If you truly want to support your customers, then you need to start thinking SMS (short message service).
That’s right, more and more small businesses are using SMS to handle their customer support needs.
With short message support in mind, here are just a few reasons why it’s important to add SMS to your customer support process:
Efficient Communications
Customer support has come a long way since the days when customers had to stay on hold for hours on end just to speak to a representative.
Today’s most popular form of customer support is the online chat. What does online chatting have to do with SMS texting?
Well, SMS texts are basically like online chatting, except your customers can do it anywhere using their smart phones.
When your customers are able to text questions to your business without needing to pick up the phone, it creates more efficient communications – as long as your business responds to texts quickly and accurately.
Matter of Preference
The push for mobility is taking the world by storm, which is why as the following article notes you should add SMS to your customer support process today.
Mobile technology is the future and, as a result, more consumers are turning away from their desktops and laptops and focusing on their smart phones and tablets.
In fact, according to a recent study by eMarketer, there are already over 1.9 billion global smart phone users. As of 2016, there is projected to be well over 2 billion smart phone users worldwide.
All of this is to say that mobile communications are quickly becoming a matter of preference.
More and more consumers prefer to communicate with their smart phones and mobile devices. If your business doesn’t use SMS for customer support now, there’s a good chance it will in the near future.
Immediate Anywhere Outreach
Most consumers aren’t sitting in front of their monitors when a troubleshooting question comes to mind. In fact, depending on the type of product or service your business provides, chances are your customers are on the go when questions come about.
With SMS customer support, you can answer your customers’ questions quickly, no matter where they are.
Likewise, because it’s in the form of a text, there are no privacy issues involved.
This type of immediate support increases customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Cost Efficiency
Sure, your customers are important, but how does SMS customer support benefit your business directly?
Well, SMS is much cheaper than traditional forms of customer support.
This is especially the case when you consider calling rates and increased call times due to putting customers on hold.
In addition, your customer support team can handle multiple texts at the same time. This simply isn’t the case with calls.
When call representatives can manage multiple support texts at once, it not only increases customer satisfaction, it also decreases the number of staff members required to handle each customer question,
When it comes to supporting your small business customers, it’s plain to see that SMS is the answer.
About the Author: Adam Groff is a freelance writer and creator of content. He writes on a variety of topics including customer outreach and mobile technology.