Are you looking for innovative and creative solutions for your company's customer service? Have you ever considered making SMS the preferred communication tool between your brand and your customers?

90% of SMS messages are read within three minutes of receipt, and this medium enjoys a level of trust that your company can leverage to build a lasting relationship with its customers. Don't wait any longer—take advantage of this still-emerging market to stand out and make SMS your go-to customer service channel!

SMS: untapped potential

Today, only 7% of consumers use SMS to communicate with their favorite brands, far behind email, phone, or even postal mail. In fact, the reflex to use SMS for customer service isn't quite there yet, even though various studies clearly show that consumers appreciate the simplicity of SMS as a communication channel.

From the company perspective, it is easy to understand the difficulties encountered in using SMS as an effective way to manage customer service.

Where should SMS messages be sent from within the company? What happens if a customer tries to call the number provided? Should you use one number per employee, or is it better to have a single number for the entire customer service department? These are all valid questions that have made coordinating customer service via SMS difficult to grasp, which explains why companies have been hesitant.

However, things are changing, and SMS holds all the records for simplicity—both in implementation and reading—as well as for clarity, immediacy, and responsiveness. It is an extremely impactful and modern tool for building a personalized, close relationship between a company and its customers.

Customer service via SMS: a win-win choice

Managing customer service via SMS is a win-win for both the company and the consumer. The days when brands only cared about closing sales are long gone! Today is all about building lasting relationships and listening to customers to foster long-term loyalty.

For the customer, SMS-based service is a real benefit that provides an undeniably better customer experience:

• No need to own the latest high-end smartphone; SMS works on all phones, from the most high-tech to the most basic.
• SMS allows you to share a lot of information in a small space.
• Without having to take any action, SMS gives customers the feeling of being in total control of the situation.

For the company, using SMS to manage customer service is a real asset, both in terms of brand image and finances:

• 90% of SMS messages are read within 3 minutes of receipt.
• 98% of SMS messages are opened and read by mobile phone users.
• All phones can receive and read SMS messages.
• SMS has a personal feel, as people don't give their phone number to just anyone.

SMS is the ideal solution for reaching almost everyone in a very short amount of time. And some companies have already realized this!

Airlines, for example, alert their passengers about delays, cancellations, and gate changes via SMS. Some go even further; British Airways, for instance, allows customers to interact with them via SMS to reduce airport wait times and pre-boarding customer calls.

SMS: A tool tailored for customer service

Using SMS to manage your company's customer service is an effective tool that aligns with modern consumer behavior. It also allows companies to better manage their customer service operations through various features:

• Using SMS allows you to track interactions to better understand your customers' behavior, and therefore better meet their needs.
• SMS sending modules are designed to enable centralized data management and facilitate task sharing within the department.
• SMS allows for segmentation and information retrieval based on specific criteria, enabling the creation of targeted databases.
• Traceability and analysis of consumer reactions are facilitated, simplifying the consolidation of key information about them.

Octopush offers various solutions tailored to every situation. Regardless of your company's field of activity, your customer service management will benefit from the emerging potential of the SMS channel.