Twilio has published a best practices guide on how to engage with customers via email and SMS following news 9 out of 10 global consumers want to text with businesses, but only 48% of businesses are equipped with text messaging software.
The guide came after research that customers felt businesses were not able to meet their channel needs when attempting to make contact, resulting in a struggle for companies to obtain and retain their consumer base. Added to that, Gartner research found businesses identified as leaders in customer communication tailor their communications to deliver the right information using the right channel at the right time.
Twilio advises businesses to follow these best practices:
- Ask for permission: Like with email, you’ll need to get permission before sending SMS messages to customers. It's common courtesy to do so
- Use shortcodes: Either toll-free numbers or short codes are acceptable as both support higher sending volumes and reduced filtering. Shortcodes are 5 or 6-digit phone numbers for mass mobile communications
- Boost deliverability: Follow country and postcode regulations as well as wireless carriers’ messaging policies to improve your SMS deliverability
- Keep it simple: SMS is meant to be short and sweet. Keep messages simple with clear-cut CTAs too. And make them relevant
- Control SMS frequency: How often messages are sent is just as important as what is being texted, and remember - less is more. Excessive content, deals, and updates can cause annoyance and lose a customer base
The company also provided some examples of common mistakes made with SMS that affect the quality of CX provided. These are forgetting a CTA and sending messages that are far too long and sending a generic text at the wrong time.