Multi-channel communication by SMS to stay in touch with your prospects

Using multi-channel communication has many advantages since it can help solve certain problems in business. One of them is to face the competition, which is not easy nowadays, especially in the era of omnichannel strategy where consumers are present on all networks. Since consumers are constantly using their cell phones, sending commercial SMS messages can meet their needs. Especially in terms of immediacy and information. And this, while allowing your company to stay in touch with your customers. 

The challenges and objectives of multi-channel communication

The stakes and advantages of multi-channel communication are important for your company. Indeed, consumers are no longer restricted to a single channel. Nowadays, they can switch from one channel to another depending on what they are looking for. Either, better opportunities or additional information on the news. In this sense, your company must adapt to your customers’ habits by investing in these different communication tools. 

The objectives are to make your customers understand that you are available and accessible to them by following their journey through the communication channels. Without forgetting that you will avoid them the weariness of a mono-channel communication. A strategy that is often not very innovative and does not always correspond to their profile.

SMS marketing: a field that is still under-exploited in multi-channel customer communication

Currently, SMS marketing is still unknown to the general public. However, it is a communication method that has a huge potential, especially if it is integrated in a multi-channel marketing strategy. Indeed, according to figures published by ARCEP and Mobile Marketing Association in 2016, 80% of people who receive a commercial SMS are interested in what it contains and memorize its content. This is due to the fact that commercial SMS does not yet exert strong marketing pressure on the consumer. This makes them a great way to build a relationship with your customers.

However, the latter consult their mobiles on average 150 times and react almost immediately to the receipt of an SMS. Integrating SMS marketing in your multi-channel distribution strategy can only be beneficial to your company, provided that you respect a few rules. 

You must obtain the explicit consent of your particular prospect before sending them, according to the RGPD (General Data Protection Regulation). Moreover, your customer should be able to unsubscribe easily if he doesn’t want to receive your SMS anymore, without a too complex revocation procedure. 

Prospecting and lead nurturing: in all phases of a prospect’s life, the SMS distribution channel is made for you

Today’s customers have no desire to be intruded upon by sales representatives, whether by telephone or through the distribution of flyers or brochures. Lead nurturing is a process that has many advantages since it consists in giving all the data that the future customer aka your target wants in a more generalized way on different channels. You bring him relevant content, corresponding to his expectations. This multi-channel marketing technique integrates your prospect in your approach, making him an actor of your development. 

It’s an effective way to build loyalty and interest in everything related to your brand. He becomes a lead that you will have to incite to act via call-to-actions that will redirect him to a landing page where he will be able to fulfill his expectations. The SMS channel is a great help in this context, because it allows you to get straight to the point, while creating a closer customer relationship with the prospect you have targeted. Hence the interest in using a multi-channel communication, therefore a marketing communication strategy that marks the presence of companies on different channels.

Now you know the multi-channel marketing communication to develop the number of customers willing to call on you despite the number of competing companies. All you need is a strategy while having identified the customer journey to deliver the message at the right time and place on all relevant channels.