How to engage customers with conversational SMS

Businesses have used text messages to interact with customers for decades now, but there’s a new emerging trend: conversational SMS marketing. In a nutshell, this type of marketing involves two-way text messaging between your business and customers.

Recent studies by HubSpot show that over 62% of consumers are subscribed to at least one SMS campaign, with another 43% subscribed to multiple.

That’s the power of conversational SMS.

It can be a powerful tool to grow your business, improve customer experience, and increase conversions. Read on to discover what it involves and how to use Infobip and HubSpot integrations to enhance your SMS marketing campaigns.

Conversational SMS is an advanced form of two-way SMS communication that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to create genuine conversations between a customer and your business. Besides that, conversational SMS also uses support from live agents to keep customers engaged if the AI chatbot cannot respond.

As a marketer, you can now have two-way conversations with your audience in real time, even with your busiest customers. SMS marketing has proven consistently successful, even in a digital age where other alternative messaging apps like WhatsApp and Viber exist. It can also be a reliable marketing tool for your business if you use it right.

So why use Conversational SMS? Here are some reasons:

Would you rather fire a quick text message to all your customers at once and forget about it, or have a conversation with them? Or which is better for your business: one-way or conversational text messages?

Before you answer these questions, let’s explore how one-way texting differs from conversational SMS.

First, a quick look at one-way text messaging.

Many businesses already use one-way text messages. Most one-way texting campaigns are straightforward, and recipients don’t typically reply. It requires little effort on your part as a business, and it costs even less.

Moreover, you can use one-way text messages on a wide array of marketing campaigns, including:

However, if you want to keep customers engaged throughout their journey, two-way text messaging is the better way to go.

There are plenty of drawbacks to using one-way SMS marketing throughout the customer journey, including:

What if your customer needs more information about one of your products or services? What if half the message isn’t delivered? What happens if they need a quick response to a challenge they’re facing?

Since one-way SMS messages are one-sided, customers have no way of engaging with you via text. That may increase customer dissatisfaction while making your communications seem impersonal and cold.

One-way text messages cut your ability to measure engagement and conversion rates.

There is no way to gauge how many users opened your text or followed through with your call to action. For this reason, you may miss the opportunity to convert prospective buyers or measure feedback from your audience.

Text messages from unknown phone numbers can raise suspicion in a potential customer, especially if unsolicited. Unless you have a recognized brand or your messages have some personalization, your customers may relegate your messages to the spam folder.

So, how does conversational SMS differ?

There are plenty of benefits to using conversational text messaging. Here are some:

Conversational SMS with customers is the way to go if your goal is to increase sales and revenue. And since 95% of phone users will read and respond to a text message within three minutes of delivery, your results will be almost immediate.

Customers will proactively test your business if they have inquiries, from requesting services to ordering products. Give your customers exactly what they want by replying to their messages.

Quick and personalized two-way messaging enhances the customer experience and increases customer retention and satisfaction.

The more personalized and human your communications are, the more loyal your customers become. Since the 2020 pandemic, communication has become a priority for more than half of consumers (51%) surveyed in an Infobip report.

Customers feel like they’re talking to a real person, especially if they receive genuine feedback from customer support. That can also increase customer loyalty to your brand by up to 30%.

Conversational SMS marketing is an excellent tool that helps increase customer engagement. According to SMS comparison, SMS messaging has a 98% open rate — which is much higher than other media forms, including email, at 20%.

Your customers are almost five times more likely to read and respond to text messages than emails. Let’s not forget: they’ll do it in under five minutes.

So, which of the two is better? It entirely depends on your business. However, if growth, customer relationships, and brand loyalty are your primary goals, then conversational SMS is the obvious choice.

Suppose you choose to build a conversational SMS marketing campaign. In what ways could you use it? Here are some common examples:

Why not use two-way text messages to answer your customers’ most burning questions? Here are some concerns you can address:

Do you have an eCommerce store that sells physical or digital products? You can use text messages to:

Conversational emails help increase your interactions with customers during special occasions, days, and events. They may include:

After a customer purchases a physical product from your store, how can two-way conversational SMS help? You can:

Looking for convenient ways to integrate conversational SMS into your marketing strategy? Infobip and HubSpot can help. Here are three integrations worth checking out:

Infobip is an omnichannel communications platform that allows your business to build a seamless customer experience across the entire customer journey. With Infobip, you can connect to over 650 global telecommunication partners and send marketing messages to all your customers, no matter where they are.

By connecting your business website to Infobip’s API, you can:

With your HubSpot for People integration, you can synchronize your customer data with People, Infobip’s customer data platform. Once synced, you can use that data with Infobip solutions including Moments.

To use this integration, you’ll need a HubSpot account, an Infobip account, and HubSpot credentials for Infobip People.

The Infobip WhatsApp & SMS integration connects your HubSpot customer engagement activities to the Infobip SMS and WhatsApp channels. With this integration, you can send SMS and WhatsApp messages to your customers directly from HubSpot.

You can also use HubSpot’s workflow automation, making some of your marketing activities easier.

Conversational SMS messages are alive and well as a marketing strategy, and you can use them today with great success. Many customers want to interact with your business via text message, and using two-way conversational SMS can help you convert and retain them long-term.