Using SMS for B2B Customer Journeys across Marketing, Sales and Customer Service

Cell phones are ubiquitous; Americans check their phones an average of 160 times daily. While an email might sit in an inbox for hours or even days, meeting customers where they are via text enables businesses to communicate quickly and conveniently.

Email doesn’t come close to text marketing’s high engagement rates: SMS boasts a 98 percent open rate compared to 22 percent for email, a 90-second response time compared to email’s 90 minutes, click-through rates that are more than five times the rate of email, and the list goes on.

Yet B2B text marketing adoption has lagged behind the B2C sector, leaving untapped the potential to generate leads and drive brand awareness, boost client engagement and retention, enhance communication across various departments, and improve team productivity.

Bulk vs. personalized text messaging

Automated texting, also known as short message service or SMS marketing, streamlines marketing initiatives, resulting in increased revenue and improved customer service. However, it is crucial to differentiate bulk and 1:1 communication features to make the most of this tool.

Imagine sending hundreds (to millions) of messages to your subscribers with the click of a button. This is bulk texting, an efficient way to reach many existing and potential customers simultaneously – as long as it is used strategically.

It is important to begin by identifying the SMS opted-in audience you are trying to engage and send valuable messaging content to them. Fortunately, SMS platforms simplify segmenting subscribers so marketers can target messaging to groups like prospects, customers, and VIPs.

After identifying the target audience, businesses should align their message with subscribers’ needs and interests. For example, mass texting is a powerful way to announce promotions to all subscribers. It is also useful for smaller marketing campaigns targeting more precise groups, like customers of one product but not another.

Streamlined 1:1 communication provides businesses with an easy way to ask customers and prospects for real-time feedback, share time-sensitive invites, provide important updates, and respond to any questions promptly. Even small companies can provide more effective customer support by utilizing the power of SMS, resolving support tickets in hours instead of days.

Compliance

When sending any kind of SMS message, organizations must adhere to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), a federal law that regulates telemarketing calls and text messaging. In addition, the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA) provides guidelines for SMS marketers.

While CTIA guidelines are not law, the organization can and does penalize violators, so compliance with CTIA and TCPA is important. Compliance also helps businesses build trust with the telecom carriers, as well as with their own customers and prospects, which in turn can increase deliverability, customer engagement, and campaign conversion rates.

One of the first compliance issues businesses face when setting up SMS marketing is choosing a phone number type. Two types are used for business text messaging: 10-digit long code (10DLC), which looks like a regular phone number, and short code, a five to six-digit number.

Long code numbers can send and receive texts and are best for personal texting, one-on-one text exchanges, or messages with only a few people involved. Since they look like a standard phone number, and customers can text or call the sender back, these lend credibility to messaging. They are also less expensive than short codes.

The downside is that 10DLC numbers have a one-message-per-second limit, so businesses that send too many text messages with long codes risk the messages being filtered out and undelivered by carriers.

Short code numbers are built to send one-way messages to many people at once, enabling businesses to send messages in bulk. While they appear less personal than 10DLC, short codes are easier to promote, and companies can choose a memorable vanity short code number.

Businesses frequently use both types of numbers. When it makes sense for a company to incorporate mass texting and personalized texts into its marketing strategy, using both numbers for each kind of texting is the way to go.

The next step in establishing SMS marketing is to build a subscriber list. The TCPA requires businesses to obtain written user consent for SMS marketing and to provide an easy way to opt out of SMS marketing at any time.

The key to enticing B2B clients to consent to text marketing is to show them the value of opting in. Emphasize that texts provide ongoing advantages like personalized customer service and support, logistics and order management, product and service updates, and an opportunity to provide feedback.

How and when to promote SMS opt-in is essential. Businesses should promote SMS opt-in on all channels, including social media, email, and website. Timing is essential, too. Provide opt-in opportunities after meeting a lead, at events, and when current clients complete surveys or reviews.

To maintain compliance, it is equally important to provide a straightforward, easy way for subscribers to opt out of SMS marketing. Users opt out by replying with keywords, like STOP, or by clicking on unsubscribe links.

Efficient revenue operations

Some SMS platforms integrate with customer resource management software like Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, Hubspot, Marketo, Oracle’s Eloqua, and Salesforce Marketing Cloud. These native integrations enable campaign managers to send text messages directly from the CRM or MAP, reducing workload and improving operational ROI by simplifying the tech stack.

For team users, sales, help desk, and customer service teams, SMS platforms with native integrations enable businesses to move from isolated, single-agent conversations to a comprehensive contact center solution. This allows teams to engage in threaded, multi-user, and team-based SMS interactions at scale. Teams respond to incoming messages effortlessly, reducing the risk of errors and delays, resulting in a faster, more effective go-to-market.

Analytics tools built into integrated SMS platforms enable businesses to track KPIs easily, so business leaders can rely on data-driven decisions to correct course when necessary.

SMS marketing boosts the bottom line

SMS marketing helps companies stand out in the B2B world, breaking through the noise. Only 39 percent of companies incorporate SMS into their marketing strategy, so those that adopt it now gain a huge advantage over their competitors.

The views expressed in this article belong solely to the author and do not represent The Fast Mode. While information provided in this post is obtained from sources believed by The Fast Mode to be reliable, The Fast Mode is not liable for any losses or damages arising from any information limitations, changes, inaccuracies, misrepresentations, omissions or errors contained therein. The heading is for ease of reference and shall not be deemed to influence the information presented.