As businesses scale they need to become more tech savvy and take advantage of the latest innovations to improve customer communication and customer retention which isn't easy as your customer base continues to grow.
When you integrate customer relationship management and SMS technology you create a powerful match that improve your customer retention, encourage repeat purchase and lower your acquisition costs.
This partnership works well in the e-commerce space but can be applied to many other industries.
The benefits of SMS CRM
The combination of CRM and SMS can be the driving force behind many strategies, and it is up to you to decide which focus area you would to tackle. But to give you a broad overview of what is possible with SMS CRM in terms of high level strategy we've put together a list of goals you can achieve with this medium.
- Improve level of customer service
- Lower operating costs
- Attainment of usable data for marketing
- Account management
- Incentive administration
- Customer experience tracking, cross-selling, retention and more!
How you can combine SMS and CRM
So now that you realise the importance of CRM and how SMS can be solution, how do you actually use SMS to improve your CRM? Here are 10 tips on tasks that SMS could take off your hands.
1. Early access to new features, products or sales
Take advantage of your database by sending out regular reminders. Let them know when you're having sales, discounts, deals, clearance stock or any events you may feel would be of interest to them.
Be sure to let them know what they're first to receive these messages because they've signed up to your database, to show them the value of staying in contact with you.
2. Product arrival dates
If you ship physical stock to customers you can let them know when they can expect the parcel to arrive from date of purchase and manage their expectations while also limiting frustration from their side.
3. Product shipping dates
Once the product is dispatched you can let the customer know that the package is on their way, any relevant details around the delivery and also once they've accepted delivery an SMS can be sent to confirm the final stage of the exchange has been completed. So the businesses has piece of mind that all went smoothly and there is a trail should any issues with deliveries arise.
4. Product discounts
If you have data like wish lists or previous purchase data you can send customers a reminder to let them know their favourite product now retails at a discount price.
5. Product stock levels
If you have data like wish lists or previous purchase data you can send customers a reminder to let them know their favourite product is running low on stock and to act now if they want to avoid missing out on them.
6. Product arrival dates
Popular products for example the iPhone has a mass following of eager customers waiting for its release. Letting your customer database know these products are now in stock and ready for purchase is a great way to get initial traffic going.
7. Subscription expiration
If you offer a subscription service you can remind customers that their benefits are about to expire and let them know they need to pay their latest subscription to keep you as a service provider.
8. Loyalty program reminders
If you have a loyalty program you can SMS your subscriber database to remind them of the loyalty points, how to earn more, how to use the points they have received or just a reminder on that they can take advantage of the program.
9. Reservations for preferred customers
If you have frequent or high value customers you can use SMS notifications to make them feel special. Let them know they have first preference or first refusal on certain offers, stock and allocations before you provide it to your larger audience or to the general public.
10. Incentive for first time customers
In many cases businesses sit with a number of customers who were initially interested in their business, brand, service or product offering but never followed through with the actual purchase. It may not have been the right time or they were waiting to be paid, whatever the reason is, you simply did not convert them on the day.
Use their details to send them a reminder SMS that you're still around, offer the same great service or product and could even let them know you're saving their product or spot for them for a short period of time, to get the customer excited and providing more urgency to purchase.
Consider SMS for CRM
Due to all the clutter on social media and mail boxes these days SMS technology has becoming a crucial tool for customer services because its simplicity and effectiveness.
SMS marketing is easy to scale and demands customer attention and if used effectively along with a strategy will give your business a competitive edge.