When you are texting a client for the first time, there are several items you must accomplish from the very first text message:
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Obtain their business texting consent
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Provide them with opt in and opt out options starting from the first text message
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Make sure you have a professional tone
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Identify yourself and your business clearly in the first message
These four items must be a part of your first text message with any client.
However, there is much more to the process than these four steps entail.
Let’s take a deep dive into how best to message your customers via business text messaging platforms.
What is Text Message Marketing?
Text message marketing is a marketing method employed by businesses who aim to communicate with their client base using text messaging services.
These professional text messages can accomplish many things for your business, and can aid in sales efforts as well as your marketing endeavors.
Professional texting can look a lot of different ways, including:
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Sending an appointment confirmation to a specific phone number
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Setting clear expectations of an upcoming appointment or meeting
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Serving as a method of quick and easy communication
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Launching marketing campaigns to your business contacts
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Sending a payment reminder or a new patient intake form
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Creating and sending a link to a customer experience survey
These business text messages are meant to provide you with a lot of versatility and options for your marketing and sales efforts.
These marketing messages can be used in any way that suits the needs of your business.
You can use business texts to foster relationships with clients and create mass messages that will link your customers together.
You can use business texting as a way to communicate with your employees as well, aiding in business communication and your ability to schedule events and meetings.
Your text messages will differ based on the content within them and the person who will be receiving it, so make sure to keep both of these items in mind when you start texting customers and your employees alike.
What Should My Text Message Include?
Though your text messages will look different for different situations, there are a few must-haves for every single business text message that you send.
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Your clearly identifiable text signature
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A concise and clear message
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The option to contact you, either through email or the same texting thread
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The inclusion of your company/website within the message
The most important items here at the first two– clearly identifying yourself as the send of the text message and having a concise message.
When communicating via texting, it’s important to always be mindful of the person who is receiving the text.
Before hitting send on the message, ask yourself these questions:
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Do I have permission to send this text?
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What is the purpose of this text conversation?
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Is this message going to the wrong person?
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Will my customers benefit from the content of this text?
It is also important to remember that these are professional text messages meant to drive a point across from your business to your customers.
With these professional text messages, you’ll want to avoid overly detailed messages and any text exchange that is entirely unrelated to your service.
Texting in itself is a traditionally informal method of communication, but your professional text messages need to be just that: professional.
When are Phone Calls Appropriate?
In general, it is best to conduct phone conversations when you are discussing confidential information or conducting a longer conversation.
Business text messaging is a great way to communicate about appointments, payment, and general outreach, but it is not the best way to speak about time sensitive or personal information.
You’ll want to conduct phone conversations during business hours and use them to discuss the following items:
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Talk about a recent visit to the business
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Schedule a future appointment
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Provide support to a customer
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Help give tips about a computer or software issue over the phone
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Better gauge a customer’s response to recent service
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Connect with a customer about professional or personal matters
One of the benefits of conducting a call with a customer is that it eliminates any response time that you would normally see with texting.
Since you are speaking to your customer in real time, they will respond to your questions and you’ll also be able to create a rapport with them.
Additionally, talking over the phone is one of the best ways to provide support or to help give examples of how to use your service.
You can easily fill any gaps for your customer without drowning them in writing that might have occurred in an email or text message.
As you know from calls with friends and family, talking is a great way to see if the other individual is interested in the conversation.
Talking on the phone with your clients will also help you gauge their satisfaction and overall interest in your product or service.
Benefits of Text Messaging Versus Phone Calls
Let’s take a moment to compare these two marketing methods against one another so you can truly see the benefits of each.
A text message will allow you to:
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View the response rate of your texts
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Convey any company updates
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Provide a link to an article or website
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Include a place in your text to sign up for service or continued SMS
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Make sales via transactional SMS or offering a free trial
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Provide tips and tricks for various items within your service in a list format
When you start texting for your business, you’ll immediately see the benefits of incorporating SMS into your marketing efforts.
Using writing to convey a message is especially helpful for your customers when it comes to retaining information, as it allows them to look back at your previous messaging and also to reach out via text message for support if needed.
Since we already reviewed the benefits of a phone conversation, let’s just reiterate the main point: calls allow you to speak informally with your customer while also bridging any communication gap that may exist in texting.
As long as you conduct your calls within business hours, you should be able to reach your customer’s phone number without issue and conduct a conversation.
How Should I Structure My Text Messages?
It is best for your text messages to follow this format:
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Open with a friendly greeting that includes both your name and the name of your company (if applicable)
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A short message that has a clear purpose
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A closing text signature that invites the customer to respond and gives them a method to contact you with
Unlike email signatures, your texting conclusion should not improve a list of accolades, but rather only your contact information and name.
Regardless of the intent behind the text message, you will generally want to follow this format.
You’ll also want to make sure that your messages are professional without being too formal.
Since your texting is short form, keep an air of informality present in your messages.
This will help your clients see you as approachable and helpful rather than all-business.
What Should My Business Texting Not Include?
A few items you do not want to include in your business SMS:
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Non-professional text messages
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Content that is saturated/crowded with unnecessary words
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An example of a customer success story
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A full article
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A company testimonial
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An example of sales made from SMS
The bottom line here is to only include content in your text message that the recipient will care about!
Many of these items would be perfect to include in your company’s long form content or even in an email thread, but they are too long for the text message format.
Don’t just fill your messages with words and unnecessary writing.
Your clients will get lost in the length of the message and likely opt to skip it entirely.
Keep your customers central to your SMS and your messages clear and brief.
Your customers will thank you!
How Kennected Uses SMS Communication Channels
Here at Kennected, our customers are at the forefront of everything we do.
When we use SMS messaging, we make sure that our clients are interested in our content and more inclined to visit our website as a response to each and every text.
We want our customers to feel comfortable reaching out to us, and each customer matters to us as someone who we want to aid in any way possible.
We use the above tips to maintain professional communication through our SMS, and your business should too!
Hop-On The Kennected Train
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The post How Do You Text A Client For The First Time appeared first on Kennected.
source https://kennected.org/how-to-text-client-first-time/
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