Is text good or bad for communication?
Whether text is good or bad for communication has been debated since it was first introduced in the early 90s. The responses have continued to shift with the current of public opinion as smart phones have become an everyday necessity. When text was first introduced, many argued that it would detract from human interactions, but today, almost 30 years later, many would argue that text is advancing human interaction, especially in the era of social distancing.
But what about text messaging for business? Is text considered good or bad communication by your customers? You may be surprised to learn that over 90% of consumers want brands to communicate with them via text BUT that doesn’t mean they’re lowering their expectations for the quality of the communication provided in their most preferred communication channel.
Using text for business can be good or bad for communication, it all depends on how it is utilized and the quality of the messaging. When text is bad, it means opt-outs and STOP replies, but when text is good, it means high ROI and more sales.
When is texting bad for communication?
For consumers, text is a personal communication channel that they primarily use to talk to friends and family. Today’s consumer is open to receiving text messages from businesses, in fact, 9 out of 10 consumers have indicated they want brands to text them and to be able to text back. For the consumer text is simple, fast, and effective and almost unanimously preferred over any other platform, so what makes text bad for communication to your customers?
Using text as a one-way communication channel
Your customer is used to being able to respond to texts they receive. They want to be able to ask questions to get more information and interact with your brand. Yet many retailers that have become early adopters of text are using it as a one-way communication tool that only serves to inform their audience about their products, upcoming sales, or coupons available. Brands using text as a one-way communication channel are seeing a rise in their campaign opt-out rates.
Impersonal Messaging
Consumers think of text as a personal communication channel, for their eyes only, so when they see messages in their inbox that look more like a public announcement, they are less likely to engage and may opt-out. If it looks like spam, talks like spam and acts like spam, you customers are going to write it off as spam. The more impersonal the messaging used in text the more your customers are going to, whether consciously or unconsciously, write it off as spam then opt-out, delete or exit the message without giving it a second thought.
Poor Messaging
Text being viewed as bad communication by your customers boils down to one issue, poor messaging. Crafting the right messaging takes time and experience in the tool. Many early adopters of text are abandoning the channel altogether because they expected amazing results with text based on text’s unbelievably high open rates, but their poor messaging is plaguing their efforts. Businesses need to focus on improving the messaging used in a text if they want real results from the channel.
When is texting good for communication?
Today’s digital savvy shopper want more than just a product, they want to feel connected to a brand. Text provides a personalized connection to your brand that other platforms can’t compete with. Text is the communication key that provides customers a direct line to your business allowing them to provide valuable feedback, access information about your business, and allows you to personally guide them through the buyer’s journey, with better targeted data about who they are and where they’re at in the process. To achieve this, text needs an elevated level of communication than any other platform that begins with these foundational items:
Using text as a two-way communication channel
Businesses can significantly improve their communication through text by using it as a two-way communication channel. Going beyond simply informing your customers with what is important to you, to involving them in a conversation to learn more about them and incentivize them to take action. Many businesses have shied away from using text as a two-way channel because they feel they don’t have the resources available to monitor the incoming messages. With natural language processing chatbots, businesses can augment their staff capabilities and open conversations with their customers that feel human, add value, and gather volunteered information from your customers.
Personalized Messaging
Anchored to a unique mobile number, you can use text to create complete customer profiles to personalize their messaging and experience. Your customers expect a personalized experience through text, the good news is text creates the opportunity to build detailed customer profiles by engaging in conversations mean to collect first-party declared data – information knowingly and explicitly volunteered by a consumer. These profiles can be used to identify the person behind the phone number, deliver personalized recommendations, clean other customer lists, and provide resources to aid them along their buyer’s journey. Businesses that have used text to personalize their messaging have seen an increase in sales as high as 37% in the first month alone.
Experiential Messaging
Text has developed over almost 30 years, it is a versatile tool with robust capabilities, yet most companies only use SMS messages that contains only text and providing a yawn inducing experience. Experiential messaging utilizes text and rich media to create a personalized experience through text messaging. The benefit of experiential messaging is the engagement between your brand and your customer through an immersive, remarkable experience driving your customers to make purchases or deepening their relationship with your brand.
Verdict
Whether or not text is good or bad for communication depends on the quality of messaging being used. If your messaging is one-way, impersonal, and poor it can ruin your relationship with your audience and encourage their opt-out. If you focus on creating better messaging that is two-way, personalized, and experiential, you will reap the benefits of text and generate real, measurable outcomes.
KLaunch provides experiential messaging services and an enterprise-grade text platform, if you’re ready to adopt text, request your discovery call today!