Many business prefer to communicate with others via business text messaging. It’s fast, simple, and straight to the point. Businesses understand that many of their customers would rather use texting to reach out for support. As a result, omnichannel contact centers have incorporated texting into their agents’ CRM platforms. This makes it easy for agents to reach out to customers and more often than not, get a response back.

Although talking over the phone may not be as favorable with the younger generation, it’s still a form of contact that consumers have come to expect. If a customer doesn’t want to talk over the phone, they can simply silence and ignore a call. There is no connection made. With texting, this changes, and businesses who rely on text to communicate with customers are vulnerable to agents accidentally committing a few faux pas. Here we will review four common business SMS marketing mistakes and ways to avoid them.

Mistake #1: Messages that are too long

The average person only has an attention span of 8 seconds. If an agent sends a customer a 3 minute long paragraph via text, they’ve lost the opportunity to engage. Since you can’t be exactly sure when a customer is completely free to interact, you should avoid long text messages. They might be unable to thoroughly read it and could even forget. A short, quick attention-grabbing message with a clear call-to-action can do the trick.

Mistake # 2: Taking a call to action for granted

Don’t take your call to action for granted. A call to action (CTA) is the primary goal of a business text message, and it has three main functions:

• It gets customer’s attention and makes them want to read on.
• It tells customers what they can expect from reading further.
• It directs them toward an action they should take as a result of reading what you’ve sent them.

The most effective CTAs use strong command verbs such as “download” or “sign up” rather than weak verbs such as “get” or “check out.” A strong verb evokes emotion and makes the customers feel like they’re accomplishing something by taking that specific action; weak words are less effective because they don’t create as much motivation in customer’s minds.

 For example: “Download our new payment app today!” versus “Have fun making payments  today!”

Another way to create urgency is by offering real value in exchange for some commitment from your customer—for instance, if you’re asking them to sign up for your newsletter list or download an app from your website, make sure that there’s something truly substantial waiting for them at the end of their journey (promotional offers, discounts, first-to-know access to information, etc.).

Mistake #3: Sounding unprofessional

Texting with our friends and family is quite different than texting with a customer. No matter how well you know a customer, sounding too relaxed may come off as unprofessional. It can really tarnish a company’s image and project the wrong idea. Since most of us are only texting friends and family, it can be easy to accidentally slip into casual mode. Emojis, acronyms (where r u), and poor grammar may not matter when texting a friend, but it makes a difference when texting a customer.

Mistake #4: Texting at the wrong time

It’s important to be mindful of the time when sending a customer a text. Texting outside of business hours may look unprofessional. You may inadvertently send a late or too early text to customers who live in different time zones. Disregarding TCPA regulations can land your call center in serious trouble. Text messages may only be sent to customers who have given consent, and businesses must provide full disclosure and information on opting out. LiveVox’s omni channel platform features automated controls that mitigates risk. Agents can communicate with customers via text straight from their customer profile. They can also reach numerous customers through mass messaging. Workflows are more efficient as compliance is automatically embedded.

Mistake #5: Sending messages too often

If a customer doesn’t respond to a text message, it’s best to space out the time between attempts. It can irritate customers and possibly result in lost business. Just like calling a customer over and over can be annoying, texting too much can have the same effect. LiveVox’s omni-channel platform also provides controls that prevent agents from calling or texting a customer more than once during a certain period of time.

SMS best practices

Now that we’ve covered what not to do, here are a few tips to ensure that your agents are able to expertly navigate your next text messaging campaign. 

• Always make sure you’ve obtained consent. Without it, call centers can face very large fines for each non-compliant text message sent. LiveVox understands the importance of consent management. Its unified platform makes capturing consent easy. Its compliance features are available on every channel of communication. Any changes are automatically updated as soon as they are made. 

• Send clear, easy to understand messages that are free of jargon. Use wording that captures your recipient’s interest and provides directions for further communication. Messages should also include the sender’s name and place of business. Otherwise your text may look like spam and the recipient may be inclined to delete it. 

• Create segmented lists to tailor messages that can appeal to different audiences. Personalization will help engage customers and provide better results. The LiveVox 2-Way SMS solution allows agents to send personalized messages using unified CRM data. 

• Make sure you respond when a customer replies. It can be easy for an agent to forget to reply when sending out mass text messages. Keeping an eye out for replies and responding in a timely manner shows the customer that you value their time and business. 

The advanced technology LiveVox has developed is uniquely designed to improve call center efficiency and keep both agents and customers engaged. The LiveVox omni-channel platform streamlines the way agents and customers interact, including via text. Learn more about LiveVox by requesting a demo to see the impact our technology can have on your call center.