Retaining your customers and creating brand loyalty doesn’t happen overnight. One must be deliberate and take action to create opportunities for great experiences to drive repeat business and build brand loyalty. To keep customers coming back to your business, it’s critical to be where your customers are and foster the communication channels they prefer.
Customers today are digital-first and want interactions with companies to fit into their busy lives. That’s why text messaging is the preferred method of contact for the majority of consumers. It is how they communicate with family and friends, so it is ubiquitous. Text and SMS messaging allows for starts and stops in conversations, putting control and convenience in the hands of your customers. You just have to be accessible over SMS messaging when they need something. In this article, we take a look at how your business can use SMS software to increase customer retention.
Return on Customer Investment
It takes a lot of time and effort to get consumers to click on your ad, visit your booth, or jump on a call with you. Earning a consumer’s attention for the first time can cost 5 to 10 times more than it takes to retain an existing one. We all know customer acquisition takes a considerable investment of time, money, and effort.
The return on that investment depends on how long you’re able to keep customers satisfied and for how long. Over the life of that customer, you’ll reap benefits beyond repeat sales. Long-term customers spend more money because they’re familiar and happy with your brand, will refer your products, and will spend less money to advertise.
Customers Happier With Text Messaging
At Quiq, we exist to help our clients be where their customers are. Leading brands communicate on their customer’s channel of choice at their customer’s moment of need. Being there for connected customers during their moment of need has become our mantra because we know it can make or break whether a customer returns to a brand for future interactions.
The ability to engage with your company, resolve issues quickly, and get timely and relevant information is a large part of your brand, so make sure it’s as easy and convenient for the customer as possible.
There’s plenty of research that, not surprisingly, reveals text messaging as the preferred way to communicate. Consumers rely on SMS messaging as a way to communicate with family, friends, and yes, even companies because it is so convenient and doesn’t disrupt their busy lives. Text messaging has become so prevalent that customers have come to expect the ability to message their favorite brands. In fact, our research reveals that 69% of consumers expect to see text messaging as a customer service communication channel.
Our research also reveals that customers who use messaging as their primary communication channel have significantly higher CSAT scores than those who use phone or email. The higher CSAT scores are partly a result of customers who are able to seek support on their terms – support that happens on their timeline and on a channel that is convenient for them.
Building Loyalty Through Text Messaging
Like any long-term relationship, building customer loyalty takes trust and a personal connection. Traditional means of engaging with a company, like the phone channel and email, can hinder and even damage the client-customer relationship.
Think of the customer who needs immediate help and is frustrated by a long or confusing IVR system, or who sits on hold for 20 minutes to speak to an agent, or who has to continually scan their email to see if they have finally received a response. Those experiences, frustration and all, are now part of that customer’s perception of your brand. It’s hard to make a personal connection if the customer comes into the conversation already frustrated and confused, or can’t connect with an agent at all.
The customer may have been satisfied with their product or service up to the point when they needed assistance. The messaging channel delivers the highest CSAT scores because it gives customers an easy, familiar, and convenient way to engage with you. Whether customers choose to send a text on their mobile phone, chat while they are on your website, or connect through social media, these channels allow customers to leave a message and continue doing what they were doing while awaiting a prompt response.
Texting with your customers differentiates your business and shows your customers that you value their time and your relationship with them. Quiq clients that implement messaging can deliver positive experiences consistently over the messaging channel.
Customer loyalty is built through consistently fulfilling customers’ expectations of service. Messaging takes away the friction that wait times and overly slow responses create and makes it more likely that your customer will engage with you again.
The Future of Customer Loyalty
Think of building customer loyalty as a bank. It takes time to build up a reserve, but consider every positive engagement as a deposit into that customer loyalty account. Since today’s customers use their smartphones for everything from buying products to contacting support, It makes sense that customers expect these engagements to happen on mobile devices.
By 2019, requests for customer support through consumer messaging apps will exceed requests for customer support through social media according to Gartner research. A smart device is always within reach, so it’s not surprising that mobile messaging is one of the fastest growing support channels. Today’s consumers want to be able to reach companies on their terms and when they need something. Text messaging and SMS software an easy solutions to drive positive customer experiences that keep them coming back for more.
Quiq makes it easy for customers to contact a business via Messaging, the preferred channel already in use with friends and family. With Quiq, customers can engage with companies via SMS/text messaging, Facebook Messenger, Web Chat, In-App, and Kik for help with their pre-sales and post-sales questions. In return, companies get a digital engagement platform to communicate with customers.
