Small Business Texting services are gaining popularity. SMS text reaches every mobile phone pre-installed. Almost everyone in the world owns a mobile phone. It is not a third part applications that you install like WhatsApp. For small businesses, SMS automation is a great tool in generating leads, making sales conversions and enriching the customer journey.
In fact, nearly 7 billion people across the globe own a smartphone, per Statista data.
There are two main types of SMS communication practical for small business texting.
SMS Marketing
With the SMS marketing channel, you can reach customers on a one-to-one basis. This nurtures customer relationships and drives sales. A great SMS marketing strategy offers recipients limited-time discount deals to create a sense of urgency and encourage them to make a purchase. Providing value in your text message marketing campaign helps to build your list of SMS subscribers and enhances customer loyalty.
Transactional SMS
Transactional SMS is practical for both the business and customers. It supports business operations and does not imply an exchange of money, despite the inference. Transactional SMS texts are typically automated on SMS API calls in three ways: 1. To send booking confirmations, 2. Two-Factor Authentication codes, 3. Delivery Notifications to inform customers at every stage of the delivery process.
Benefits for Small Businesses
Small businesses can take major advantages from text message services. Here are some key benefits SMS has to offer:
- Cost-effective: Business text messaging functions as an affordable and effective way to reach customers and maintain positive relationships.
- Easy to use: Because text messaging is a familiar platform for many people, running an SMS campaign is an accessible and straightforward process for small businesses to harness.
- Remarketing opportunities: Texts can be automated to follow up abandoned baskets on your website, which drives sales and gives your business an active presence.
- Improved customer service: SMS capabilities allow customers to interact with your business for advanced customer support.
The Power of Automation for Small Business Texting
Automation is the most powerful SMS marketing tool a business can implement. Not only does it streamline the communication process, it also enables you to personalize your small business texting and send the right SMS message at the right time.
An automated text can be:
- Time-based: Sent at assigned times or intervals.
- Contact-based: Triggered when a new subscriber is added to your text message list.
- Inbound: Sent when your company number receives a text.
They can be programmed to:
- Include delivery information, like order number, purchased products and estimated delivery date, to keep customers informed.
- Incorporate individual information, such as name, age and occupation, for a personalized text marketing approach.
- Send scheduled appointment reminders well in advance to mitigate the risk of no-shows which cost your business money.
- Immediately alert customers of their packages’ postal status for a professional customer experience.
But, before implementing automation, small businesses must pick which business code they’ll use to contact their customers.
Short Code or Long Code?
For small business texting the decision to go with short code or long code (10 DLC) depends on your specific needs. Let’s break these down.
Short code: If you want to create a memorable phone number that holds many capabilities, such as hosting sweepstakes, polls and surveys, short code is an excellent choice.
Short Code in the US is only available as dedicated, meaning you’re the only company that uses that particular number. This makes Short Code’s price prohibitive for small business. Typically Short Code only suited for national brands.
In Canada, Short Code is still available as a shared number, which your company is assigned to specific keywords on. This makes Shared Short Code still viable for small businesses in Canada. It’s key value is using an easy-to-remember five-digit number for your brand, but it requires campaign submissions, which results in a longer setup time.
A common misconception is that Short Code has better throughput. There is really no particular advantage in throughput when using Short Code over a properly set up Long Code text number.
Long Code: These function as regular phone numbers for business use. They’re cost-effective and provide a responsive element of customer service by allowing customers to respond to your texts.
Due to the length of the phone number, it’s harder for customers to associate long codes with your brand, but their price and capabilities make them a perfect match for small businesses. This is especially true when your SMS Gateway provider can port your existing land business line to support SMS text messaging.
Easy SMS Integration for Small Business Texting
SMS integration is incredibly simple. If you’re thinking about getting started with SMS marketing, or using it to streamline your business practices with transactional SMS ensure your text messaging provider is established, reliable and offers a robust, easy-to-use platform that allows you to text customers without any hassle.
Swift SMS Gateway has been serving text messaging since 2007, as Canada’s first sole commercial text aggregator.
At Swift SMS Gateway, we’re more than happy to tailor solutions to your specific needs. Our human support teams are committed to supporting you and setting up your SMS campaign as smoothly as possible. We’ve served over 10,000 developers in North America, and with our wealth of expertise, we can implement a system that works for you.
Keen to get started? Get in contact with our expert team today, or try out our free demo!
