How can SMS keep your transportation, trucking, or taxi company moving? Learn all about it here.
The transportation industry is among the biggest in the US, with a $1.26 trillion market.
If you run a business in this booming industry, you’ve got to manage a lot of moving parts, from your employees to your customers (not to mention bringing in new ones).
The question is, how do you do all of that without multitasking between a dozen tools and wasting valuable time on inefficient processes?
Answer: SMS.
I’m going to show you why SMS is best for transportation companies and how to make it work for you.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
First, why should you turn to texting for your transportation marketing and operations efforts? Here are a few important numbers you should see.
Texts get you the results you want (both in terms of customer engagement and improvements in sales), and your customers want you to use them.
SMS works for all kinds of industries, but let’s take a close look at how transportation companies specifically can put it to use.
Before you get your texting program off the ground, there are a few features you’ll want in your SMS toolbox. Here are a few must-haves.
Mass texts let you send a message to hundreds or thousands of contacts at once in just a few clicks. These are helpful for big announcements, promotions, and updates like closures or emergency alerts.
Keywords are short words or phrases that your customers can text to your number to agree to receive your SMS messages. They give your audience a quick, convenient way to get in touch with you (and you can grow your contact lists!).
Get conversations going instantly and without lifting a finger using these automatic messages. Use autoresponders to cut down your response times and capture your contacts’ interest.
Within a two-way messaging inbox, you can interact one-on-one with customers to handle their questions and concerns with a personal touch.
Already got an appointment scheduler, CRM, or email service you love? No problem. SimpleTexting integrates with thousands of applications, and if you don’t see your favorite among those, custom integrations are an option as well.
As a transportation professional, you’re probably always on the move (pun intended). If you’d rather not be tied to your laptop all the time, choose a texting service that offers a mobile app — like SimpleTexting.
That way, you can continue texting and engaging with your contacts from anywhere, anytime.
Now you’ve got your tools and your inspiration all ready to go. I realize you may still have questions, though, so here are a few common questions transportation pros have about text marketing.
Easy! Simply set up a keyword that riders can text in to notify your dispatch team that they need a ride. Alternatively, add a click-to-text button to your site that opens up the sender’s native text messaging app with a pre-filled message asking for a taxi. All they’ll have to do is input their location.
That depends on the texting platform you use, but the good news is that SMS marketing for transportation generally costs less than the average phone plan. SimpleTexting’s plans, for example, start at $29/month and go up from there, depending on how many texts you need to send.
Got a big sale coming up or want to attract new leads? First thing, create a keyword just like I mentioned earlier and post it on your storefront, your social media, or anywhere else your audience will see it.
Then, send out promotional texts about your biggest deals and best offers to your new contacts!
Transportation businesses, more than many others, need to run smoothly: The stakes for continuously running operations are high, and you have a whole network of workers and customers to communicate with.
With texting, you can do all that with just a few clicks and no delay in your communications.
Lily is a content marketing specialist at SimpleTexting. She specializes in making helpful, entertaining video content and writing blogs that help businesses take advantage of all that texting has to offer. When she’s not writing or making TikToks, you can find Lily at roller derby practice or in a yoga studio in the Seattle area.
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