Enhance Customer Experience with SMS Auto-Replies

01 Jul Enhance Customer Experience with SMS Auto-Replies

Posted at 10:41h in Mobile Technology, SMS Automation, SMS for Business, SMS Solutions by

As technology continues to change the way companies interact with their customers, it’s crucial for business owners to keep up with current trends. SMS auto-replies are an easy way to interact with your clients and improve your customer experience.

What Are SMS Auto-Replies?

SMS auto-replies are automated text responses that a business sends out after a customer (or potential customer) takes a specific action, such as making an online purchase or asking a question.

Businesses in any industry can use SMS auto-responses to improve customer interaction. Common uses for automated SMS messages are:

    • Appointment reminders
    • Transaction alerts
    • Delivery confirmations
    • Opt-in (or opt-out) acknowledgements

SMS messaging services like touchSMS make it easy to set up and manage SMS auto-replies right from the platform’s control centre.

The Benefits of Using SMS Auto-Replies for Your Business

SMS auto-replies are an easy way to make use of effective conversational marketing strategies, which increase customer engagement, brand loyalty, and customer satisfaction.

Plus, auto-reply text messages allow you to automatically reply to incoming texts from customers even outside of business hours. A quick auto-response is often all it takes to let your customers know that their inquiries are important to you, even if a live person isn’t available to contact them right away.

SMS auto-replies are also incredible time-saving tools that keep you and your staff from having to:

  • Stop what you’re doing to respond to a client
  • Manually email multiple clients that same message

Utilizing an auto-reply text message feature allows you to be responsive to your customer base without having to be tied to your phone day and night.

How to Use SMS Auto-Replies Effectively

SMS auto-replies can be powerful tools for customer communication, but only if they’re used effectively. These seven tips will give you the confidence you need to start using automated text responses for your business.

Customise Your Replies

The trick to creating an effective SMS auto-reply template is making it sound as though you created it especially for the recipient. Most messaging apps will provide you with custom fields like:

  • Customer name (full or first only)
  • Location
  • Order number
  • Membership status

The more customised you make your templates, the more personal it will feel to the recipient and the more connected to your brand the person will feel.

Keep It Casual

SMS auto-replies should be casually worded and sound as though they came from a trusted friend who’s genuinely interested in helping the recipient with their inquiry.

Make sure the templates you create sound like they came from a person rather than an SMS robot. If your SMS messages sound too formal, you risk alienating your customer instead of establishing a connection.

Make It Personal

This tip goes in line with the one above. People want to feel like they’re interacting with a person, not a machine. You can make your auto-replies feel more personal by including an agent name:

  • Hi [CUSTOMER], this is Barbara from [BUSINESS]…
  • Thank you for your business! Have a great day, Barbara.

Even if a customer knows a reply is automated, it’s nice when it feels like a real member of staff took time out of their day to send a quick message.

Keep It On-Brand

Your company’s text messaging should always be on-brand and reflect your company’s values. Do customers know you as a wise advisor with in-depth industry knowledge or a fun-loving company bent on breaking all the rules? Make sure your SMS auto-replies carry the flavour of the rest of your branding.

Don’t Rely on Auto-Replies

Remember that SMS auto-replies are an excellent first step in making sure that a customer feels heard, but they’re not the only way you should be communicating with your clients. Always give them a way to get in touch with a live customer service agent; if they reach out to you outside of business hours, be sure that a customer services rep calls them back the next working day.

Get Started with SMS Auto-Replies for Your Business

Are you ready to take advantage of SMS auto-replies for your small business? touchSMS can give you the tools you need to auto-respond like an expert. Contact us for more information or to get started.

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