8 Ways to Use SMS to Increase Customer Engagement

Customer engagement with your business is critical

No matter what industry you’re in or what type of product or service you sell, your ability to communicate and engage with customers is critical to increasing customer loyalty and improving sales. But getting customers to engage—and stay engaged—is a challenge for most local businesses.

First, there are many different communication options available that your customers might use. And even if employees reach out on those same channels, they may not get a response.

Still, accepting the status quo on customer engagement isn’t the solution. Not addressing your customer engagement issues can cost you dearly. In fact, fully engaged customers represent a 23% higher share in profitability, revenue, and relationship growth. What’s more, over half of the customers (54%) want companies to fundamentally transform how they engage customers.

How do you get your customers’ attention and get them to respond?

The answer is simple—communicate with the platform your customers prefer the most. Texting.

Not only are 95% of texts opened within 3 minutes, but text messages also have a 95% open rate.

If you’re not already using text messaging with your customers, there’s a real opportunity to improve your

customer engagement—and to do a far better job at it than your competitors. Currently, only 12% of local businesses use text as a marketing tool—despite customers showing a preference for text over other channels.

Intrigued? Here are 8 ways text messaging can increase your customer engagement.

1. Customers actually respond to texts

The best way to get customers to engage is by using the channels and forms of communication they prefer most. And guess what? Not only do 89% of customers say they prefer to communicate with businesses via SMS text, but messaging is also 3 – 8X more preferred than other communication methods across generations.

What’s holding customers back is that most businesses aren’t engaging customers on text. Despite 83% of consumers preferring to receive appointment reminders via text, only 20% of businesses send them this way.

And if you’re thinking, “Sure, customers prefer text, but will they respond to those text messages?” The answer is a resounding yes!

Here’s what the research shows:

• 60% of consumers want to be able to respond to SMS messages they receive.
• 60% of customers want to actively text businesses back about customer support issues.
• Customers are 134% more likely to respond to a text than an email.

Even more compelling is the data on texting and local businesses specifically. More than 40% of consumers are more interested in texting with a local business now than they were before the pandemic started. And 85% of consumers expect that local businesses will offer more convenient communication options—like texting—than they did before COVID-19. Real-time communication has become an assumption, not just a bonus.

When local businesses add texting to their communication toolbox, they reap the benefits. In fact, 65% of consumers say that texting makes buying from a local business more convenient. And convenience is the highest priority for nearly every consumer in today’s experience and efficiency-driven world.

Tip: You can further increase your response rates by putting a real human on the other end of your text messages. 74% of consumers say they’d be more likely to text with a local business if they know a real person will receive and respond to their message. You can achieve this without excessive staffing headaches by training employees (who are probably already texting customers on their private cell phones anyway!).

“Texting is how people communicate in this day and age. And text messages are by far the most effective in reaching customers.” –Jeff MacGurn, Vice President of Digital for Jerome’s Furniture

2. Texting feels more personal 

Texting is a highly engaging channel because it feels much more personal to customers than many other channels. A big reason for this is there is often a person on the other end of those text messages.

While 41% of consumers said receiving messages that feel automated/impersonal would cause them to unsubscribe, 74% of consumers say they’d be more likely to text with a local business if they knew a real person would receive and respond to their message.

Affordable Dentures & Implants increase conversions by over 10%

Affordable Dentures & Implants has seen the preference for a more human touch when texting in their own business. When Affordable Dentures added texting to solicit reviews, they discovered that when they kept the process manual (and human-to-human), conversions went up.

“We get a 3-4% conversion rate with automatic texts versus a 15% conversion rate with a manual text invite sent while they’re still in the office,” says Stewart Stearns, Director of Digital Marketing, Affordable Dentures & Implants.

Tip: Introducing yourself is an excellent way to let customers know they are texting with a person. In fact, 50% of consumers report being more likely to respond to a text message from a business if the person from the company introduces themselves.

3. Text-based chat boxes are more engaging than chatbots

Chat boxes are quickly becoming a website standard for brands of all sizes. They provide a simple and convenient way to engage customers on your website. But not all chats are created equal. Many use bots, shortcode, or other non-conversational and impersonal approaches. And many require the customer to stay on the webpage for the duration of the conversation. However, a text-based webchat offers more convenience for customers by giving them the ability to convert the conversation into a text message thread and keep engaging with you on the go.

Since only 13% of consumers prefer to communicate with chatbots than other channels, using text-based chat boxes on websites gives customers a preferred alternative and a much better customer experience.

Gold Coast Plumbing increases leads by 20%

Gold Coast Plumbing recently implemented Podium Webchat and has seen a 20% increase in leads because it’s easy for customers to enter their name, phone, and a brief message about what they need.

“Right from the very first moment we make contact, the customer has that sense that, ‘Yeah, I’m dealing with a company that cares and has taken the time to acknowledge me.’ And if they have to change a booking, they can just reply via text—how easy is that?” –Dane Beazley, Owner of Gold Coast Plumbing

4. Text-to-pay provides a touch-free option to engage customers

Mobile payment trends were on the rise before COVID-19—and they’ve increased even more as consumers look for touch-free ways to pay. What’s more, they’re here to stay. Nearly 80% of consumers say they want businesses to continue offering contactless payments after the pandemic.

Even for consumers that aren’t paying in person, security concerns create more interest in digital payment options, like texting. And it’s not surprising considering that only 3 out of every 10 consumers in the United States feel comfortable paying a local business over the phone.

Text-to-pay also makes the process much easier for customers, which results in a better customer experience and greater overall engagement. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of consumers who have tried text payments either liked or strongly liked it.

Trane dealers use text-to-pay to drive sales up 8%

At Trane Technology, heating and cooling dealers who use text payments say that implementing touch-free payments has provided a smooth and personalized experience unmatched by competitors. In fact, during the COVID-19 outbreak and shutdowns in 2020, Trane dealerships that chose Podium for text-to-pay saw an 8% higher increase in sales than those that did not.

“Getting Podium through Trane’s elite program has been a huge benefit. We have seen the value immediately.” –Gary Nordin, Head of Information Systems at Renaud Electric Heating and Cooling

Tip: Text-to-pay is also an excellent tool for engaging customers to pay their bills. In one study, 69% of customers who pay late said they were “very” to “extremely likely” to pay on time if they could pay by text message.

5. Integrating your text platform boosts multi-channel engagement

Your customers are using their phone, Facebook, your website, Google, and other channels to search for and connect with local businesses. This means you also need to engage with them on those same channels. In fact, a study by Adobe recently found that companies with the strongest multi-channel customer engagement strategies enjoy a 10% year-over-year growth, a 10% increase in average order value, and a 25% increase in close rates.

Integrating text messaging software with social media and other online channels allows customers to initiate text conversations with your business from additional channels. At the same time, it also enables you to manage all messages across all communication channels in a single text-based inbox. This gives your customers the freedom to communicate easily from whatever channel they’re engaging on, and your team gets a more efficient way to manage, track, route, and respond to leads quickly.

Tip: Integrate your SMS software with Facebook Messenger to template repetitive communications like scheduling appointment reminders and sending custom follow-up messages. With more than 1.3 billion users, Facebook Messenger is the second most popular messaging app globally. Even if you’re not on it yet, your customers are—and your competitors will be soon (if they aren’t already).

6. Text-based BOPIS experiences offer more convenience

Buy online, pick-up in-store (BOPIS) has become a mainstay of how consumers shop. This year, analysts expect U.S. shoppers to spend $83.47 billion via click-and-collect, accounting for 9.9% of all e-commerce sales.

Texting makes buy online, pay in-store and buy online, return in-store (BORIS) services simple by allowing you to:

• Use text messaging to communicate with customers in real-time instead of customers having to stand in line in your store or call on the phone.
• Create text templates for common messages or customer communication to speed up the checkout process, such as park here for pick-up, text when you arrive, etc.
• Allow your BOPIS customers to adjust their orders at the last minute directly from their phones for changes like pick-up or payment method.

On the business side, texting also improves the customer experience because it’s easier for employees to manage multiple customer orders at once through multiple text threads, rather than only being able to handle a single phone call at a time. Texting also ensures better customer engagement, since phone calls are rarely answered, but text messages are almost always opened.

Tip: Text receipts directly and automatically to your BOPIS customers’ mobile devices—it’s a real-time confirmation of payment and satisfies contactless payment preferences. On your end, it also allows you to keep an audit trail of the customer’s purchase history in the text thread.

7. Generate more reviews and customer survey requests

Reviews have become one of the primary ways customers decide which business they want to use or which product they want to buy. Not only do 88% of consumers read reviews to create an opinion about the quality of a local business, but 72% say that positive reviews make them trust a local business more than they would have without the online reviews. What’s more, customers are likely to spend 31% more with businesses that have excellent reviews.

For local businesses, reviews are critical to increasing sales. Nearly 80% of local searches will result in an offline purchase for all businesses and 88% of consumers that search for a local business will proactively reach out within one day.

Online reviews are critical for local businesses.

And texting makes it easier to funnel reviews to the right places online. Texting creates a more convenient way for customers to provide feedback, which means your business can collect more reviews in a shorter amount of time.

8. Text-based promotions and campaigns

Using text to engage customers in promotions and campaigns has also led to great results for businesses—helping them to increase repeat purchases, customer loyalty, and customer retention.

Research shows that:

• 55% of consumers have redeemed an offer or promotional code shared with them via text message.
• 64% of consumers say they like to receive text messages with incentives (coupons, discounts, promo codes) from local businesses.
• 52% of consumers say they like to receive text messages with loyalty offers and benefits from local businesses.

Tip: Make sure to include links to the product you’re promoting or to provide more information. Over half (52%) of consumers say they are more likely to engage with text messages that link to more information.

“Being able to quickly put together a texting campaign is a game changer for the way we communicate with our customers. We were able to sell out of a workshop in 3 days with the help of a text campaign–something that usually takes a few weeks to do!” –Robyn Bilson, Marketing Director at Pete’s Greenhouse

Customer engagement by industry

Depending on what industry your business is in, there are several ways text messaging can help you increase customer engagement. For example:

Retail

• Send abandoned items in cart reminders
• Encourage repeat buying with promotional texts
• Increase responsiveness to store employees
• Increase Google reviews and star ratings
• Increase NPS survey response rates

Healthcare

• Improve overall patient engagement by responding quickly and professionally to patients
• Send appointment reminders
• Encourage patients to take feedback surveys
• Convert more website traffic to paying patients
• Send post-appointment follow-ups
• Send secure messages
• Make it easier for patients to pay bills

Home Services

• Provide a competitive customer experience
• Respond faster to website leads
• Get more positive reviews
• Send appointment reminders
• Send status updates about jobs
• Provide touch-free and paperless payment options

Financial Services

• Send promotions and announcements
• Communicate with customers about their accounts
• Provide personalized, consultative service
• Upsell new products or offerings
• Convert more web traffic to leads
• Send secure messages

Automotive

• Turn leads into appointments quickly
• Instantly connect with and engage potential customers by being the first to respond
• Get customers to respond faster
• Generate more and better CSI results
• Send promotions and incentives
• Send services reminders

Increase engagement at every touchpoint in your customer’s journey with SMS

Texting creates strong customer engagement, but it also creates a seamless customer experience because you can store the entire customer journey in a single text thread on your texting platform.

Here are just a few of the ways texting spans the entire customer journey:

→ Start your customer conversations in text

From the moment a prospect finds you online—whether on a Google Business Profile listing, your website, or Facebook—they can contact you directly via a web chat that converts to text. This two-way communication enables a real person to respond when needed, while conversational AI enables you to respond rapidly with answers to common FAQs. You can even add a convert-to-text option when customers call you to provide convenience for them and relieve call volume for your staff.

→ Convert more customers

You can easily use the open text conversation to quickly convert your prospects to an appointment or a purchase. To further boost engagement and conversions, you can also text videos or images. Finally, texting helps customers trust your brand because it feels more personal and makes the entire buying experience easier for the customer.

→ Send and receive payments

When you’re ready to collect payment, it’s easier and more efficient to send a simple text requesting payments—and all your customers have to do is click the link to pay.

→ Request reviews and feedback

Sending a review request or NPS/customer survey link via text makes your customers more likely to engage and respond. According to one study, an average of 31% of consumers will respond to a survey via SMS, with the average response time for users being just over five minutes. What’s more, the greater the volume of reviews, their recency, and the number of positive ratings, the more your online reputation improves.

→ Keep paying customers engaged and loyal

Even after customers make a purchase, text is a great way to stay in touch with customers. When you use text messaging for promotional emails, you keep your customers in the loop and make it easier for them to respond and take action.

Text messaging is one of the only tools that can effectively and seamlessly engage customers at every step of their buyer’s journey. You’ll be able to create an incredible, seamless customer experience—one that’s convenient for them and more efficient for you—while also increasing reviews, leads, conversions, revenue, and retention.

Ready to start texting your customers?

Press send with Podium

Engage your customers throughout the entire customer journey with Podium, the marketing and communication platform for local businesses.

• Save time—manage all communication channels and separate systems through a single, secure platform.
• Convert leads—attract the right customers with higher local search rankings and relevant reviews.
• Delight customers—create a multi-channel, frictionless customer journey from first impression to post-purchase.

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