In business, it’s often said that communication is key. Finding ways to communicate with both customers and employees is essential to creating a great business; in 2020, there are many different ways to communicate with everyone quickly and easily.
While many businesses opt to use phone calls or emails, it’s been shown time and time again that the most effective way to communicate with people is through text message. Though text message was once thought of as informal, it is now considered the best way to communicate by professionals around the world.
How can business texting benefit you?
There are more text-based subscriptions in the world than there are people; more than 7.5 billion subscriptions are currently active, and there are more than 6 billion texts read every day. Though every medium has its pros and cons, consider the following 7 benefits of texting in business.
1. You Can Communicate Quickly
Texting is the quickest means of communication available in the world. People often let their phones go to voicemail, and emails are often read days after they are sent. It is estimated that 90% of text messages are read within 3 seconds of being delivered, which means your message will be read almost instantaneously by your customers.
That means you can get the message to the customer right when it needs to be sent out; you don’t need to worry about too much time passing which will prevent the message from reaching the receiver when they need to see it. This also allows you to save money because you’ll save time by sending a text instead of having to call each customer or paying someone to do it for you.
2. It’s Convenient For Everyone
Text messages are very convenient. People are often not available to answer the phone or check their emails all the time; they prefer to read a text message on their own time. It can be difficult to reach people who leave their phones off or on silent, especially if they can’t take calls during work.
Texting circumvents all of these issues; it lets people read messages without going through the hassle of leaving where they are to answer the phone. It also allows them to read the message and communicate back to you at their own time, so they don’t need to be available when the message is sent. Also, you’re guaranteed to get your message through, whereas you probably won’t be answered if you’re only calling.
3. You Can Communicate Directly
Texting allows the business to communicate directly with who they want to speak with. Think about it; when you’re trying to contact an employee, you’ll often have someone call on your behalf if you own the business.
Texting gives you the chance to quickly communicate directly to the person you want to contact; you never have to use a middleman. For a small business, you can text your clients directly and hear back from them very quickly, giving you the time to think about what you’ll say.
4. Texts Can be Automated
Texting, like email and phone, can be automated. The difference between the three is that texts are far more likely to be opened than emails or phone calls. Robotic, automated phone calls are actually being outlawed due to the high volume of spam calls that are hitting peoples’ phones, so texting may soon be your only option to communicate through phone numbers.
Automating text messages can be done for free online, so all you need to do is develop a list of phone numbers to market to. One effective strategy would be to offer a discount or coupon to those who give you their phone numbers for text marketing; make sure it’s clear to the customer that you will be texting them, as message and data rates will apply to the messages that you send out.
5. Texts Get Opened
Compared to all other means of communication, there’s no contest when it comes to what gets opened the most. Text messages are opened by almost everyone who receives them. Email marketing may be popular for your brand and can be highly effective, but even then, at most only 1/5 of your emails will be opened by those you’re marketing to.
In contrast, the vast majority will be deleted or will be instantly sent to spam. When you market through text messages to your clients, 98% of your messages will be opened. That is far more than any other means of communication.
6. Customers Actually Respond
Another benefit of texting in business is the fact that when you text your customers, you will be able to hear back from them quickly and directly; it’s personal. When you send messages out on an email list, they probably won’t even be opened, and the ones that are opened are usually unanswered.
Texting gives you a medium to communicate quickly with customers, so they can give your business valuable information that it needs. They can also have a conversation with you, share their thoughts, and ask questions. Consider sending out surveys or asking for information from your customers directly; if you’re going to do it, the best way by far is to do it through text messages.
7. Texting Creates a Paper Trail
Something you might not think about a lot is the importance of creating a paper trail when you do business. While you never want to make contracts over text message, it’s a great way to make sure the communication you have with a customer is written down.
If you are making deals with a customer, you shouldn’t do everything over the phone; verbal agreements tend to develop into problems down the line. For example, you can make a deal with a customer over the phone and then send the agreement straight to their phone via text message. That way, everything you do is in writing, a huge benefit to your business through text messages.
Final Thoughts
In 2020, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be reaping the benefits of communicating with your customers and employees through text message. Your customers can respond quickly and directly, you can automate your messages, and your texts will actually get opened.
Think about it; there are probably even more benefits of text messaging that would apply directly to your business. Don’t wait; get ahead of the competition and start texting!
