If you think texting is great for reaching your kids and setting up happy hour with friends, but not for business, think again.
Texting for business has really taken off. In fact, it is the first choice for growing numbers of consumers when it comes to interactions with hospitality and travel companies, healthcare and other service providers, property managers, mortgage and auto finance lenders, creditors and collectors and more.
Equally important, texting delivers important financial and operational benefits to companies that add this popular communication channel. Here are 10 reasons you need to start texting your customers ASAP:
- Your customers are on their mobile devices. All. The. Time.
Look around any restaurant, airport gate, conference session or grocery store line and you’ll see a sea of heads bent over and thumbs tapping away at mobile phones. While estimates vary, one widely quoted study found Americans spend one-third of their waking hours on their phones. That’s up more than 30% in the past two years, according to App Annie’s State of Mobile 2022 report.
- Customers want it.
Text messaging is the most popular app on smartphones, so it’s not surprising that 70% of consumers have already opted to receive texts from companies.
- It works.
Business to consumer (B2C) texts have an impressive click-through rate of 20% to 35%. Texting also has a 45% higher response rate than direct mail for a fast and cost-effective alternative to transactional billing, Gartner found.
- Texting costs less.
By reducing paper-based communications, you can save on postage and printing. Effective texts also decrease expensive calls to your customer service reps.
- It increases payments.
Texting payment reminders and statement notifications can accelerate payments and reduce late or missed payments. That’s especially true when the text includes secure links to payment and account management portals.
One company certainly benefited from that approach. It sent 200,000 texts and compared the consumer response to a similar volume of phone calls and mail. The result: 50% more texting consumers made payments than those contacted using other communications channels, according to Solutions by Text
- Improves consumer engagement.
With fewer people answering their phones, listening to voice mail or even opening mail, businesses need ways to reach and connect with their customers. Texting does just that. A full 95% of all text messages are read within a few minutes. Even better, people respond to a text within 90 seconds on average. When it comes to businesses, 56% of consumers say texting is a convenient way to reach them no matter where they are, up from 47% in 2020, according to EZ Texting’s 2022 consumer survey.
- Meets changing consumer expectations for mobile and digital-first interactions.
The growing preference for mobile and digital options is seen at every age group, although more popular with younger adults. Salesforce’s November 2021 State of the Connected Customer report found that 65% of both millennials and Gen Z prefer engaging with businesses through digital channels. That compares with 57% of Gen X and 47% of Boomers. More specifically for texting, 65% of consumers want account information, billing and payment reminders sent by text, according to Avochato.
- Strengthens customer relationships and loyalty.
The billing and payments experience can make or break a consumer’s willingness to do business with any company. Twilio found that 61% of consumers would stop dealing with brands that don’t consider their individual needs and expectations. Similarly, 2 out of 3 consumers say they would switch to a company that offered texting as a communications channel.
- Stand out from your competitors.
Unlike endless emails or mailings, B2C texts are less frequent. As a result, they help companies break through the clutter. Roughly 40% of consumers receive fewer than 1 B2C text a day while 39% receive between 2 and 5 B2C texts daily, according to a 2022 consumer survey by EZ Texting.
- With Expresso, you can easily and quickly add texting.
Expresso lets you expand your omnichannel communications strategy to include secure, compliant texting. If you are already using Expresso, it’s easy to add this new channel using your existing data import set-up and business rules. Furthermore, you can send secure document links to statements and letters that pull from the Expresso archive.
It’s simple but powerful: Expresso allows our clients to create and distribute consistent print/mail, email and text communications on a single platform, from a single file, with text deployment powered by industry leader Solutions by Text (SBT).
To learn more about our texting capabilities to drive improved customer experiences and engagement, please contact us.
