Business texting offers many advantages. It's increasingly used for customer service operations, opening up new avenues for fast and personalised support. And by using SMS marketing software to manage conversations and deliver broadcast messages, communications are more organised and effective, yielding better returns.
Why is texting an effective way of communication?
One of the biggest advantages of texting is its broad local and global reach. According to the latest numbers published by BankMyCell, there are over 8 billion mobile phones in use worldwide (including smartphone and feature phone users) in 2024. There is always a native messaging app for SMS that is built into all mobile phones, and the transmission of text messages relies only on a cellular network, not an internet connection. This means texts can reach recipients in remote areas with little or no internet coverage.
Moreover, SMS text messages are popular with people of all ages and demographics, even with the rise in instant messaging apps. Why? Another one of the key benefits of SMS is that it is familiar, reliable, and accessible to everyone with a mobile phone. And so, it's a technology that's here to stay.
What are some advantages of texting?
In addition to SMS being accessible to virtually everyone on the planet, here are ten other key benefits of text messaging in business.
1. SMS has high open rates
According to Gartner, SMS offers incredible open rates as high as 98%. In comparison, email open rates are much lower, as are phone call pick-up rates. This means that a text message is more likely to be read by customers than a communication on these other channels.
2. SMS text messaging causes less disruption
Phone calls are disruptive; they often arrive with a loud ringing, interrupting meetings, work tasks, lunches or personal time. A recipient cannot know whether a call will take five minutes or 45 minutes, and if they're busy, they may decide to reject the call. Thus, phone calls have a high chance of being ignored – in fact, 90% of customers won't answer the phone anymore, a report published by MarTech.org revealed.
On the other hand, text messages can be opened at the recipient's convenience without intruding on whatever they're doing when they receive the message.
3. Text messaging is quick and immediate
Business text messages are delivered directly and reliably to customers' SMS inboxes. No time is wasted waiting for delivery, except in rare cases, such as when recipients are outside their network coverage area.
Text message marketing (promotional SMS) is also much less likely to be flagged as spam compared to emails, especially when your VoIP number has been approved and verified by network carriers.
4. SMS opens a direct line of communication
Because text messaging is familiar and a preferred channel for many people, it offers a personal connection with customers and makes your business more approachable. Once you have a phone number set up for business texting, customers can contact you by SMS anytime. You can automate responses to common questions using an SMS chatbot for even better customer service.
5. Many people prefer texts over phone calls and emails
Multiple surveys have been carried out over the years, showing that customers prefer to receive marketing materials by text message instead of other channels.
We've already touched on how invasive phone calls can be, but marketing emails are also considered an inconvenience by many. They tend to clutter the email inbox and push down other (more important) messages – work and personal emails, for instance. Its tendency to not bloat customers' inboxes and its non-intrusive nature are two undeniable advantages of SMS in business communication.
6. Responding to text messages is easy
It takes just a few minutes to fire back a text response – a major advantage of text messages – which may explain why SMS has a 4.5 times higher response rate than email. There are only 160 characters to use, which forces the interaction to be short, conversational, and casual. Therefore, replying to a text message is simple and not mentally draining.
7. Texting is cost-effective
Reasonable cost is one of the defining advantages of SMS. Text messaging is generally affordable for businesses (and much less expensive than phone calls). Messente's text message software offers volume-based pricing, which works out at a low cost per SMS.
For example, it costs just €0.010 per SMS to send 1,000 one-way texts to Canada, which equates to just €10 per month. Messente also offers custom volume pricing for mass texting to huge audiences.
8. It's easy to personalise text messages
Customers see personalised texts as more genuine. They are more likely to receive such messages more positively, leading to higher engagement rates. Thus, a personal touch not only enhances the customer experience but also increases the effectiveness of marketing efforts and fosters long-term loyalty.
You get a multitude of advantages of using SMS for personalised communications. So how can you personalise your messages?
There are many ways. The simplest method is to address each customer by name. Another thing you can do is set a certain tone for a certain audience segment after learning how each group will respond to it.
If you want to gain maximum advantages of texting custom content to users, sign up for a reliable SMS platform that offers easy personalisation features such as editable templates and integration with CRMs. This will allow you to tailor your communication with individual customers based on their unique past interactions, preferences, and behaviours.
9. Everyone texts
The universality of texting advantages businesses incredibly.
For instance, let's take social media. It might appeal to specific demographics – very old people might not have access to or a preference for it. Email might feel too formal or serious to be a way to chat with younger demographics. Texting, though? It's suitable for casual, formal, and friendly messaging for all ages everywhere. And everyone has at least an SMS app if not any other OTT messaging apps. Even the least tech-savvy person you know would know how to text. Thus, by utilising this platform, you can gain the many amazing benefits of texting.
10. More and more businesses are texting customers
Reporter Emily Stewart, writing for Vox in July 2023, joked about how she'd found a new "text bestie", referring to the high influx of SMS messages she noticed had started coming from all sorts of businesses, from delivery companies and restaurants to recreational services and luxury fashion brands. In fact, she had more texts from businesses than from her loved ones.
It's clear that businesses that want to gain the many advantages of texting are embracing it with open arms. To make sure that your competitors don't beat you to your target audience, you need to join the race.
Text messaging use cases for businesses
In the business context, the purpose of texting is to establish an instant, personal connection with customers. There are many reasons why a business might want to text its clients.
One popular reason is marketing. Promotional messages such as product promotions, discount codes and offers, and special event invites are quite common. Another purpose is to deliver transactional updates, such as order status alerts, payment confirmations, appointment reminders, or login security codes. Given the benefits of texting in terms of speed and instantaneity, you might also want to offer text support to customers for queries that don't need extensive guidance and lengthy back-and-forth.
When shouldn't SMS messaging be used?
An SMS message works for many communications, but there are certain situations when using another channel is best. Here are some examples of such cases.
When you need to send long-form messaging – for detailed messages, the 160-character limit may not do them justice. However, there are ways to make short-form SMS copywriting have great impact.
If cell networks are down – this can happen from time to time. In this case, you may need to switch to internet-based communication.
When you need to convey authentic emotion – sometimes an emoji or two might not cut it. Any more than that risks overkill, unprofessionalism, and sounding disingenuous.
To avoid confusion – specific messages might need a thorough explanation, and if you don't have two-way SMS enabled to allow responses, customers can't respond with questions.
For media sharing – SMS only allows you to send text-based messages. You could switch to MMS to send images; however, this will be costlier. Plus, mobile carriers impose file size limits on MMS and compress images during transmission, affecting the quality at the recipients' end.
Getting started with sending business text messages
Setting up business text messaging is easy when you use a messaging platform such as Messente. The first step is to sign up for a free account and then apply for a phone number (this can be either a short or long code). Once that's done, you're basically primed to start reaping the advantages of text messaging.
The next step is to build a list of subscribers or import existing contacts who have already given you permission to contact them by SMS. Then, you'll create your campaign content using the Messente platform, schedule your messages, and send them!
Improve customer satisfaction with SMS business communication
There are many benefits of texting in business, especially when used to enhance customer service functions. SMS offers exceptionally high open rates, isn't intrusive, and is fast and direct. Text messages are easy to personalise, so they grab attention – and they're more likely to evoke a response than phone calls and emails.
Of course, there are instances where it makes sense to use an alternative channel – for detailed long-form content, when you need to send media files, and in the unlikely event that a cell phone network is down. Messente has you covered in these situations by providing access to other messaging channels such as Viber and WhatsApp.
Depending on your specific use case and surrounding context, you should weigh both the advantages and disadvantages of texting as well as other channels, and then make your final choice.
