If you're a business owner, you understand that while attracting new clients is important, retaining current customers and keeping former ones coming back is vital. Today's discerning customers don't give out their loyalty on a whim. Instead, they frequent businesses where they feel appreciated, well taken care of, and heard.
Luckily, modern businesses don't have to rely on emails that clients may never open to improve customer engagement and strengthen connections. You can achieve all of this through relationship building with SMS.
Client Relationship Building with SMS
Building client relationships is an essential part of any business, whether it's an online retail store, a local health practice, or another type of business. Strong customer relationships promote client loyalty and encourage a high reputation for your brand.
Using an SMS platform to communicate with your customers can help you build and strengthen client relationships in the following ways:
Timely Notifications
SMS helps you build strong client relationships by providing timely notifications. With quick, efficient messages, you can notify your customers of project changes, evolving deadlines, shipping errors, appointment cancellations, or other pertinent information. Because the average customer will open a text message within three to 15 minutes, they are likely to see your message almost instantly.
Personalised Text Messages
Today's customers want to feel appreciated as individuals, so personalised text messages can be compelling. An SMS marketing strategy allows you to send personalised messages to your clients based on your customer data and insights.
For example, an online retail customer probably won't think much of a generic message asking them to "shop with us again" but may decide differently if offered a link to a product that matches their style. Calling customers by their names is also a simple way to personalise messages.
Authentic, Human Communication
Customers want to be able to relate to your brand in an authentic way. You can help build these emotional connections using personalised messages and two-way SMS. Two-way SMS allows you to communicate with your clients one-on-one in a way that feels conversational, even if the chat function is automated.
When customers feel like you are hearing and responding to them appropriately and efficiently, they are much more likely to develop loyalty to your business.
Dos and Don'ts of Building Relationships using SMS
We have some tips to maximise the effectiveness of your SMS marketing strategies. Here are the dos and don'ts of SMS customer communication:
When Messaging Clients, Do:
- Follow up. After a service or shopping spree, a follow-up text message encourages clients to return. Follow-ups show your customers that you appreciate their patronage. Remember to personalise your messages so that each client feels individually recognised.
- Answer questions. Set up a channel to receive text questions from your clients, and answer them promptly. Whether these answers are automated or written on the spot by an employee, your customers will feel more confident in your business because you've taken them seriously.
- Be honest. It is not in your or your client's best interests to hold back open communication out of fear of hurt feelings. Be direct and honest with your customers, and they will be straightforward and honest with you. For example, it is better to share your expert industry knowledge and steer a customer towards a new product than to let a customer continue with a product not suitable for them.
- Make exclusive offers. Keep your clients subscribed to your SMS messages by offering them exclusive deals that other marketing subscribers don't get. In other words, make it worth it for your clients to keep receiving your text messages through limited-time promo codes or offers.
- Offer live chat. Take advantage of two-way SMS services to offer live chats to your customers. Relationship building with SMS means ensuring that your customers feel like more than just another dollar sign. Live chats through SMS can make your clients feel heard as if they are a meaningful part of your business, which they are.
When Messaging Clients, Don't:
- Send overly lengthy messages. Have you ever received a text that looked more like one long paragraph than a text message? The longer your SMS messages are, the less likely your customers will read them. Try to keep each message short enough to display the whole message on the screen.
- Overuse blanket messages. We've already discussed the importance of personalised messages. When customers receive a generic "blanket" message, they are less likely to engage with you. Instead, send personalised marketing messages to groups of customers based on relevant data.
- Sound "salesy" or "spammy." Instead of making a sale, focus your SMS messaging around improving the client's experience with your company. Customers don't want to be told to "buy" something in their text messages, but they may react well to invitations to "explore" or "experience."
- Create unrealistic expectations. Sometimes, it can be easy to make promises to a client in the beginning stages of working with them that are unrealistic. Be honest in your communications to avoid overselling your products or services or establishing an expectation you can't fulfil.
SMS is an excellent tool for building and strengthening relationships with clients. Keep these dos and don'ts in mind for effective SMS messaging efforts.
Start Building Client Relationships With touchSMS
Do you want to improve how your business builds and strengthens client relationships? Is a low open rate for your current email marketing efforts causing you to look for new ways to connect with clients? Register with touchSMS to discover the possibilities of relationship building with SMS.
touchSMS is a prepaid SMS gateway that provides all the tools you need to run successful text message marketing campaigns. Our accounts offer two-way SMS, personalisation, data security for you and your clients, and many other features. touchSMS requires absolutely no setup or contract, we don't charge hidden fees, and we are 100% local to Australia and New Zealand.
Not sure if touchSMS is right for your business? Register today and give us a try with ten credits on us.