Text messaging is one of the most effective channels for marketing that your business can utilize. It offers a 97% read rate within the first 15 minutes of delivery, making it extremely engaging when used correctly. The content of your messaging is the most important piece to pay attention to, as it can make or break your campaign. Today we're highlighting 3 things your text messages to customers should deliver. The next time you’re drafting messages for a campaign, use these as a filter and you’ll be set up to run your most engaging campaign yet📈

1. Add Value: How to add value in your texts

A text message without value is a text message ignored. The root of customer engagement is in value creation and understanding your customers’ needs and wants is integral in creating effective messaging. Identifying and including these pain points in your text messaging can dramatically increase your business’ engagement and conversion rates. 

In communicating value, be sure to clearly include who you are, what you provide as a business, and ways the customer can get involved.  Try to eliminate wordiness and redundancy to help engage your customer sooner – the quicker you get your message across, the better. While this may seem obvious, many businesses tend to over complicate their text messaging campaigns and fail to deliver something clear!

Examples of ways to add value:

• Share a promotion or discount on something you know your customer is interested in
• Suggest a piece of educational content you think will solve your customer’s pain point
• Offer 1-1 support in an area your customer may be struggling in (staying on track with goals, product-related set up questions, etc.)

2. Encourage Engagement: How to use text messages to increase engagement

Keeping a customer is as equally important as gaining one, and engaged customers tend to stick around 😉 Make sure to set up a clear communication strategy to keep your customers engaged throughout their journey with your company. 

With each communication, think “what is the action I want them to take?” and “how will this message make them feel?” Defining a clear action path and writing a simple call to action will increase the chance customers engage in the way you want them to. You’ll maximize your engagement rates if you also consider what thoughts or emotions the action will trigger and make sure those are intentional and aligned with your brand.

Examples of ways to encourage engagement:

• Suggest a next step and let your customers know they can text back with reflections and questions so that they feel supported if they get stuck with anything
• Send them a personalized tip or suggestion to help them navigate your app or product based on where they are in the journey
• Establish a strong feedback loop and make sure your customer knows that you value their opinions and feedback. A customer that feels heard is more likely to stay engaged

3. Deepen the relationship: how to use texts to strengthen the connection between your company and your customer

Creating a strong connection between company and customer is integral to keeping customers for the long term. It’s important to ensure that ​​your customers’ needs and questions are addressed in a timely manner and that you personalize messaging based on the information they’ve shared with you. Use the data you’ve collected from your customer’s engagements in any relevant conversations and marketing messages to show them that you’re listening and care about their experience. It is important to show them that they are valued members of your community and that you want to grow with them. Every customer is unique and how you engage with them should reflect that! 

Examples of ways to deepen the relationship:

• Make sure your customer feels seen - update them on their progress within your app, or applaud them on reaching a major milestone in their journey 
• Make conscious, data-driven decisions on how best to respond to your customers based on what has proven successful in the past
• Show your customer that social causes that are important to them are important to you! For example, you can offer to donate a % of the proceeds from new member sign-ups to an organization they care about

Still unsure on what to say to your customers? Get in touch with us here to learn more about how Wishroute can help you form deep relationships with your customers for the long run via text!