For businesses large and small, texting is a very effective method of communicating with customers. To
ensure you hit a home run with your texting efforts, though, can be quite a challenge. After all, there are
several elements to successful text marketing, including developing relevant content, sending the texts
at the most opportune time, complying with privacy laws, and much more. In many cases, it makes
sense to outsource these responsibilities to a third-party SMS system. To help you choose a system that
makes sense for your business, here are a few points that make an effective SMS system for a small
business.
Responsive
As a small business, it’s important to partner with vendors who will prioritize your business, even if
you’re not their largest client. When it comes to text marketing, this is especially crucial, as you may
have fast-changing needs that you need to make your SMS marketing company aware of. If your
company is slow to get back to you, you may find that a particular marketing campaign is ruined simply
because necessary last-minute changes weren’t made. Things like message format, style, and scheduling
ability are all important features that you will want to be able to personalize as much as possible.
Another reason you’ll want good response times is for customer service from the SMS company. If your
SMS system should fail to send out scheduled messages, go offline, or fail to receive responses, you’ll
want to be able to get in touch with the SMS company immediately. Waiting for hours in a hold queue
while customers aren’t getting responses for their outreach can seriously damage your customer
rapport and your ability to gain new customers.
Scalable
Though your business may be small now, the goal is to see your business grow over time. Therefore, you
need to use a text message system for businesses that can grow with you to meet your changing needs. If
your vendor can meet the challenges of sending out a high volume of texts to a diverse customer base,
then you know you’ll be in good hands as you experience growth. This will also involve options for
filtering out what messages go to what department, or if your use is mostly internal, the ability to make
large numbers of groups so departments can stay connected. While there are a lot of great messaging
systems available for office use, SMS systems connected to company phones can be more secure and
allow for better communication with employees that may not have an immediate internet connection. This
is especially important for construction companies and sales teams. While your out of office teams may
be small for now, you’ll want an SMS system can that incorporates more of them in the future.
Compliant
One of the most important hurdles you deal with when it comes to text messaging is privacy laws. Since
text messages are sent out to individuals private numbers, non-compliance with privacy laws could find
you on the hook for tens of thousands of dollars in fines. Of course, there is also a great deal of
problems that can arise from misuse of the system by employees, which means you’ll also want
something that you can monitor.
On the other hand, many companies use their SMS system for internal communications as well as
external, so you will want to find solutions that work for both of those needs. Any texts with customers,
however, should be monitored to avoid misuse. It is critical, therefore, that the company you choose is
aware of and compliant with all federal privacy laws as well as any applicable state and local laws.
Modern
If you find a company that listens to your needs and follows all the laws but can't keep up with
consumers' changing tastes, then you’ve got a big problem on your hands. The ways in which people
communicate with each other, even though something as simple as a text message, change over time.
It’s important that the SMS system you choose can stay on top of these changing trends to ensure you're
sending out personable and engaging communication at all times. Response times, text formatting, and
frequency of updates or alerts will all come into play when using an SMS service to communicate with
your customers or clients.
Small Business Needs
As a small business, you have unique needs compared to a large or medium-sized business. It’s
important, therefore, that any company you choose to send texts on your behalf understands these
unique needs. Some companies will rely on their SMS service to work between the customer and the
business, while others want something internal to keep in touch with employees. If you’re providing a
service, internal communication is essential to keeping things running smoothly and on time. If you’re
providing a product, then you may want to focus more on a service that keeps you in touch with the
customers and clients, as they won’t be seeing your employees face to face as easily.
Whether it be regulatory needs, budgetary needs, or customer service needs, everything is different
when it comes to small businesses. While every small business has different needs depending on its size
and industry, a versatile SMS system can benefit just about any business from the beginning. If you can
find a firm that “gets it,”; you’ll be well on your way to text messaging success.