About 95% of the population are on their phones nowadays and take them everywhere so they can check their messages and connect with friends, family, and business associates. As such, it only makes business sense to use this platform to grow your sales.
When it comes to SMS, you can be confident that everyone will open and read their SMS messages, making SMS messaging a more direct marketing tool. This marketing avenue is much more immediate for a small business than other means such as SEO, social media, and email marketing.
But with so many businesses competing for customer attention, it’s very easy for a business’s SMS campaign to get drowned by the noise. That’s where an SMS reminder service comes in.
In this article, we’ll take an in-depth look at SMS reminders, the benefits of the service, and how they can help improve sales in your business. Click here to see more about how businesses use an SMS reminder to boost their monthly sales.
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What Is an SMS Reminder?
These are message reminders that businesses use to remind customers of an upcoming event, delivery, or a new product. It usually takes less than a minute, and all you have to do is set up a text reminder campaign.
Business campaigns can vary anywhere from birthday wishes, payment reminders, appointment reminders, and anniversaries reminders. To ensure a smooth operation, you have to understand some of the compliance laws on SMS. Here are some of them;
- Written consent from your contact list
- Confirmation message for the contact list and if they want to opt-in or out
- The purpose of your campaign, the number of times you will send an SMS, terms, conditions, and the carrier charges.
Benefits of SMS Reminders
SMS reminders will not only boost your sales but can also be used to build a loyal relationship between the business and the customers. Here are some of the benefits you can expect from using SMS reminders.
Reminds Customers About Sales and Offers
As a business owner, you can use text reminders to update customers on upcoming sales, coupons, and giveaways. If you own a hotel or spa, you can send customers reminders on packages or information about the package you are offering.
And because clients prefer texting to calls or emails, following up through SMS reminders is a sure way of retaining your customers and improving your sales.
Business Appointment Reminders
Missed appointments can be very annoying to customers. Life can get so hectic, leading them to forget. As such, using SMS reminders can go a long way in showing your clients that you care for their time.
These reminders can be used along with appointment scheduling software to remind customers of their appointments. It also helps them cancel in time if they have to. SMS reminders can prove to be extremely convenient in various sectors such as;
- The beauty industry to remind them of their scheduled appointment to avoid waiting
- Health sector to improve patient care
- In schools to schedule meetings with staff and parents
- Airlines can remind passengers of their check-in times to prevent them from missing their flights
- In the automotive industry to remind customers if their car needs oil changes or other services
- In hotels to remind guests of their booking dates.
Timely Event Attendance
Organizing an event is a good way of increasing brand awareness, and an SMS campaign is an excellent way of communicating to people about the event. As such, SMS reminders will make it easier for you to know who is and who is not coming so that you can plan for new attendees.
Know Your Customers Better
SMS reminders are a good way of keeping track of which customers make or cancel their appointments. By studying their habits, you’ll get to know which customers are most reliable. This way, you can personalize your communication by sending out polls, surveys, and questions on which style or product they prefer.
Tips To Get the Best of SMS Reminders
As highlighted above, you want to reduce client no-shows as much as you can. Even if they paid a discount, no-shows could significantly dent your profit margins. It will affect business efficiency, employee productivity, client retention, and the company’s overall growth.
That said, let’s take a brief look at a few tips you should consider when sending out SMS reminders.
Simplicity is Key
No one wants to read a long boring text, so make sure you get straight to the point. If you are advertising a product or service, use a link to direct your customers to a website to get more information.
Timing is Everything
When it comes to appointments, ensure you text your clients days in advance or the day before the meeting to allow for cancellation if need be. Also, it is good to know what time of the day customers prefer getting the texts. Texting them at midnight can interfere with their sleep cycles, and you don’t want to annoy your clients.
Don’t Send Too Many SMS Messages
Sending too many texts will not only annoy your customers but can even prompt them to unsubscribe from your alerts. More is not better, so just stick to sending relevant information.
Also, make sure you use a friendly tone and easy-to-understand language. Avoid being too robotic or uptight as you want to have an engaging conversation with your customer.
Know Your Audience
Knowing your customers’ demographics, geography, and interests will help you send appropriate marketing messages. Customers will be much more pleased when they get an SMS of what they want to hear.
Ask for Consent
Before sending out text messages to your clients, make sure that the customer has approved, and give them the unsubscribe option if they want to opt-out. Failure to do this might get your business slapped with a lawsuit.
Winding It Up
With people on their phones more than ever, your business can take advantage of SMS messages and reminders to grab the attention of their customers and build brand loyalty.
If you run a busy service business such as a clinic, restaurant, or salon, you’ll find that SMS reminders will not only be beneficial to your customers but to you as well since you will be able to budget more efficiently and plan ahead.