Spurred by innovations in new technology and shifting customer expectations, we’ve seen a huge explosion in all things digital in the last half-decade, from online shopping and digital banking to customer service tools like chatbots and business texting.
Going digital has also pushed customers and brands to redefine how they connect to each other, making the ability to have a seamless online and/or digital conversation with customers a baseline service requirement.
However, some channels fail to meet the expectations for better, frictionless conversations. Email, on top of its general sluggishness, still struggles with open, response and click-through rates. And while chatbots are a common way to digitize conversations, they have difficulty personalizing conversations and answering complex questions, whether it’s mortgages, cell phone plans, or insurance policies.
Business texting, on the other hand, is a channel that optimizes exactly the kinds of conversations that people better respond to and prefer in their interactions with businesses.
As we’ll see, by deploying easy-to-use and highly scalable platforms, business texting lets you have seamless, informative, convenient, and authentic conversations, creating the expected and exceptional digital experiences that keep customers happy. And with CX fast becoming the main competitive differentiator, happy customers mean healthy bottom lines. So let’s explore some of the ways that business texting improves both your conversations and CX to drive bottom line and overall growth.
Texting improves customer lifecycle value
Gaining a new customer always costs more than retaining an existing one, so businesses need to know how to continually engage with customers in a way they prefer and that consistently delivers value.
And right now, customers want personalization: 73% expect companies to understand their unique needs and 72% say they only engage with personalized messaging. In other words, generic, impersonal conversations will sour hard-earned relationships and have customers looking elsewhere, draining lifetime value.
Showing that you take their needs and concerns seriously, personalized conversations elevate customers above being just another number in an algorithm. This kind of “real talk” helps create an authentic, emotional connection with customers that motivates them to nurture your relationship and keep doing business with you.
And business text messaging – merging scalable outreach and personalized conversations into an engaging CX on a preferred channel – makes it easy to connect with customers in all the ways that build strong bonds.
Personalized business texting can be deployed at any stage of the customer journey, from contract signing to close of deal and well into post-purchasing, keeping your company top of mind and increasing the value of each existing customer so that you’re always boosting your bottom line with each conversation.
Texting increases customer satisfaction
Giving people exactly what they want is the recipe for customer satisfaction. And people want their conversations with businesses to change: 58% of consumers say texting is now the best way for businesses to reach them and 63% will stop buying from brands that deploy poor personalization. This positions personalized business texting as a channel on which customers want to have engaging conversations.
By opening up new and better ways of supporting customers with personalized, convenient, authentic, and informative messaging, business texting improves your relationships with today’s busy digital consumer that needs answers to the most pressing issues as quickly and easily as possible.
Making customers feel heard and supported goes a long way to enriching the customer experience in a manner that leads to increased satisfaction – and sales: 94% of customers say that how a company treats its customers influences their decision to buy from that company, and a positive customer service experience makes 95% of customers more likely to purchase again.
Whether cross-selling or up-selling, customers will listen to you if they have a satisfying experience, becoming both return purchasers and brand ambassadors.
Texting reengages cold leads in a personalized manner
For any number of reasons, sometimes once-loyal customers disengage or drift away. But how many times have you received a text from an old friend that said, “Hey, it’s been a while, but I just wanted to see how you’re doing. Maybe we can catch up soon?”?
Both the ubiquity of texting and its integration into our personal lives makes business texting a more convenient and casual entry point into restarting conversations.
Unlike, a cold telephone call that interrupts your supper or another generic email overstuffing your inbox, sending a quick follow-up text message to a cold lead doesn't rub them the wrong way when it’s personalized and non-intrusive.
Business texting is a fast, easy and – most importantly to the customer – agreeable way to let cold leads know that you’ve been thinking of them, the first step to bringing them back into your fold.
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According to a Salesforce 2022 report on the State of the Connected Customer, however they choose to engage, “customers expect flexibility and a thoughtful, personal touch” - qualities that some channels like email and chatbots have difficulty providing, but that business texting can accomplish with ease.
A conversation is the beating heart of customer experience, one small building block in an ongoing relationship. But when this conversation is also personalized, frictionless, and channel-preferred, you are laying the groundwork for a long-term trusting rapport that maximizes overall lifecycle value and increases your bottom line for years to come.
To learn other ways how business texting can increase customer lifecycle value and boost your bottom line, book a demo today!
