Text-based customer service really took off in the early 2000s. Now, over a decade later, text messaging has fallen among the most popular methods of communication, not only for consumers, but also for businesses. It’s a form of communication that businesses need to utilize if they want to be successful and ahead of the competition.
But with every aspect of communication being digitized, so has regular text messaging. Businesses are now migrating from traditional to virtual phone systems to improve their outreach to customers.
A virtual phone system is a collection of business phone features that are hosted in the cloud. This enables your business to access these features through any device using an internet connection, which means you can access them on computers, mobile devices, and more.
Sending text messages through a virtual phone system can benefit you business in the following ways:
1. Better Communication
If you run a small business and use a virtual phone system, you’re probably familiar with the frustration of trying to get someone on the phone. The problem is that most people don’t pick up their phone when they get your call — they either ignore it, or they answer with a text message.
The solution? Text them through your virtual phone system.
Here are some of the benefits that texting your customers through a virtual phone system can provide:
Instant Response
Most people are used to having instant access to their phones. With a virtual phone system, you can have them on-the-go and connected through messaging instantly using text messages.
Texting is Easier Than Calling
Even the most technologically advanced users still don’t like talking on the phone. Texting is more convenient, especially for people who don’t want to appear rude by ignoring calls from a number they don’t recognize.
2. Reduced Costs
A virtual phone system can dramatically reduce telephone costs and increase productivity by allowing employees to answer incoming calls while they’re working on other tasks.
The software allows you to set up call forwarding from your business phone number to your wireless cell phone number so that customers don’t have to pay for two separate lines for their voice and text features. In some cases, you may even save money by moving the cell tower for your business farther away from the original location of the landline.
Additionally, VoIP texting uses almost no bandwidth and takes up little server space. There are no long distance charges, which can be especially beneficial if you have an international customer base.
3. Automate Appointments
Setting up appointments can be a pain — for both you and your clients. Using a virtual phone system, however, allows you to make scheduling easy for everyone involved. You can set up appointments over text or send automated appointment reminders so your clients never forget about their appointment again.
With automated appointment reminders via text, you can eliminate no-shows and optimize your schedule each day.
4. Provide Customer Support and Promote Upcoming Events
Texting provides a quick way for customers to ask questions, provide feedback and quickly voice issues. By enabling incoming text messages, you’ll be able to receive and respond to inbound inquiries from customers on the spot.
Even if you don’t have a dedicated staff member for texting, with a virtual phone system you can establish an auto-responder that sends a quick reply letting your customer know that his or her message was received.
VoIP texting can help a business get the word out about an upcoming promotion or event. If you have an upcoming sale or event, texting provides a quick way to reach your customers simply and effectively. You can use the SMS functionality of your virtual phone system to send a text blast inviting recipients to your special event or take advantage of your latest offer.
5. Paper Trail
Texting is a good way to have all your communication in one place. When you are communicating with customers through email, phone, or even in person, you can lose track of what was said, who said it and when.
But with text messaging, all of your communication has a paper trail. This makes it easier for your business to keep track of what’s been communicated and what hasn’t. You can also easily forward texts to other workers in order to give them the information they need to help the customer.
The paper trail created by text messaging is also useful for recording data. You can record how long it took for you to respond to a customer, how long you spent on the phone with them and how many texts were exchanged during each interaction with a client.
6. It’s Much More Convenient
Texting through a virtual phone system is convenient for both parties involved in the conversation. Your customers don’t have to go out of their way to call you on a landline or wait around for an email response from your company; they can simply shoot off a quick text message whenever it’s convenient for them.
Your team members also benefit from texting as it allows them to handle customer questions and complaints without having to be chained to the office all day long. They can check messages remotely through their phones or tablets, making it easier for them to respond to customer inquiries and handle other issues from anywhere in the world.
The Final Word
Sending automated texts to your customers is an excellent way to strengthen customer engagement. You can also receive and process messages from them For example, you can send them appointment reminders, order notifications and other information that might be useful to them.
Text messaging can also benefit your business by providing a consistent customer experience. When you use a virtual phone system you can do all of this without having to invest in new software or hardware.
You won’t have to incur added costs on installation costs and you won’t have to worry about investing in costly upgrades as things change — everything is handled online.
In addition to making it easier to grow your business while saving time and money, using text messaging with a virtual phone system lets you fulfill the needs of your customers in real time. You can instantly respond to messages from customers and keep track of the status of conversations via your dashboard thus ensuring good customer satisfaction.
