Texting has been around for over 25 years now, and for many people, it is the preferred form of communication. Naturally, some businesses have started messaging their customers professionally as an organization.
If you’ve been considering adding business texting to your communication channels with customers, check out some of the survey results Text Request gathered from over 1,000 people.
Conversational Commerce
The first rising trend is how consumers want to buy things through text. This means prospects are texting with sales reps about products and services. They are also asking for payment reminders and bill pay options through SMS (short message service).
According to the survey, 69 percent of consumers want to receive texts related to making payments and 46 percent want to text businesses for sales inquiries. While customers are wanting businesses to text them about payments, only 30 percent are currently receiving texts related to payments. Adding texting to your billing can help improve your cash flow.
These texts could include sharing the invoices, sending links to pay online through text, payment reminders and letting customers know when they need to update their payment info when credit cards expire.
Another transactional texting opportunity is letting clients know about promotions and discounts. 52 percent of people want to receive texts from businesses about these discounts, but only 29 percent of respondents said they are receiving these from businesses currently. Some of the potential texts you could send out include asking clients to schedule their fall cleanups, holiday light installation or telling them about a discount you might be offering for spring fertilization services.
Business Texting Is More Convenient
When businesses were asked why they started texting their clients, the response was convenience. Phone tag can be tiring for both parties and people tend to enjoy texting over other forms of communication. Calls can be seen as interruptive, and emails can be easily ignored with the frequency people receive them. 70 percent of respondents said texting is the fastest way to reach them.
Texts don’t have to be responded to immediately and take little effort to respond when you’re ready. 64 percent of respondents said they read texts within a few minutes and 68 percent said they read every text they get, even the spam.
80 percent of people have texted with a business before and had a positive experience so they continue to expect that type of interaction. 77 percent of respondents said they want to text for customer services and 88 percent want to receive appointment scheduling texts from businesses.
If you think business texting isn’t relevant because your client base is older, data shows that 50 percent of adults 65+ years old said texting is the quickest way to reach them and adults 46-55 years old are the demographic most likely to read texts faster.
More Businesses Are Texting
While business texting is still relatively young, 98 percent of the businesses texting said they would recommend it to another company. Another 42 percent of businesses plan to add texting to their communication channels in the next 12 months.
Text Request says that over the past five years most people want to text with businesses. 90 percent of respondents said they want to text a business and 84 percent said they want to receive texts from a business. While some people don’t want to text businesses, this can serve as an additional communication channel for those who do prefer this method.
The number one thing consumers want is appointment scheduling. This can be particularly helpful for lawn care customers so they know when a technician is coming to treat their yard or design clients who might like a reminder about their meeting with the landscape designer or architect.
