It’s easy to think of SMS messaging as a decade old throwback of communication. In an era of always-on social platforms, instant messenger, email and highly sophisticated CRM tracking software, the SMS can seem somewhat irrelevant.
This couldn’t be further from the truth, especially for businesses and how they interact with their customers.
Why?
Businesses need to consider SMS as an updated and more effective version of an email. It is more succinct and has a direct effect on the reader, whether a customer, employee, client or stakeholder. Do the litmus test for yourself: do you open your text messages when they arrive or leave them unread?
SMS strategies have the capacity to bring a greater awareness, more disruption and near immediate attention to the end-user. As consumers, business-related SMS is something we’ve all probably experienced this year already with everything from; appointment and booking confirmations, receiving a one-time-use password to access an online account; customer surveys and even government and HMRC communications. But if there was ever any doubt as to why SMS matters to UK business, then read on...
It gets attention - the SMS Advantage Report (SAP) found that of the 91% of mobile users who read their texts, 64% believe businesses should use SMS more, and 70% believe that a SMS is a more interesting way to attract their attention.
It is valued - eWeek found that of all other communication channels (including phone and Facebook), texting was rated as the highest contact method for customer satisfaction. Additionally, more than one-third of professionals commented that they struggled to go more than 10 minutes without responding to a text.
It is effective - according to SMSComparison.co.uk, 35% of us check our mobile phones within five minutes of waking up in the morning. If that’s not enough, more than 90% of us read an SMS within three seconds of receiving it.
It improves the customer experience - more and more businesses are realising that true competitive advantage lies in creating an engaging customer experience — one that is personal, fast, easy, and useful - and that can only be done with SMS.
It improves the business bottom-line - If customers don't like something, they can vote with their feet and their wallet. Let’s take a local restaurant as an example. A table for two with dinner and drinks isn't going to be much less than £60-£70 these days. If the reservation is made, a reminder sent via SMS and the whole transaction conducted seamlessly, that business is likely to see a returning customer. But, if something goes awry like confusion over the booking time or an undelivered confirmation, the net result will either be an unhappy customer or a potentially empty table - neither ideal.
5% = billions of problems
And just as all of us have received SMS communications, so too have we experienced issues like the one outlined in the example above. As widespread as the use of SMS is, at least 5% of those sent never reach their intended destination. Now, 5% might not sound like a lot, but research from Mobilesquared reveals that (A2P) SMS messages sent globally is expected to be 2.8 trillion by 2022. It means that the conservative 5% of missed SMS, amounts to billions of problems.
That’s a whole lot of information going missing and it is a big risk to business. Why? Because it doesn't matter how many successful messages are sent, the customer remembers the one time you got it wrong. The message they never received, the parcel they never got, the appointment that was missed. Ask yourself this, ‘would you be happy if at least 1 in 20 messages you sent to customers never landed?’ Maybe that figure is 10 in 20 that didn’t arrive with your customers. The problem is this is an industry where no-one knows how many never arrive. Until now.
Improving accuracy
But that is exactly why we established Augnet - to ensure that businesses not only get the highest quality service when it comes to SMS delivery, but one that they know their customers can rely on too. We’ve created a platform that neutralises all of the issues you may have had to drive down that 5%. Our platform means businesses can derive benefits when it comes to visibility of their messaging, optimising traffic where it really matters, bottom-line savings, improved customer experience and higher conversion.
And, of course a belief that you shouldn’t pay extra for a high-quality service, which is why our service doesn't cost the earth. In fact, our platform has been designed so our customers can dial the level of service up or down to reflect the transaction purpose or volume.
One simple message
Our message to business is simple - ‘Maximise the impact SMS can make to your business’. And we want to help you do that which is why we’re offering new joiners 25% off their current SMS supplier costs for three months.* We want to give SMEs enterprise-quality supply of your messages - something previously not possible. Please contact us at hello@augnet.co.uk referencing the code 25% QUALITY SMS.
You can find out much more about the value of SMS to businesses in our latest whitepaper SMS and Customer Experience: Is your business getting what it needs? which you can download here.
Alternatively, for more information please visit us at www.augnet.co.uk/sms-aware
Daniel Gill, CEO and Founder, Augnet
* Subject to a 12-month contract, discount paid on the 12th month