7 Inspiring Business Text Messaging Examples (and how you can do it too!)

Customer expectations are constantly evolving, but the biggest change by far has been in their communication preferences. While customers might still appreciate the latest sales and promotions via email and direct mail, they want a more personal way to connect with their favorite brands.

And to do that, they’re leveraging mobile messaging. Here are some of the top business text examples to inspire you…

1. Appointment scheduling
2. Reminders
3. Customer service
4. Order updates
5. Emergency and service disruption alerts
6. Sales and promotions
7. Customer satisfaction survey

1. Appointment scheduling

Waiting on hold is no fun for anyone. Whether it’s a doctor’s appointment or scheduling a demo, SMS messaging allows customers to book appointments quickly and easily. 

You don’t even need one of your employees for this. Integrate your messaging platform with your scheduling software/calendar and a chatbot could easily handle the interaction, giving your team time to focus on other higher-value tasks. Of course, you can always provide the option of escalating to a human employee, but AI can understand keywords and intent, automatically booking appointments while still providing warm customer service.

2. Reminders

Even if an event is marked in a calendar, people can still forget about it. Or perhaps there’s a clash or they’ve forgotten to cancel. Help your customers and lower the likelihood of no-shows by using business SMS messages to send reminders.

You can even ask your customers to confirm whether they’re still attending.

3. Customer service

Often, something that frustrates customers more than issues they’ve experienced with your business is having to wait in long virtual lines for resolution. Gone are the days of waiting on hold, in a queue, or on an email response. With business text messaging, they can engage with your business when it’s convenient, allowing time lags in between messages to account for your customer’s day-to-day activities.

Not only is message history saved even if the chat window is closed, but your customer service agents can engage in multiple conversations at the same time. This boosts internal efficiency and customer experience.

4. Order updates

Most customers expect to receive notifications such as their order being shipped or refunded via email. What if you also text it to them? Emails can easily be missed or end up in a spam inbox. Or perhaps a customer doesn’t possess a smartphone with an email app, so they’ll have to log into a PC/laptop to check their emails. 

Order updates via text are much more accessible for your on-the-go customers.

5. Emergency and service disruption alerts

Quick communication is key in disruptive situations. For example, you might be a utility provider and there’s a burst pipe that could be affecting certain postcodes. Or perhaps you’re a broadband provider and some areas are experiencing a WiFi outage. A text can easily and quickly inform your customers and alleviate customer support inquiries.

A text is also more likely to be read than an email (for reasons mentioned in the previous point).

6. Sales and promotions

Email and direct mail are two great ways to inform customers about your latest sales, promotions, and product launches. But as we’ve mentioned earlier, emails can easily be missed or automatically filtered into a ‘promotions’ folder that nobody reads. Direct mail is easily tossed aside and/or thrown away.

Texts are not only more accessible but boast a far higher open rate than email and direct mail (plus, metrics for the latter are harder to track). They also add a personal touch. 

7. Customer satisfaction survey

To improve customer service and experience, you need customer feedback. But feedback can be difficult to collect. Customers don’t typically want to click on a link in an email and be taken to a webpage that hosts a five-page survey. Why not reduce the effort required from customers and boost response rates by sending your customer satisfaction (CSAT) surveys via text?

Not only will that survey feel like it took five minutes to complete, but it can also be automated. You can design a workflow that automatically triggers a specific response, depending on your customer’s rating. 

How to get started with business text messaging

If you’re inspired by the examples above, you may now be wondering how to get started with your own journey. It’s easy to accidentally flood customers with email marketing campaigns, and now you’re potentially adding SMS to the mix. Here’s how to ensure your execution is a success.  

• Make it easy for customers to opt in and out
• Be engaging from the start
• Personalize your messages
• Automate where possible

There are many businesses successfully using text messaging to connect with their customers. After all, you’re already using this channel to talk to family and friends – and so are your customers. Why not use it to meet your customers where they’re most likely to be found?

This is where conversational messaging comes in. Use business text messaging to create a one-on-one conversation with your customers – one that’s natural, personal and keeps them engaged through every point in their buying journey.