Aretha Franklin sang about how fun it is to share the 4-1-1, or information, with other people. It’s true – when you’ve got some juicy facts to share, it’s hard to keep them a secret!

We’ve got some information we’re truly excited to share because it can make or break your success with messaging. Messaging has the potential to exponentially grow your business and impact your bottom line. How do you tap into that potential? Here are 5 tips to help you:

Make New Friends, But Keep The Old

Messaging offers you powerful opportunities that phone and email outreach simply can’t provide. For example, your customers can’t answer the phone at work, but they can respond to your text messages! Promotional emails are notorious for going straight to spam folders, but promotional messages get open and read.

It can be tempting to simply “dump” your old methods of connecting with customers and conduct all your business via messaging. As time goes on, however, you may find that implementing messaging alongside phone, email and other communication methods is the most effective. Give your customers time to adapt to the new way of doing things, and give your reps a chance to discover what does and doesn’t work for them in the world of messaging and then adapt as necessary.

Get The Word Out – Specifically, the Keyword

One benefit of messaging is that customers can interact with your business using simple, easy-to-type keywords. Words like HELP, STOP, MORE, YES, NO and CONFIRM allow your customers to request help, unsubscribe, ask and answer questions, and more, all while going about their daily lives. Your customers, however, need to know what keywords to use and what number to message, so they can start conversations with your business. Don’t assume customers know where to find your SMS contact information, or even that they know your business uses SMS. Get the word out on printed promotional materials, in-store displays, websites, emails and other promotional materials.

Play it Cool

When you first implement a new messaging strategy, it can be tempting to reach out to your customers constantly. After all, messaging makes it so easy to send targeted, personalized, relevant outreach to multiple recipients in just moments. It’s important, however, not to overwhelm your recipients with too much communication.

A good rule of thumb is to send promotional messages once a week. You can message more often if customers initiate contact with you. Also, remember to send messages during business hours (and be sure to consider the time zone of the country where you’re sending messages).

Personalize It

Messaging makes it so easy to personalize your customer outreach. Even better, with SMS-Magic, you can automate much of this personalization, eliminating tedious point-and-click tasks that your reps used to do by hand. By gathering a few strategic pieces of data from your customers, you can wow them with outreach that feels relevant and genuine.

Asking for anniversary dates and birthdays is a great place to start. You can also personalize messages to mention your customers’ names, items they’ve purchased, agents they’ve worked with, addresses they’re interested in selling or purchasing. The type of personalization your customers respond to will depend on your industry.

Remember, the key to sending messages your customers want to read is to make them feel special and give them information, offers, reminders and opportunities that meet their individual needs.

Don’t Hesitate To Ask!

Messaging is a great way to share information with your customers, but it’s also perfect for requesting information from them. Asking for feedback after an appointment can help your customer know that their experience matters to you. Following up after a purchase shows that you stand behind your product and care about your customer’s satisfaction. Remember, communication is a two-way street, so use messaging to get your customers talking!

A successful messaging campaign can dramatically increase revenue, drive customer satisfaction, increase agent efficiency, and so much more. If you’re ready to give SMS-Magic a try, reach out to our customer support team for a demo or a free trial!