The business world depends heavily on digital interactions these days. A conventional approach just doesn?t cut it anymore. These days, consumers engage with brands and make purchasing decisions online. This has prompted businesses to establish a presence on nearly every popular digital medium from social media to search engines. Of course, you will still see big-brand adverts like Ford or Coca Cola on your Spectrum cable. But for the most part, businesses now concentrate their efforts on digital mediums to reach their customers and stakeholders.
With the ever-growing use of smartphones in everyday life, most consumers already own Android or iOS smartphones. This places brands, products, and services literally in the palm of their hand. But it also offers businesses an opportunity to communicate with consumers directly on the device they use the most. This is where the use of SMS based communication can prove extremely effective. One of the types of B2C SMS communication in use today is the transactional SMS. Read on to explore what a transactional SMS is and what it can be used for.
What is a Transactional SMS?
A transactional SMS is a way for businesses to offer meaningful communication to their customers. The SMS should contain useful and valuable information directly related to a product, service, or process. However, a promotional or marketing SMS does not qualify as a transactional SMS. In many cases, businesses automate the transactional SMS process. This delivers a much higher standard of service quality while requiring less manpower to do so. It also vastly reduces the risks of errors, both in the SMS contents as well as the intended recipients.
How Do Businesses Send Transactional SMS?
Before we discuss the ways that businesses use transactional SMS, it is important to understand how they work. Most businesses have two options for sending transactional SMS. The first is to use a dedicated web-based SMS platform. The second is to include SMS capability in your existing communication software with an API key.
API integration is often used for more complex and flexible functionality. It is particularly useful for businesses with an adequate level of information security. But it can also require technical knowledge and development expenses. This is why most businesses prefer to use online SMS software. A pre-determined transactional SMS is automatically generated when a user performs a specific trigger action.
The Different Ways Businesses Use Transactional SMS
Transactional SMS can be used throughout the customer journey. There are several important functions that can be executed efficiently with the right transactional SMS. A few of the most common ways businesses and brands use transactional SMS include:
- Sending auto-generated welcome messages when a customer signs up or creates an account with you.
- Order confirmation notifications can be sent automatically to remove confusion or uncertainty as soon as a customer places an order.
- Transactional SMS can be used to notify customers when their purchases are shipped so that they know when to expect delivery.
- Auto-generated transactional SMS can be sent as confirmation for customers who make appointments or bookings.
- Transactional SMS can also be sent as periodic reminders at pre-determined times to remind customers of upcoming booking dates or appointments.
- Securely sending confidential one-time-passwords or OTP PINs is much easier and safer with transactional SMS.
The Benefits to Businesses Using Transactional SMS
There are several significant benefits to businesses that use transactional SMS in various parts of the customer journey. The extent of this benefit can vary from business to business. But the broad advantages transactional SMS offer include:
Streamlined Communication
Businesses can send a transactional SMS to customers within a few seconds of them being triggered. On average, a customer takes roughly under 2 minutes to read and digest an SMS. Many customer actions require quick responses from your business. A transactional SMS system can significantly speed up communication and ensure time-sensitive messages aren?t delayed.
Convenient Delivery
The problem with social media messaging, emails, and phone calls is that they can often be ignored. Sometimes email services mark new senders as spam. Social media platforms may not directly show your message unless the customer follows your page. Phone calls can often be a nuisance since a lot of people are usually busy during business hours. A transactional SMS, however, ensures the communication is delivered on time and the customer is notified of it.
Reduced Communication Costs
The biggest advantage, by far, is the low cost of communication. An email-based model will require you to subscribe to an email service for businesses. A voice-based department may require you to spend heavily on VoIP equipment and resources. A transactional SMS, on the other hand, only costs a few cents per SMS.
Most businesses will find it easier to foot the bill using SMS for transactional communication. Even if you can afford to, the extra expenditure doesn?t make much sense. Even providers like Spectrum use SMS confirmations for things related to Spectrum packages. It is just far more cost-effective and efficient to use transactional SMS than most other communication mediums.
