Take advantage of customer service SMS for your brand, and discover its potential.
Whether you're a seasoned marketing pro or just starting out, there's always room to explore the ways SMS can benefit your business.
Social media and email have been popular channels for customer service in recent years. However, SMS is rapidly gaining traction as a powerful tool for businesses to connect with their customers. SMS is an effective way for companies to provide quick, convenient, and personalized customer service.
In this article, we'll explore various ways you can use business text messaging to address customer support issues, plus free text message templates to help you get started.
Table of Contents
How Is SMS Used for Customer Service?
You can use SMS to improve customer service by offering support via business texting. You can answer questions, give product or service explanations, resolve complaints, and more via SMS. Customers can also make or change appointments, pay bills, and provide valuable feedback on their experience.
What Are the Advantages of Using SMS for Customer Service?
More businesses are moving away from traditional marketing tools like phone calls and email and embracing SMS to better communicate with their customers. SMS messages are much more likely to reach customers because they have a 98% open rate, compared to 20% for email.
Also, 9 out of 10 consumers prefer communicating with businesses via SMS through alerts, reminders, or two-way texting.
If you think messaging customers on their mobile devices directly infringes on their privacy, think again. 70% of customers say that SMS is a great way to get their attention, while 60% of consumers want to reach support via messaging.
SMS Best Practices
Let’s look at some best practices to follow when using SMS for customer support.
Choose the Optimal Messaging Platform
There are pros and cons to every type of messaging system:
- SMS only supports text, but is ultimately cheaper
- MMS allows for more media but is more expensive
- OTT offers more features but requires that all users download a separate app to use it
Any of these systems would support a text marketing strategy, but it depends on your company’s needs and budget. You can learn more about each of these in our article, SMS Vs. Text: Is There a Difference?
Follow TCPA Compliance Guidelines
The TCPA, or Telephone Consumer Protection Act, is a law that protects consumers from unsolicited calls, messages and spam texts. It was enacted in 1991 and prevents companies from calling, texting, and even faxing consumers without explicit consent.
Technically, customer service texts are transactional, not promotional. Here’s the difference:
- Transactional texts are sent in response to customers' actions or transactions, such as purchase confirmations, delivery updates, or password reset requests. The primary purpose of transactional texts is to keep customers informed of information that’s directly related to their interaction with the company.
- Promotional texts, on the other hand, promote products, services, or sales. Promotional texts may include discounts, special offers, or other incentives to encourage customers to purchase or take action. Unlike transactional texts, promotional texts are unrelated to a specific customer interaction or transaction.
It’s in your business's best interest to be TCPA compliant, so keeping transactional and promotional texts separate is vital. For example, if a customer signs up to receive transactional texts, you may not send them promotional texts without their permission.
Use Text Message Templates
There's no need to start from scratch when creating customer service messages. Text message templates are a great way to streamline your messaging and ensure your voice is on-brand and consistent. We have offered some free templates below to enhance your customer support responses.
However, check out these text marketing templates if you want more ways to jumpstart your digital marketing strategy.
Integrate With Other Tools
While Texting Base covers your business SMS messaging needs, integrating with other platforms like Zapier can streamline your lead management, customer communication and data analytics into one easy-to-use system.
In addition, Texting Base presents all of your back-end data in one place while providing a seamless customer experience from start to finish.
21 SMS Templates for Customer Service
Here are 21 templates to use for some common customer service issues:
Opt-in/Welcome Messages
Before you start communicating with customers, you must secure their opt-in first to remain compliant with TCPA laws. Then, go one step further by welcoming them to your text service!
- Hi {Name}, thank you for signing up for SMS messages from {Company}. If you wish to discontinue receiving messages from us, text STOP anytime.
- Hi {Name}, welcome to {Company’s} texting service! We’ll keep you informed of your order status and product updates regularly. Please enjoy 10% off your next order with this code: {Code Number}. Text STOP at any time.
Answering Questions
There are a number of questions customers may ask about your products or services. Answer their questions quickly while keeping them brief and to the point.
- Hi {Name}, thanks for reaching out! Our 20% off sale runs until the end of this week. Let us know if we can help with anything else, & happy shopping!
- Greetings! Our store is closed today for {Holiday} but will be open tomorrow at our usual hours. In the meantime, you can visit our website at {website link} to continue shopping!
Password Resets
So many passwords, so little time! If a customer forgets their account password, sending a password reset code is more efficient than sending an email notification.
- Hi {Name}, you recently requested a password reset for your {Company Name} account. To reset your password, please follow this link {Link} and enter verification code {Code} when prompted. If you did not make this request, please ignore this message. Thank you!
Product or Service Explanations
Sometimes customers have specific questions you can quickly answer via SMS. Use the opportunity to give additional information that may help them with current or future purchases.
- Hi {Name}, Great question! The {Item} comes in red, navy, gray & black, and we offer sizes {Sizes}. Let us know if you have any other questions about our color and size offerings!
- Hi {Name}, Yes, unfortunately, {Item} is out of stock at this time. We are working on getting it back ASAP. If you’d like to be notified when it returns, sign up for our mailing list! {link to sign up page}.
Resolving Complaints
Resolving complaints is a critical component in long-term customer satisfaction. So be sure to resolve issues quickly and fairly, and don’t hesitate to offer a discount to compensate for their inconvenience, if appropriate.
- Hi {Name}, we apologize for the size mix-up on your order. We are resending the correct size, and here is a coupon code for 10% off your next purchase! {coupon code}. Thanks for your patience!
- Hi {Name}, we have issued you a refund of {dollar amount} to reflect the discount you should have received. Please let us know if we can help with anything else!
Follow-Up Messages
Sending follow-up messages after a customer text exchange is a great way to ensure you have met their needs.
- Hi {Name}, thank you for contacting us today. Do you have any other questions we can help you with? Please feel free to reach out if you need more information. {Agent Name}
- Hi {Name}, I wanted to follow up on last week's product demo. Please let us know if you have any questions or if there's anything else we can do to help. Thanks! {Company Name}
Appointment Reminders, Confirmations and Changes
Confirmation or changing appointments is often the bread and butter of customer service texting.
- Good morning {Name}! This is a reminder that you have an appointment on {Date} at {Time} with {Staff Member} for a {Service}. If you wish to cancel, please reply C to this text.
- Hi {Name}, thank you for contacting us! We’ve scheduled your new appointment for {Date} at {Time}. Remember, we have a 24-hour cancellation policy. If you have any questions, call us at {Phone Number}.
- Hi {Name}, we received your appointment change request. Your new appointment is scheduled for {Date} at {Time} with {Staff Member}. If you have any questions, text or call us at {Phone Number}.
Payment Reminders and Confirmations
Help customers avoid late fees by reminding them of upcoming payment obligations. In addition, put customers’ minds at ease by letting them know their payment has been received.
- Hello {Name}, this is a friendly reminder that payment for {Product/Service Name} is due on {Date}. Please make payment by this date to avoid late fees or service disruptions. Please disregard this notice if you've already paid. Thank you!
- Hello {Name}, this is {Name} from {Company}. This is to confirm that we received your {Amount} payment for {Product/Service Name}. Thank you for your prompt payment. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us. Thanks again for your business!
Order Status Updates
Customers are often anxious to receive their merchandise. Keep them in the loop by letting them know the status of their orders.
- Hi {Name}, your order {Order #} for {Product} has been confirmed! We will update you when the order has shipped. Thank you for your business!
- Hi {Name}, we have refunded you for order number {Order #}. For more information or to place another order, visit {URL} or text back. {Company Name}
Subscriptions and Renewals
Subscriptions for newsletters, auto-shipped products or services are vital for securing monthly recurring revenue.
- Hi {Name}, thank you for your payment of {Amount}. Your {Company Name} subscription has been renewed for another {month/quarter/year}. Please text back or call to revise your subscription.
- Hi {Name}, your {Product/Service} subscription has been renewed. Your monthly charge of {Amount} will be billed to the credit card on file every {Month/Year}. Thank you for your loyalty!
Customer Feedback
Getting customer feedback is integral to improving your business and increasing customer satisfaction.
- Hi {Name}, {Company name} thanks you for your purchase! It would help us out if you could complete a quick customer survey. At the end of the survey, you will receive a code for 10% off a future purchase. Thank you for your continued business!
Do More With Texting Base
SMS messaging for businesses can do more than convert leads and send marketing blasts. You can integrate SMS into your multimedia platform to provide top-notch customer service and ensure your customers have a seamless experience.
Texting Base has all the features you need in an SMS marketing platform to connect with your customers. Sign up for your free trial today!