Automated text messages are an effective way for businesses to reach out to their customers, increase brand awareness, inspire customer loyalty, and boost sales. They enable you to personalize your interactions and build stronger relationships with your clients, but only if you use them correctly.

Unfortunately, it’s easy to abuse an auto-text service and start spamming your customers with texts until they want nothing more to do with your company. Therefore, you have to be careful, develop a well-thought-out SMS campaign, and use automated texting only when it makes sense.

To get the most out of automated text messages for business, take a look at this short guide that’ll shine more light on some of the main do’s and don’ts of texting automation.

Why use automated texting services?

Before we get into the rules of auto texting services and examine when and how to use them, it would be a good idea to start with answering a simple question – why? Why should you develop SMS campaigns when you have easy access to email tools, social media tools, chatbots, and more?

It’s the best way to attract attention.

If you want to ensure high open rates and improved engagement, automated texts are the way to go. With everyone with a phone in their hands virtually every hour of the day, text messages cannot but get noticed.

Brand emails, for example, are considered a success when they have an open rate of about 20%, which is a cross-industry average. However, SMS enjoys a 98% open rate, making it evident just how effective SMS marketing can be.

Simple rules to follow with automated messaging

If you want to be successful with automated text messages, you’ll need to follow some critical rules. Not only will they ensure that you’re in complete compliance with the law, but they’ll help you avoid customer churn due to improper communication.

Make it clear what your consumers are signing up for

First thing’s first – you need to ensure that your customers know what they’re signing up for. You need to be clear and direct, and most importantly, get their written consent before you start sending free automated text messages. Otherwise, you won’t be in compliance with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (PCTA).

Whether you want to use an automated text service to market new products, notify customers of your changing business hours, or just remind them of their appointment, you need consent to send messages!

Moreover, the consent form shouldn’t be hidden in the fine print when someone new starts doing business with you. A clear, concise, and direct approach is necessary for new and old customers alike.

Include an easy way to opt-out

It should be just as easy for your customers to stop receiving your messages as it is to sign up for them. No one should have to dig through your website to find information about stopping the messages, schedule appointments with you, or click through ten different links just to find out how to withdraw their consent to your automated texts.

If they can sign up at a single tap, they should be able to opt out in the same manner.

That’s true for text messages, emails, newsletter subscriptions, and more.

Notify consumers of the message frequency

Finally, while it’s not always essential, it’s always a good idea to notify your customers about what they can expect when they sign up for your messages. Let them know how frequently you’ll contact them and tell them what the messages will be about.

Naturally, you don’t have to share your full texting schedule for the next year. Simply state the purpose and frequency – weekly reminders to participate in giveaways, monthly promo codes, occasional notifications regarding service upgrades.

Keep in mind that you don’t want to spam your customers with messages too frequently. Although over 75% of all customers want to receive offers and information via SMS, over 65% of those who do have unsubscribed from the service because they see the messages as spam.

When to use text automation

Considering just how effective texts can be at attracting customer attention, many business owners make the mistake of using automated text messages for every single occasion when they want to reach out to their clients. That’s the fastest way to increase customer churn.

To make the most out of text automation, you’ll need to know when to use it.

SMS campaigns

The best time to use automated texting services is during your SMS campaigns. They can be for promotions, win-back opportunities, or even unique abandoned cart offers. A simple notification that you have something new to offer can incentivize indecisive customers and get them to make a purchase from you.

As always, make sure that you’re not reaching out via SMS too frequently.

Reminders and updates

Reminders, notifications, and updates are the perfect opportunity to use automated SMS. They require little manual input when you’re using templates, and they can easily be personalized with your customer’s first name.

Schedule a reminder in advance, then sit back and relax.

Delivery and pick-up alerts

By the end of 2021, the global retail e-commerce sales worldwide are set to reach $4.89 billion. With such an exponential rise in e-commerce, customers got used to frequent deliveries and pickups after their online shopping sprees.

You can use this trend to your advantage and deploy SMS campaigns for all your delivery and pick-up alerts.

Proactively send alerts about the time frame for the delivery and notify them about all their pick-up options.

Make sure that your customers can respond to these alerts so that they can schedule a pick-up more easily.

Satisfaction surveys

Collecting and analyzing customer feedback is the cornerstone of any business. It enables you to assess your strengths and weaknesses, improve your products and services, and establish a more positive relationship with every customer.

Use automated text messages to collect the necessary information and gauge customer sentiment about your brand.

Initiate the conversation by asking how satisfied a customer is with a product/service a few days after they’ve purchased it. Once you receive a response, thank them and give them more information about how they can send you additional feedback if they’d like.

Don’t wait for your customers to send you praises and/or complaints. Be proactive. It will help you nurture your relationship with satisfied and unsatisfied clients and could even improve your customer retention rates.

Out-of-office notifications

Finally, it’s critical to keep all your communication channels open, even when you’re not available to your customers.

If your customers can reach out to you via SMS, they’re expecting a fast response, even if they send you a message in the middle of the night. By automating text messages, you can let your customers know that you’re not available now without making them feel ignored.

Let them know that you’ll respond to their message as soon as you get back to the office and provide information regarding your business hours.

How to set up an automated text message system

Now that you know the main dos and don’ts of automated messaging, it’s time you learned how to set it up. With advanced automated text message software, the process couldn’t be simpler.

Choose your automated text message software!

When using automated text messages for business, you need to be careful in your software selection. You need a solution that meets your every need.

Some of the key features to look for include:

• Short codes and keywords:
  • Phrases that trigger an automated response.
• Signup widgets:
  • Widgets that you can include on your website to make subscriptions easier.
• Recurring messages:
  • Allows you to set messaging schedules.
• Appointment reminders:
  • Automate appointment confirmation without the need for human interference.
• Drip campaigns:
  • Send personalized messages at predetermined intervals based on the stage of the customer journey.
• Voting and polling options:
  • Allow responses to messages with multiple-choice, number range, essay, yes/no, true/false.

These are just some of the key features you’ll need from an automated text message system. It’s usually in your best interest to try a few different solutions before committing to a service.

Upload your contacts

Once you’ve chosen a service, it’s time to upload the contact information of all the customers who’ve consented to receive messages from you. Most solutions have a drag-and-drop option to make this process as seamless as possible.

Set up keywords

Keywords and short codes are used for automating responses and providing relevant information to consumers without the need for manual input.

Make sure that you promote the keyword on your website and social media pages to ensure that your customers are aware of it.

Segment groups

Personalization is the key to successful text automation. To ensure that every contact receives relevant, personalized messages, you’ll want to segment the recipients into different groups.

Segment groups based on their stage in the buyer journey, their interests, and other similarities. The more segmented a group is, the more your personalization efforts can pay off.

Create message templates

Text templates will save you time and effort while allowing you to personalize your messages further. Instead of having to type every message by hand, create a template you’ll use every time, then add personalization tags with a customer’s first name or other relevant information.

Schedule automated texting

Finally, it’s time to schedule your messages. Most commonly, you’ll have three options:

• Instant auto-replies.
• One-time scheduled SMS.
• Recurring SMS.

Furthermore, most automated text services also allow campaigns that deliver unique messages over a predetermined time frame.

Final thoughts

Using automated text messages can help you save time, money, and effort. They’re a simple way to nurture your relationship with customers, grab their attention, and inspire loyalty. All you’ll have to do is find an automated solution that meets your needs and get started with your campaign.