Business text messaging: Strategies, compliance, and innovation

Text messaging has transcended personal conversations to become a vital tool in business communications. Whether you’re a small business owner or part of a large corporation, understanding the nuances of business texting can transform your approach to customer service, marketing, and internal communication.

Let’s take a look at what business texting is and how it can be used to enhance customer interactions, streamline communications, and boost operational efficiency.

Table of Contents

• What is business text messaging?
• Leveraging text messaging for different business goals
• The benefits of SMS for businesses
• Security and compliance in business text messaging
• Maximizing engagement through text messaging
• Ensuring success with business text messaging
• Business texting best practices
• Real-world use cases
• The future of business text messaging
• Getting started with text messaging for businesses
  

What is business text messaging?

Business text messaging, including both SMS (Short Message Service) and MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service), is an essential component of modern communication strategies for businesses. It allows businesses to send and receive text messages, images, videos, and audio to and from employees, partners, and customers efficiently. 

Businesses use SMS and MMS to send timely promotions, updates, and alerts to customers, enhancing engagement and customer service. They can also be used to facilitate instant communication among team members, support task management, and improve coordination.

By integrating SMS and MMS into their communication strategies, businesses can enhance their operational efficiency, cultivate stronger customer relationships, and maintain a dynamic, connected workforce.

Leveraging text messaging for different business goals

Marketing

Businesses text timely offers, discounts, and event alerts directly to customers’ phones, ensuring high visibility and engagement rates. This direct communication channel allows for quick dissemination of key marketing messages, increasing sales opportunities.

Customer service

Text messaging enhances customer service by providing a quick and convenient communication channel for support queries. Customers can receive instant responses to inquiries, appointment reminders, or updates on service status, improving satisfaction and reducing call center volumes.

Human resources

For internal team communication, text messaging supports the fast dissemination of critical information, urgent alerts, or last-minute changes, ensuring that all team members are informed promptly, regardless of their location. This immediacy can significantly improve operational efficiency and team coordination.

The benefits of SMS for businesses

As a direct and widely accessible communication tool, SMS offers businesses many benefits, including:

• High click-through rates: Most businesses have an average SMS marketing click-through rate between 21 and 35%
• Instant delivery: Messages are delivered almost instantly, allowing for timely communication that is crucial in customer service or urgent updates.
• Cost-effective: Compared to many other marketing platforms, SMS is relatively inexpensive starting at $39 per month for 500 SMS messages and a 10-digit long code number, providing a high return on investment.
• Wide reach: Nearly everyone has access to a mobile phone capable of receiving an SMS, making it a universal tool to reach a broad audience.
• Personalization: SMS can be easily personalized for individual recipients, which enhances the customer experience and fosters loyalty.
• Integration capabilities: SMS can integrate with other marketing strategies and technology platforms, enhancing overall communication effectiveness.

Security and compliance in business text messaging

Business messaging platforms implement several security measures to protect user data, including encryption, secure data storage, and regular security audits. These practices ensure that messages and customer information are safeguarded against unauthorized access and breaches.

Businesses using SMS or MMS services must comply with data privacy laws and regulations such as the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), which mandates obtaining consent before sending promotional messages and maintaining records of this consent.

There are 9 essential components of keeping your business texts compliant:

1. Register or verify your number: This establishes credibility, builds customer trust, and prevents your texts from being flagged as spam.
2. Get consent: Getting explicit, written consent from subscribers allows you to send promotional, informational, and conversational texts. 
3. Set expectations: Send a consent confirmation text as soon as possible. Then, send a welcome message that clearly communicates what type of messages your subscribers will receive.
4. Make getting help simple: Provide easy support options within your text messages. This can be contact information or the ability to reply “HELP” to receive assistance.
5. Make opting out easy: Give users a simple way to opt out of receiving texts within your messages, like replying with “STOP.” Always send an opt-out confirmation text. 
6. Text at the right time: In the United States, you can send business texts between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. However, some states have their own regulations, so be sure to research this before sending texts.
7. Text appropriate amounts: Many states have rules regarding how many texts you can send in a given period of time. 
8. Don’t send prohibited content: In the U.S., you cannot send content regarding sex, hate, alcohol, firearms, tobacco, spam, misleading messages, depictions of violence, profanity, cannabis, and endorsement of illegal drugs. Doing so may lead to your business being banned from texting.
9. Research local regulations: Different states have different business texting rules. Research the states relevant to you before sending any messages.

Maximizing engagement through text messaging

71% of consumers want businesses to deliver personalized experiences—text messaging is a great way to achieve this. To personalize texts effectively, businesses should capture relevant user information, such as purchase history, preferences, and previous interactions. This can be achieved through integration with CRM systems or by analyzing interaction patterns. 

By using this data, businesses can tailor messages to meet individual needs and interests, increasing relevance and response rates. Personalized messages can include specific product recommendations, reminders based on previous purchases, or targeted promotions, all aimed at boosting customer loyalty and conversion rates.

Rich messaging features

MMS allows businesses to send multimedia content, including images, videos, and audio, enhancing the communication experience and making messages more engaging and informative. This is particularly useful for marketing campaigns that require visual content, instructional materials that benefit from demonstrations, or customer support scenarios where visual troubleshooting can help clarify solutions. By incorporating rich media, businesses can deliver more impactful and memorable messages, which can lead to higher engagement and improved customer retention.

AI-enhanced messaging

AI tools, like SimpleTexting’s AI Assist, can improve SMS campaign effectiveness by creating valuable, actionable, and brand-consistent messages. With just a simple prompt, AI Assist can generate five original text message ideas, helping both new and seasoned marketers optimize their messaging strategies, increase click-through rates, and improve ROI. 

Business texting best practices

To maximize the potential of your business texting efforts, follow these best practices:

Obtain consent and respect opt-outs

Always get explicit consent from recipients before sending them texts, and make it easy for recipients to opt out of receiving further communications. This not only complies with legal requirements but also respects customer preferences and builds trust.

Be clear and concise

SMS has limited character space, so ensure your messages are straightforward and concise. Every message should offer something valuable, whether it’s a special offer, an important update, or useful information. Make sure it’s relevant to the recipient.

Personalize your messages

Use existing customer data to personalize your text messages. Addressing recipients by name and tailoring content to their preferences or past behaviors can significantly increase engagement.

Time messages appropriately

Send texts during reasonable hours. Avoid early mornings, late nights, or other times when messages might be illegal or considered intrusive. Keep time zones and customer preferences in mind.

Include a clear call to action

Always include a specific call to action in your texts. Whether it’s visiting a website, calling a number, or using a promo code, direct actions can enhance customer engagement and help you measure text campaign effectiveness.

Real-world use cases

Business texting can be used across industries in many ways, including:

• Appointment reminders
• Survey and feedback collection
• Marketing promotions
• Payment alerts
• Event coordination
• Internal communication
• Real-time updates
• Customer service
• And more!

For example, Bella Santė, a day med spa in Boston, used SimpleTexting’s business texting services for marketing campaigns. They found that business texting is an easy way to have more personalized relationships with their customers. In just a few months, Bella Santė’s marketing subscriber list grew to over 200 people.

Another company, Pallas Seeds, implemented SimpleTexting’s business texting to deliver prompt, important updates about their fields and seeds. They discovered that texting is a convenient way to keep their customers informed, as they can check their texts at times that work for them, which saves Pallas Seeds from having to call each customer individually. This company says they’ve noticed increased trust between them and their customers since beginning to use business texting.

The future of business text messaging

Like most technology, business text messaging is constantly evolving. In recent years, the integration of AI and machine learning has automated text messaging, creating context-aware responses and enhanced personalization. 

In the future, business texting is poised to include more advanced technologies, such as more sophisticated analytics for understanding user engagement and predictive messaging to anticipate customer needs. It will begin to focus on interactive elements, like in-message purchasing or scheduling, to improve engagement. These innovations could revolutionize the way businesses engage with customers, providing more seamless and intuitive communication experiences.

To stay ahead of the curve and embrace these trends, businesses should actively adopt new messaging features as they become available, such as RCS (Rich Communication Services), which offers enhanced multimedia capabilities. 

Additionally, staying attuned to changing consumer preferences, such as the demand for greater privacy and instantaneity, will be crucial. Embracing these innovations will enable businesses to leverage text messaging as a dynamic and powerful tool for customer engagement.

Getting started with text messaging for business

You can get started with business text messaging in 5 simple steps:

1. Choose a provider: Research and select a text messaging service provider that fits your business needs. Consider factors like pricing, features, scalability, and support.
2. Choose a number: Decide whether you’ll use a short code, long code, or toll-free number. Short codes are ideal for mass text campaigns due to their high throughput, while long codes or toll-free numbers might be better for personalized communication or customer service.
3. Upload your contacts: Import your existing contact list into the chosen SMS platform. Ensure you have explicit consent from your contacts to receive SMS messages.
4. Build your list: Gow your contact list by adding a sign-up form on your website, at points of sale, or during customer interactions. Clearly communicate what messages they will receive and how often to maintain transparency and build trust.
5. Text your contacts: Start crafting and sending messages! Keep your texts concise and clear, and always include a call to action.

Sign up for business texting with SimpleTexting today!

Business text messaging is a versatile and powerful communication tool that can transform how companies interact with customers and manage internal operations. With its direct and instant nature, it offers an unparalleled opportunity to engage audiences, streamline processes, and enhance customer service. 

As technology evolves, embracing innovations and adapting to new consumer preferences will be key for businesses aiming to fully capitalize on the potential of text messaging. By implementing best practices and continuously refining strategies, businesses can ensure they leverage this dynamic platform to its fullest, fostering stronger connections and driving growth in an increasingly digital world.Ready to unlock the power of business texting? Sign up with SimpleTexting today!