SMS for customer service is a highly efficient, instantaneous, and engaging channel. And yet underutilized by 65% of businesses. Learn how to use it for your brand.

1. Texts Are The New Support Channel:
How to Use SMS For Customer Service
by Tanvi Patel

2. Benefits of using text messages
for customer service

3. Texts have a 98% open rate and a 7.5x
higher response rate than emails

4. 78%
And yet, 65% businesses still haven’t
adopt a formal strategy to use SMS as a
customer service tool
Customers want to communicate
with businesses over SMS

5. Texts Vs Emails for customer service
Text Messages
● 74% of consumers said they have zero
unread messages
● Only 4% have more than 7 unreads
● 71% send replies to businesses within
the hour
● 67% customers prefer text messages as
a mode of communication
Emails
● 17% have no unread emails
● Over 50% say they have more than 7
unread emails
● 41% respond within the hour of receiving
an email
● 33% prefer emails and other modes for
business communication

6. How to use text messages for
customer service

7. Texting is no longer just a means to
stay in touch with friends.
They are an important part of
business communications.
Tools like peer-to-peer texting and
SMS opt-in can help you ace the
communication part of customer
service.
Leverage text messaging tools for different
services

8. Peer-to-peer texting
● Can send up to 3600 texts per hour
● Lets you compose personalized texts,
polls or surveys
● Lets you collect data as part of a 1 one
1 conversation
● Does not require opt-in since each
message is sent manually
Learn more about peer to peer texting
SMS opt-in
● Is initiated by your customers when
they opt-in
● Enables automated conversations
● Helps you collect information about
customers and supporters through
automated prompts
● Requires subscribers to opt-in
Learn more about SMS chatbots
Difference between peer-to-peer texting and
SMS opt-ins in customer service.

9. 1. Troubleshooting customer problems
2. Sending reminders (GOTV, events, deadline to fill surveys)
3. Helping customers discover new products and services
4. Keeping customers engaged via polls, surveys
5. Personal assistance
Find the details on these use cases here.
Use Cases for SMS in customer service

10. Tips to help you in using SMS as
a customer service tool

11. One reason people prefer text messages for
customer service is the informal tone it sets to
the conversation.
Use appropriate emoticons and abbreviations
to make your messages more approachable
and casual
Set a casual tone to the conversation

12. Let your customers opt-in to your texting
campaign using keywords. These keywords
must
● Be short
● Add to your identity
● Be unique to your brand
Use keywords to start a conversation

13. Character count is one reason to keep your
texts short. But the other major reason is our
diminishing attention span.
With an attention span of 8 seconds, an
average person may zone out if you send long,
descriptive SMSes.
Keep it to the point

14. It’s difficult, time-consuming, and confusing to manage information when it is scattered across
multiple tools.
● Make sure that your SMS customer service tool integrates with your CRM.
● This way, details of new subscribers, customer conversations, and purchase history and
more can be centralized.
Choose a software that helps you put all
information in one place

15. Read the full article on CallHub