5 Reasons Why Text Messaging for Service Businesses Works

By the team at Slicktext.

If you’ve been looking for a way to up your customer experience, maybe it’s time to take a closer look at text messaging.

While this communication channel has been under-utilized in the past, more and more brands are now turning to texting as a way to get their voice heard in a crowded space. What are people so excited about when it comes to sending texts for business?

Text Messaging Works

You might remember a time when people used to read all of their emails and answer phone calls. Nowadays it’s hard to cut through the clutter and get a message out to your audience that they’ll actually read, never mind act on.

Text messaging is a proven strategy to help achieve this if you maximize its potential. Here are five reasons why it works.

1. It’s Opt-in, Consent-driven Messaging

In the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, consumers are having a harder time than ever trusting branded messages. In fact, research shows about 80% of consumers say that brands are reaching out to them in inappropriate ways. The federal government has mandated that everyone you market to via text gives consent to receive messages from you.

This means that if you’re staying compliant, everyone on your list actually wants to hear from you. People who want to hear from you check the texts you send them!

2. People Read Their Texts

Even if you craft the best email copy, it won’t be helpful unless people actually read it. MailChimp, a popular email marketing service provider, says the industry average open rate on emails in the home and garden niche is 22%.

Statistics show that branded text messages have an open rate of 98%. To put it simply: that’s extremely high. People tend to read their text messages within minutes of receiving them, and they often respond.

For businesses that need information from their clients in a timely fashion, pushing out a text message is proving to be more efficient than sending an email. Confirming an appointment? Announcing a crew’s arrival? Texts beat email every time.

3. You Can Track Your Success

One of the best elements of all forms of digital messaging is how easy it is to measure success — and make improvements.

This is why the trend continues to shift to a focus on digital communication channels instead of traditional channels such as direct mail, radio, TV, or outdoor.
Text messaging is no different. If you’re using a business text messaging platform there are a number of ways you can track your success:

• Send each individual on your list a custom promo code. You can track when they redeem their promo code and which individuals you have to retarget with follow up text messages.
• Create a trackable link for your call-to-action. This will allow you to see how many people respond to your CTA directly from your text.
• Integrate texting with your job scheduling software to confirm appointments and update your work order status.

4. Contact People Instantly

Businesses that rely on timeliness are emphasizing text more often in their communication strategies because of how rapidly people read their texts. You probably already do this in your personal life.

Think about it: if you need to remind your significant other to pick something up on the way home, are you more likely to email them or send a quick text? Instinctively, you’re probably likely to revert to sending a text because you know that won’t get lost in the shuffle.

Here’s how businesses are sending text notifications to create a better customer experience. Offers and promotion announcements as they become available.

• Appointment confirmations and reminders.
• Status changes or updates, especially if jobs are contingent on weather, traffic, or other factors.
• Offers and promotion announcements as they become available.

Status changes or updates, especially if jobs are contingent on weather, traffic, or other factors.

Reservation reminders or appointment confirmations.

5. Drive Demand in Slow Periods

If you’re a business that relies on seasonality to drive sales, you’ve probably experienced a dreaded slow week, month, or season.

Since people read and respond to texts quickly, sending out a well-timed offer to your text list can help bring people back.

For example, let’s say you’re a landscaper and you have fewer bookings in the fall than you hoped. You could send an exclusive offer to your text list for a discounted rate on leaf removal or winterizing a property.

Include a link so people can book a job after reading the text and measure how your demand increases.

How Do You Start Texting?

If you want to start integrating text messaging into your overall strategy, it’s easy to get started.

The most important piece of the puzzle will be finding a mass-texting platform that meets all your business needs. Don’t try to launch a texting strategy from your phone! You need something that’s easy, efficient and will grow with your company. Here are a few pointers to help you evaluate if a texting platform is right for you:

• Legally compliant: There are a lot of regulations around how you can send mass text messages to your customers, so make sure you work with a platform that is well-versed and will help you stay within the rules.
• Easy to get the hang of, and convenient: Don’t waste your time with a platform that has a clunky user interface. Find something that all members of your team can intuitively master so that you can get up and running quickly. Added bonus: look for services that have a desktop version and fully-functional mobile app.
• Basic and advanced features: Even though you might feel like a beginner to start, you want a program that can handle your needs as you grow and become more advanced when it comes to text messaging. There are a lot of cool tricks you can do when you understand how texting works, so find a service that can facilitate the fun stuff.
• Customer service you can actually contact: If you’re committing a portion of your resources and time to text messaging you’ll want to know that someone is there for you to help with any snags you might encounter along the way. Find a company that is willing to go the extra mile when it comes to helping you get the most out of text messaging for your business.

Want to learn about how you can use service business software with transactional text messaging to help manage your company? Book a free, private demo of Vonigo.