From Christmas to Easter, Halloween to the New Year, customers always appreciate a promotion that’s tied to an event. In this case, we have the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and a two-day bank holiday weekend. For many businesses, particularly B2C, you should be anticipating a rush of customers and sales.
With customer experience and communication in mind, what are you doing to prepare for this rush?
Promoting sales and special product launches
Occasions like the Queen’s Jubilee are ideal times to launch sales and new product ranges. How are you informing your customers about these sales and launches? Email is a popular approach and for good reason – it’s relatively easy to set up and send out personalised messages to your customer base.
However, the average email open rate is 30% across a variety of industries. And then there’s the immense competition you’re up against so there’s no guarantee that your email will be even spotted in an inbox, never mind opened and read.
In contrast, SMS has an average open rate of 98% which, unsurprisingly, gives it an edge over email marketing. Plus, it offers a more personal connection to customers.
That’s not to say text messaging should replace email. In fact, you should consider adding SMS to your marketing mix if you haven’t already!
Providing easy access to customer support
If things weren’t going as intended or a customer had a query, is it easy for them to reach out for support? This applies all year round but is particularly important during seasonal periods where your customers are likely to be stressed already.
Anything you can do to provide a seamless customer experience will help you boost customer satisfaction and loyalty.
For example, multiple communication channels allow customers to pick the one they most prefer. One of the easiest and fastest ways to get in touch is via SMS. Via a virtual SMS number, you can facilitate two-way communication between your customers and employees. Customers no longer need to wait in a long call queue.
Ensuring the sales and customer service team have the support they need
Customers expect a consistently excellent experience all year round. Are your employees empowered to deliver the best customer service and experiences possible, even during busy periods?
For example, they should be able to easily access customer data and use that to tailor interactions to the individual customer. The right SMS solution integrated with your CRM system can help you deliver that experience.
You may also benefit from automated SMS. Allow the bot to service commonly asked questions so your customer service team can focus on the more complex cases.
SMS is a handy addition to your marketing strategy
SMS for business is a key marketing tool and has the potential to boost ROI for businesses across a range of industries. Want to read more about how SMS can help your business and how to get more out of your investment? Check out our measurable SMS marketing guide here.