Many mobile devices now offer one common mailbox for multiple types of message. The lines between traditional sms and chat app are blurring as communications between organizations providing us with goods and services becomes increasingly conversational in nature. Conversational commerce is the new game in town and if you are not already communicating with your customers using two-way mobile channels then you really are missing a trick.
For so many years, email has dominated how businesses communicate with us but there is real change going on in the content delivery space. Particularly when it came to marketing use cases, email dominated for so long but the new game in town is text messaging. Before we get to that, it is important to say that the days of email being used for customer communications are not numbered. It’s most definitely around and will be for years. It’s a medium billions of people understand and have access to but a short time ago something happened which few thought possible a decade ago: the number of ACTIVE SMS users exceeded that for email.
Here at Intis Telecom we have been delivering content globally for our many enterprise clients for many years and our focus from the start has been text messaging. Go back just five years and it was not uncommon to hear from some that so-called A2P SMS (Application-to-Person SMS – b2c and b2b messaging in plain language) was on its way out and would not last long as other channels were coming to replace it. In fact the opposite has happened.
A2P SMS volumes have exploded and the level of increase has reached new highs the past couple of years. We’ve seen this trend first-hand with our own client base driving strong growth for us. So why is something almost 30 years old doing quite the opposite of what many had forecast? The answer is very simple – urgency.
All brands dream of being in a position where their clients respond rapidly, keep coming back for more and remain true to them. It’s all about loyalty. Faced with so many new competitors in the online world now, driving loyalty has become even more important of late and it’s got tougher to do. Today’s consumer expects immediate responses from companies they trust. Research has shown again and again that time is the most valuable thing to people. Particularly when a customer experience hits a speed bump and doesn’t go as planned then any brand needs to be in front of their customer as fast as possible. Companies need to be able to almost reach into a person’s device and put their content on the screen live. And the closest thing to that is SMS.
Much of our mobile phone behaviour has become so unconscious. We pick them up to check things out in case their MIGHT be something. So much so that people look at their phones an average of 150 times per day. Now that’s a lot. Factor in the inevitable flash or beep associated with a delivered SMS and that desire to pick up the thing is practically impossible to overcome. It drives urgency like nothing else and that is precisely why 98% of delivered SMS are actually read. Switch the discussion to email and if 25% of the emails you send out are actually read then you are doing really well. SMS is like a hotline to your customers. So use it!
Intis Telecom is now in its 13th year of business messaging and we have a loyal client following around the world who recognize the value we bring to their businesses each day. Our SMS (and chat app solutions) make it genuinely easy for any organization to send its customers or team members content rapidly and accurately, allowing them to get on with doing what they do best – treating their customers, business partners and own personnel with exceptional care, as individuals.
