How can you use SMS broadcasting Software to grow your business?

Yesterday afternoon, in the middle of a discussion with colleagues, I received a telemarketer’s call. Without batting an eyelid, I reached out for the phone only to discard the call with annoyance. An intrusive phone call in the middle of the workday can be wrong for so many reasons. Yet, the deluge of unwarranted calls in a day has become the norm. However, when you receive a text message, you don’t feel anyone prying or intruding. This is true for any customer today. SMS (Short Message Service) broadcasting has become the most reliable and fastest way for businesses to reach customers.

A survey by Twilio found that 9 out of 10 customers prefer to communicate with brands over message. When it comes to customer service, messaging wins hands down.

Messaging among the Most Preferred Customer Service Channel By Country

Country	Preferred by Customers (number in %)
South Korea	45
India	34
Singapore	36
US	33
UK	25

The survey found that businesses still rely on old-school ways of calling customers. While, today’s customers, especially the millennial generation, increasingly favor messaging over other mediums. Around 31% of millennials prefer messaging over any other form of communication.

Why do customers prefer SMS?

A mobile phone has become a must-have whether you are stepping out or having a day off. A recent study by Review.org found that Americans check their phone once every 5.5 minutes, roughly 262 times a day. The mind-boggling numbers come from a 2020 survey by Review.org. The open rates of SMS also attest to this fact. As per Gartner, SMS open rates range anywhere from 98% to 45%.  It is the most personal yet unobtrusive way of reaching out to customers, who usually prefer it over other channels. Here are a few ways businesses can use SMS to reach out to customers, in which they see the value too.

• coupons or deals (77%)
• personal alerts (50%)
• being in the loop (48%)
• more meaningful content (33%)
• no need to visit a physical location/website/app for information (31%)

How does SMS broadcasting work?

If you are intrigued by numbers, to know more about SMS broadcasting, or how an SMS broadcasting software functions, this is for you.

You can upload a phone number list of your customers and upload the text message. In a few clicks, you can send out your message to millions of customers. The messages can also be scheduled for a later time or date, as the case may be. The multi-tenant version for SMS broadcasting by HoduBlast is ideal for both voice and SMS services for your customers. This software allows you to run campaigns, promote events, organize surveys and polls, send reminders, warnings, or reports. It offers an accessible channel to communicate with customers who do not have access to the internet, social media, and email.

Benefits of SMS broadcasting for business

1. Easy operation

By using the SMS broadcasting software, businesses can easily reach out to millions of customers in a click. Ease in operation without any complex setup makes it ideal for use by a company of any size.

2. Cost-effective

With practically no deployment and maintenance cost, this is one of the most cost-effective ways of communication for businesses. And the good thing is the response rates are way higher than any other form of communication. It means you get a higher RoI for your spending. Take a look at the graph below to glance at the statistics.

3. Effective Reach

Remote or urban, you can reach your customers all across the geography without the constraint of the internet or smartphone. Any simple mobile phone can be your gateway to establish an effective communication channel with customers.

4. Preferred by customers

An overwhelming majority of customers today prefer SMS over any other channel. As many as 89% of customers want businesses to use messaging to communicate with them. The continued momentum towards messaging seems that the trend is likely to stay.

5. On-demand and quick

As soon as an SMS lands, it can lead to immediate and on-demand communication with customers. You can weave in a link that can open onto a webpage or use a simple mechanism of ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ monosyllabic responses to take the conversation forward. Sending out an SMS is also a few clicks away, saving your precious time for marketing communication campaigns.

Here are a few tips you can use to induce action from customers for your SMS campaigns.

• Time your SMS marketing campaigns
• Use meaningful and short messages
• Use personalized fields
• Use multimedia elements
• Show urgency
• Have a clear CTA

Conclusion

Whether you are looking to give some muscle to your customer service or start a marketing campaign for a product or a service, an SMS broadcasting software is ideal. However, you must be mindful of any consumer privacy laws and follow such processes as opt-in/opt-out, among others.

There’s no doubt that SMS broadcasting helps you effectively deliver personalized messages. You can automate the clerical tasks and use geographical or other segmentation to send out targeted messages from the SMS broadcasting system. HoduBlast comes pre-integrated with Twilio & Telnyx SMS Providers and others to give you added flexibility of using a trusted service provider of your choice.

Build one-on-one connections with customers with SMS broadcasting software now.