.
Spotting SMS-ready accounts isn’t difficult, but crafting the right package takes creativity. An MSP focused on the telecom industry, for example, might hone in on clients making lots of outbound marketing calls. For them, texting could be a solution to call-center costs. Companies that work with finance or utility companies, on the other hand, might propose cost-saving ways to send updates about service disruptions or account status through text messaging. These clients might also be sold on new avenues to increase customer satisfaction, improve efficiency, strengthen marketing campaigns and grow cross-channel engagement.
Opt-In, Compliance and Preferences
Once you’ve identified accounts that are a good fit for SMS messaging, you need to provide clients with simple rollout strategies to guarantee legal compliance and customer satisfaction.
Smart SMS campaigns can empower companies to strengthen customer relationships and tap unmet demand. But there’s a fine line between useful messages and unwanted junk, and it’s up to MSPs to help their clients stay on the right side of the divide. The key is to design SMS services around enticing, legally compliant customer opt-ins.
The simplest strategy is called keyword opt-in. Companies invite customers to join a particular SMS campaign by texting a brief code to a particular number. This might say something like, “Receive street sweeping notifications by texting INFO to 5555.” Keyword opt-in campaigns can also be conducted over email lists, on company websites, or in a note at the bottom of a welcome sheet or bill.
Keyword opt-in can be effective, but more sophisticated means of engagement exist as well. Among the most promising is the customer preference portal (CPP), which capitalizes on the way today’s consumer moves seamlessly from search to social media and from email to mobile.
A typical CPP-based opt-in involves a few simple steps. First, companies reach out to existing customers, offering them the opportunity to receive information relevant to their lives. Financial sector companies might offer low balance or credit limit alerts; utilities could suggest local service updates; telecom businesses could inform clients when their minutes are almost out.
Customers who opt in are then directed to a Web portal, where they can choose the platforms in which they’d like to be contacted and specify the types of communications they wish to receive.
CPPs can even register their preferences for escalation among different platforms (for example: “text me first and only call if I don’t respond”). Once they’re signed up, customers will receive only the communications they’ve specified, maximizing client utility and user satisfaction.
Deliver More with Smart SMS Analytics
Once you’ve deployed opt-in strategies to make implementation a breeze, use smart analytics strategies to dial in optimal returns for your clients. A well-designed SMS platform should provide clients with a range of options for defining objectives and measuring ROI through both qualitative and quantitative data analysis. Potential metrics include opt-in response rate, opt-out frequency and rates of offer redemption. If you use a CPP and support cross-channel communications, you may want to capture data on Web and mobile traffic, including click-through rates from SMS. Finally, an infrastructure allowing clients to conduct brief but targeted customer satisfaction surveys will allow for more detailed customer feedback and provide invaluable data segregation by market segment.
To keep improving, your clients need clear performance metrics, solid data and an easy-to-use interface to crunch the numbers. Offering these services as part of an SMS add-on can contribute real value to your accounts, complementing existing technical services and giving your company a competitive edge in the fast-growing SMS world.
Mark Sondergaard is vice president of channel sales at MessageBroadcast, a multichannel messaging provider.
