There are many ways for small businesses to use text blast software. Here we will take a look at the top five uses of text blast software for small businesses.
What is text blast software?
For the sake of this article we will be using text blast software interchangeably with SMS messaging. SMS, or short message service, messaging is done using a short code, or shortened phone number. All recipients must opt-in before you send them any message, meaning every customer you send a text blast to has specifically asked to receive your messages!
Because of the nature of SMS marketing you are not wasting any of your marketing dollars on people that are not interested in your product or service. Let’s take a look at the top five ways to use text blast software to increase your business revenue.
Text Blast Software Uses
1) Appointment Reminders
Text blast software is a great option for any business that schedules appointments. A doctor’s office, med spa, the service department for a car dealership or other auto shop, a salon, and many others — you get the idea. This message can be more generic and go out to a group of people, for instance all appointments for that day or week, saying something like, “You have an appointment with Dr. Brown this week. Please call us if you’ve forgotten your appointment time or need to reschedule”.
You can include the phone number in the text so they have it available and can call immediately while it is on their mind. You can also use the text blast software to send individual messages to make it more personal, for instance the service department could send out a message that says, “Your Chevy Malibu is scheduled for an oil change and tire rotation at 3 p.m. Wednesday, please contact us if you cannot make this appointment.” This can drastically reduce the number of no call, no show appointment times and in turn increase revenue for your business.
Using the text blast software is more effective than an auto-dialer and saves your staff time on making those reminder calls every day. Most text blast software will allow you to pre-schedule the reminder text so that it will be delivered automatically at the day and time you specify. If you have a cancellation, you can send out a quick message to people on your waiting list letting them know there was an opening in the schedule and see if they would like to take the open appointment. Many people don’t answer phone calls but statistics show that 90 percent of text messages are read within three minutes.
2) Alerts
Small businesses can use text blast software to send out non-emergency alerts to their clients. Use text message blast software to notify customers about a temporary change in business hours, scheduling changes, or other unexpected changes that they need to be aware of. Schools or daycares can send a text blast to notify students/parents about early-out days, weather related closures and other non-emergency changes to a schedule. Text blast alerts are also a great way to keep in touch with your internal staff. Let your employees know that the office is closed due to bad weather in the area, or that the weekly meeting time was changed. You can also use this to notify of a shift opening and see who is available to cover the shift.
The possibilities are endless. Many sports teams use text blast software to notify team members about a change in the scheduled practice time, a game cancellation due to bad weather, etc. Keep in mind, you must obtain explicit permission from each person before sending them any SMS message — that includes your employees.
3) Coupons/Deals
Offering coupons and deals is a great way to gather subscribers for your text blast campaign. This is also an option for getting your customers to come in on a slow day or bringing them back to your business as a repeat customer. Businesses can use text blast software to send out loyalty reward coupons as well. Statistics show that mobile coupon redemption rates are 10 times higher than that of traditional printed coupons. Sending a text message ensures that your customers see your special offer right away.
4) Contests/Vote
SMS blast software is also a great way to gather information. Whether it’s a middle school that wants to allow students to vote for their favorite talent show contestant or a company that wants to let customers vote on a new product or service, text blast software is an easy way to gather votes and see the results. The text blast software uses a shortcode and can be scaled to meet individual business needs. The SMS text messaging service is very reliable and can handle thousands of votes at a time, like American Idol. Votes are captured instantly and live results can be streamed to a live audience.
5) Feedback
A small business can also use text blast software to get feedback from customers. The ability to receive inbound messages provides an invaluable medium for getting suggestions and feedback from your customers. Send a follow up message to customers that did business with you that day to find out if they were happy with the product/service and ask if there is anything you can do to make their next visit more enjoyable. This is a great way to see how individual employees are interacting with your customers. It can also be used to find out what could be done to improve a particular product or service. Get creative and let your customers give you some honest feedback that can improve how you are doing business.
As you can see, there are many uses of text message software for small businesses. Most importantly, it allows you to stay in contact with your customers and provide them with valuable information, discounts and reminders. Keep in mind that you are sending messages to personal cell phone numbers. Do not spam them. Do not send messages with little or no value. Make sure every interaction with your customers has value to each person. Create groups to send targeted messages and keep an eye on your opt-out rates. If a lot of people are opting out of your campaign, you need to rethink your approach to make sure you are making the most of your test blast campaign.
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[“source-smallbiztrends”]
