5 Reasons To Send A Follow Up Text Message To Clients
By
Jeff Mosler
November 1, 2021
Nowadays, customers expect businesses to communicate with them via text. Learn more about the benefits of sending a follow up text message to clients.
More than 50% of customers today expect businesses to communicate with them via text message for appointments, promotions, and reminders.
Despite this, many businesses have not yet implemented texting services as one of their go-to customer service tools. In an omnichannel age, it’s more important than ever before to optimize your business’ ability to communicate directly with customers and clients alike.
To help elevate your business’ text message marketing and communications strategy, we have compiled a list of the top five reasons why you should send follow up sms messages to clients. Keep reading to learn more.
1. To Confirm a Purchase or Service
If you’re a retail brand looking to provide confirmation of a purchase or a utility company that needs to provide status updates regarding the visit of a technician, text messages can often be the quickest way to reach your customer.
In fact, with a 98% open rate compared to only 22% for email, it might be the most reliable platform as well.
Because of the ubiquity of any ordinary email marketing campaign, the vast majority of customer communications end up either being left unread or consigned to the depths of the dreaded Junk Folder. A text message for something as simple as a confirmation can ensure:
You reach your customer directly
You give your customer peace of mind
2. To Notify a Patient Regarding the Status of an Appointment
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and an ensuing increase in telehealth have made business text messaging one of the primary tools for communication in healthcare. If you need to notify a patient regarding the status of an appointment or provide them with an update on the availability of lab samples, a text message can be the quickest and most efficient way to do so.
For example, a doctor’s office following up with a patient about an upcoming appointment might do so prompts, such as:
“Reply ‘Yes’ to confirm appointment.”
“Reply ‘Y’ to confirm, ‘N’ to cancel, or ‘R’ to reschedule.”
“You scheduled an appointment with [doctor’s name]. Please reply ‘CONFIRM,’ ‘CANCEL,’ or ‘RESCHEDULE.’”
3. To Reach Out to Your Clients After a Meeting
After a productive meeting with clients, it’s important to maintain the relationship and keep lines of communication open. Instead of sending a long, formal email that either goes unanswered or invites a chain of generic responses, why not try a group sms message?
A follow up text message can allow you to:
Keep the conversation going in a more personal way
Update clients with any new information or changes
Review action points mentioned in the meeting
Keep in mind that it’s important to follow standard messaging etiquette by limiting your texting to standard business hours and maintaining a professional tone.
4. To Update Your Customers with an Exciting Promotion
An effective way to maintain or increase brand loyalty is to offer your customers specialized promotions for a product or service. With direct communication at your fingertips, what better way to do so than by sending a promotional business text message with a clear and concise call to action?
For example, you might send a text offering a free product with the purchase of $100 or more. To create interest and a sense of urgency, you can include language like, “Hurry! Offer ends [insert date] or while supplies last.”
The personal touch of a text message combined with a much higher open rate than email can help generate new business for your brand while improving customer experience as well.
5. To Boost Confidence in Your Customer Service
A well-crafted follow up text can greatly enhance consumer confidence in your business’ customer service.
When learning how to text customers, the most important components of your follow up text should be:
Your introduction – Just like email, business texting should incorporate a brief introduction to make sure your customer or client knows who’s messaging them. This can be as simple as: “Hello (first name), this is (business name) reaching out with an important update.”
Tone – Maintaining a professional yet conversational tone is crucial to business texting. A good follow up should avoid the formalities of email without becoming too casual in the process.
Length – Because sms messaging is limited to 160 characters, it’s important to remain concise in your follow ups.
Your call to action – This refers to the specific action you want to encourage your customer to take. Whether sending text message reminders to clients to confirm an appointment or encouraging them to take advantage of a sale, for this to be effective, the messaging should be clear and concise.
Your signature – Lastly, you want to incorporate a signature somewhere in the sms message for clarity. That might come in the form of the suggested introduction above (where you can include your business’ name) or at the end of the marketing message as it normally would in an email.
Trust Your Follow Up Texts to Nexa
No matter the type of business you run or the goal of your text marketing message, the perfect follow up text message to clientor customer can encourage direct communication, boost confidence in your company, and ensure repeat business. That’s why, when it comes to follow up texts, it’s best to outsource to a professional, experienced provider, like Nexa.
Our virtual receptionist services offer 24/7 support to your customers and clients, so that you can focus on your company’s other needs and operations. It’s how we’ve helped businesses like yours generate over two hundred million dollars in client revenue. Contact us today to see for yourself.
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