“Texts can include more than mere text. They can include links to websites, apps, touch-to-call phone numbers, store locators, price alerts, boarding passes, event tickets, event reminders, pictures, and animation,” – Shep Hyken
The cell phone-based text message represents technology of recent vintage, but has proved itself to be a versatile medium of communication. Every cell phone user can send and receive texts at leisure and therefore, texting has become commonplace activity among the masses. The text message is a unique manifestation of modern technology because it hinges on brevity and concise communications; the use of text messages does not imply any investment in technology beyond a cell phone and perhaps, the services of a commercial mass message operator. Following the fact that cell phones have become ubiquitous pieces of personal technology, business enterprises have quickly realized the utility of using text messages to reach large swathes of the existing and emerging markets. Consequently, commercial organizations have fashioned business strategies that are premised on the fact that texting can engage customers. In recent years, text-based marketing campaigns have become commonplace and business enterprises of every hue have earmarked significant chunks of their marketing budgets to the pursuit of such strategies.
Businesses need to brainstorm the means by which texting can engage customers. One such tactic can hinge on business units using text messages to inform customers and members of the general public about special offers that will be in force at select retail locations on certain days of the calendar month. This tactic can be extended to festival days and special occasions in a bid to ignite customer interest and boost the sales of merchandise. We could say that by doing so, the said enterprise is essentially leveraging cell phone-based technologies to connect business imperatives to the wallets of customers. Another variation of the said strategy could operate when businesses request customers to present their cell phones (and the received text message) at check-out counters in retail establishments to avail special, limited, hourly discounts on the customer’s final bill. Text messages can play an important role in time-critical businesses such as stock markets. Brokers and sub-brokers can use text messages to transmit market tips and hot stocks to their clientele in a bid to step up customer engagement. While market regulations and the law of the land should be respected in such matters, we note that operators in the financial markets can deploy such strategies because texting can engage customers.
In a similar vein, online businesses could design business promotion strategies that hinge on the premise that texting can engage customers. In-app messages can be formulated that announce a limited edition text message that may pop up in customers’ cell phones. Considering the fact that the number of app users is significantly high among online customers, the in-app announcement can create substantial customer interest; the lucky customers that do receive the text message would follow an ingrained human tendency and make a beeline for the relevant brick-and-mortar retail establishments. The qualifying customers can use the text message to avail a genuine freebie or reduce their shopping bill by availing a discount. We may note that the commencement of the text message-induced shopping expeditions could coincide with a business decision at the retail establishment to dispense with slow moving pieces of merchandise. The text message therefore emerges as a useful tool to draw customers to shopping establishments and set in motion business plans to expedite the liquidation of excess inventory. This constitutes another illustration of the fact that texting can engage customers.
For every business, customer engagement remains a paramount objective because such engagement can boost business outcomes. For instance, an art gallery can make use of modern mobile technologies to increase footfalls on its premises. Top artists and emerging artistic talent often go to great lengths to organize an exhibition of their work at famed art galleries. The regular clientele of the said gallery can be invited to attend through special invitations, but the masses can be informed about the said exhibition through cell phone text messages. Additionally, the text message can include a special telephone number, wherein interested members of the public can call in to inquire about the specifics of the exhibition. The art gallery may respond forthwith and in doing so, the said establishment demonstrates a strong belief in the fact that texting can engage customers.
In addition to the above, businesses and entrepreneurs can choose text messages to poll customers on their end-user experiences. This approach to nurturing customer relations is a quick, no-frills technique to gauge the customer’s mind and to tap the customer’s voice. This is essentially an after-sales exercise which can assist any business to form a picture populated by the customer’s aspirations, concerns, reactions, and expectations. The business that wishes to stay invested in the market over the long term can use brief text messages to wish individual customers on their birthdays, anniversaries, etc. Further, marketing departments and customer experience executives may choose to create a pop quiz or an infotainment nugget that can be transmitted through text messages as part of a text-based strategy to boost customer engagement. These campaigns must be closely monitored for their efficacy, but market research lends credence to the fact that texting can engage customers.
Cell phone-based text messages need not be restricted to transmission through cellular networks. Modern short-range transmission technologies, such as low power Bluetooth infrastructure, can be deployed to transmit text messages to customers’ cell phones when these individuals enter a designated area. Consider this: retail establishments that operate in a shopping mall can pool resources to invest in local electronic transmission infrastructure that is designed to broadcast messages to all cell phones entering the shopping mall. The said premises are open for business seven days a week and register a significant number of footfalls during business hours. The targeted broadcasts of text messages can inform every customer entering the mall about the various deals and special bargains that are on offer at the different merchant establishments. This text based system is versatile enough to accommodate any material changes by the minute, thereby enabling merchants at the shopping mall to minutely tailor their offers in response to business conditions. These selling strategies help businesses to exploit the full power of cell phone texting while reposing deep faith in the belief that texting can engage customers.
In the preceding paragraphs, we have outlined the various approaches that can reinforce the validity of the fact that texting can engage customers. Every business that seeks to operate over the long term must leverage the various benefits that issue from such technology-centric strategies. An interesting insight emerges in the fact that each customer may view a commercial text message as a personal communication issued by a business enterprise; this aspect of the human psyche helps to pique customer interest and may serve as a means to attract the customer to the said business. Thus, businesses must realize that connecting to the customer and executing effective customer engagement strategies remain significant aspects of conducting business in modern times. The text message presents a low-cost, low profile but highly utilitarian method of discovering new markets and expanding the current customer base; therefore, it must be viewed as an essential business strategy.
