How Text Can Help Your Small Business Thrive in 2021 

For a small business the best New Year’s Resolution is to give a boost to your bottom line. Whether you need to improve revenue streams, streamline customer service, or amplify your brand identity, text communications can help on all fronts.

The key to growth is getting noticed, and remembered. With 98% open rates on messaging that is often read within minutes (or even seconds) of receipt there’s simply no better method up for the challenge than text messaging. 

People love their phones and often feel lost without them. Some even feel like their phone is an extension of their own body. But don’t just take my word for it. Consider just a few mind-blowing statistics:

• 90% of Americans check their phone within 30 minutes of waking up in the morning.
• Two thirds of American adults have nomophobia (the fear of not having their phone with them).
• A survey conducted by Reviews.org found that 75.4% of Americans plainly admit to being addicted to their phones.

Customers want to identify and connect with brands. They want to receive messages from you — reminders, service updates, sales promotions and discounts — and they want to receive them where they are — their phones. And yet, most businesses aren’t meeting their customers there. 

If you're one of those businesses missing out on this opportunity, now's the time to invest in the most convenient, efficient, scalable marketing channel that will help you cut through the noise this year and turn your communications into conversions.
 

3 Customer Engagement Themes for Small Business in 2021

During 2020 text communications became a key strategy for savvy business owners to stay in touch with customers when the facetime they were accustomed to became restricted. Customer engagement goes beyond customer relations and customer service: it’s everything from the first experience your customer has with your brand all the way through to the purchase, service, and beyond.

The quality of the interactions between your customers and your business greatly affect your brand. Along with driving sales and customer service for SMBs, text messaging will also help you gather data-centric feedback, facilitate connections, and improve your ability to stay in touch (and hence, continue to nurture your relationships with your customers).

To optimize your business planning, employ these customer-first trends:

1. Make It Easy

Nothing is easier than reading and responding to a text message, and this year will be all about streamlining processes. Make it easy for the customer to purchase, get in touch, get an appointment, or report an issue. It’s exactly this adaptability and efficacy that has made text messaging a must-have tool for small businesses across a wide variety of industries, like e-commerce retailers who pair SMS with mobile purchasing or otherwise merge text into their sales funnels through integrations with apps like HubSpot and Squarespace.

2. Make It Safe

At the beginning of the pandemic, we saw a sharp increase in outgoing messages as businesses looked for ways to stay in touch with and update their audiences. It was all about reducing customers’ fears and concerns, and keeping them up to date. These days, retailers, grocers and restaurants rely on efficient, affordable customer communications to send updates on safety procedures and coordinate safe, streamlined curbside pickup or touchless delivery experiences. Safety and protection are now expectations consumers have of the businesses they frequent. 

3. Make It Good

More and more, prospective customers are taking the time to evaluate their options, looking to see how companies are engaging with their communities in positive, feel-good ways. And stewardship and social responsibility are more important than ever to younger consumers. Text messaging, for example, makes it simple to send updates about community sponsorships that are also great ways to nurture leads.