Business Text Messaging: A Better Way to Connect with Customers

It’s easy to start by sending customers automated payment reminders, notifications, alerts and account statements via text. You can include links to secure account and payment portals for self-service, secure document links to view statements or letters, and add a phone number that customers can tap to reach a service representative quickly.

As consumers, we want to text. Industry research found that 58% of consumers say texts are a better way to reach them quickly than phone calls or emails, and 63% say they would switch to a company that offered texting as a communications channel.

Business text messaging is effective for cost and engagement:

• Improve engagement. With 95% of all text messages read and responded to within 90 seconds on average, texting should absolutely be part of your omnichannel customer communications strategy.
• Reduce costs. Business text messaging makes your communications management program more efficient and helps you save on paper, printing and twice-yearly postage increases.
• Increase collection rates. A seamless mobile payment process drives higher response and collection rates and improves on-time payments.

Yes. For account-related messages such as payment reminders or confirmations, you’ll need customers’ prior express consent or “opt-in.” This is a consumer’s agreement, in writing or verbally, to receive texts at a particular number. For marketing-related messages, including promotions or special offers, you’ll need prior express written consent. Business text messages should always identify your company or brand as the sender and offer a STOP opt-out option at least monthly, and in some industries, with every communication.

There are many effective ways to obtain consent. With new customers, you can gain written consent and collect cell phone numbers while onboarding, such as on loan applications or patient intake forms. The consent language can also explicitly include agreement to be contacted via text by third parties that represent you, such as healthcare revenue cycle management firms. Existing customers can consent while talking to a customer service representative or any time you verify location and contact information, such as at a doctor’s visit. You can also develop proactive campaigns on your website, customer portals and written documents to promote texting and secure consent and cell phone numbers.

Yes, customers can always opt in again at a future date. It works like this: When a customer opts out of texting by replying STOP or requests to unsubscribe from texting another way, your texting provider should move the customer’s contact number and information to a suppression list. The provider will maintain the list and not deliver text messages to that customer unless a subsequent opt-in request is received.

You don’t have to navigate without a map. Our texting partner, Solutions by Text (SBT), complies with all applicable standards, rules and regulations and provides our clients with business and industry guidance. Here’s what SBT has to say:

The SMS industry is overwhelmingly spam-free thanks to safeguards and regulations set by applicable law (TCPA, Regulation F of the FDCPA), the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA), and wireless carriers. The wireless carriers develop individualized rules that everyone must follow. The CTIA sets best practices and rules. Lastly, federal and state laws apply to text message programs depending on industry and vertical.

With Expresso®, our omnichannel communications platform, clients can add a digital communication through a texting channel quickly. Step one is your sender code, the phone number from which the text will be sent. Not sure you have one? Our team can help procure a long code or short code on your behalf. You’ll need customer consent to receive texts, and your data file needs a field for a phone number where you’ll send SMS messages.

Next, provide SMS message content and any URL links, and fields and rules. Expresso lets you leverage the existing data, rules and content that are part of your core configuration. You can also include document links that when tapped will present a document that is archived in Expresso. This link can also be sent securely, which requires authentication, similar to our secure emails.

Like all communications you create and send with Expresso, a record of your text is digitally archived for the amount of time you choose. Expresso users can call up any record instantly to service a customer. You can create custom reports on demand or schedule reports to run and distribute automatically.

An SMS long code is a 10-digit number used to send and receive one-to-one or one-to-a-small-group text messages, faxes and calls. An SMS short code is 5-6 digits and can only send and receive texts. Long codes transmit one message per second, while short codes can send 40 messages per second and are well suited for mass notification, alerts and marketing. Short codes were devised with organizations in mind, and while well supported by carriers, the regulations for short code users are more detailed than for long code users. Short codes are also more costly and generally used for high-volume text notifications.

Contact us to learn more or to schedule a demo.