The Power of Business Texting: How & Where to Use It

How many phone calls have you ignored today? And how many text messages have you received and answered today? If you are like me, you don’t pick up calls from numbers that are not on your contact list, but you do read texts from unknown numbers. You might even pay attention to text more quickly since you are texting all day and use it as your preferred way of communication.

• According to statistics and research, the likelihood of people reading a text is much higher than emails. The response is definitely higher than that of phone calls.

This is good news for franchise and business owners because they can use the power of business texting as a channel to get people's attention and interact with their consumers. 

To learn more about how text messaging can improve your sales & operations, I invited Kenneth Burke, from the platform Text Request, to our latest Franchise Supporters podcast. He shared some key aspects of text messaging and great ideas and applications of this marketing strategy. This blog post summarizes his insights.

But first, please subscribe to our YouTube channel and Podcast, and follow us on all social platforms!

Who is Kenneth Burke?

Kenneth is the VP of Marketing at Text Request, a leading business messaging platform. He was named a "20 Under 40" honoree, Tech Marketer of the Year, and Executive of the Year by the Business Intelligence Group, as part of their 2023 Public Relations and Marketing Excellence Awards. He’s also the host of Text Request Talks Podcast and a contributing writer for dozens of outlets, including Entrepreneur.

Listen to our podcast episode here

What’s Business Texting and How it Works?

Business texting is sending and receiving messages as an organization. These messages may be text-only or SMS (Short Message Service). If the messages include images in JPEG, PNG, PDF, or GIFs, they are known as MMS (Multimedia Message Service).

According to a Text Request ebook, the three key benefits of business texting are:

1. No more repetitive tasks like cold calling.
2. Saving time because of automation and high-volume texting instead of individual messaging.
3. Faster and more effective communications with higher possibilities of response.

Something else to consider is that since SMS and MMS are standard messages, they can be received by all customers regardless of what apps or phone they have. That means that your audience can be wider with SMS Marketing.

SMS Marketing is the practice of sending text messages to customers and subscribers with offers, promotions, educational content, or updates, whether to increase sales or brand awareness.

You should also be aware that people tend to have less time nowadays. Plus, your target audience is probably reaching content saturation, so if you are using an email strategy, chances are that your emails are not truly effective. Instead, sending a quick text to your customers to get the information across may be a better practice.

3 Steps to Start with Text Messaging

1. Get opt-in contacts. You're a step ahead if you already have a list of contacts who've opted in to receive communications from you, such as past customers. Otherwise, start gathering them by adding a phone number field to any of your contact forms on your website or physical sign-in sheets, depending on your type of business.
   Add a disclaimer to explain that you may send text messages when receiving this contact information and that they can opt-out anytime. 
2. Look for a business platform. “You're going to want to use a business platform that will help you with compliance and some day-to-day features and functionalities that your cell phone doesn't have”.
   Kenneth advises hiring somebody to handle this task for you, either internally or with a marketing agency. 
3. Design your strategy. Don’t text just because it is trendy. You should know who you are texting to, what you want to text for, and the expected outcomes.
   “Did somebody opt in to get a deal of the week? If they did, you must send a weekly promotion. This frequency can be overwhelming if they just want to get updates on their account status. That will create a bad experience, and they'll eventually opt-out”, explained Kenneth.

8 Creative Ideas To Use Business Texting

As you know, the American Franchise Academy does free webinars throughout the year to inform people about our three programs (COMMAND, LEAD & MANAGE) and share valuable content on franchise strategy. We’ve found text messaging to be quite effective in reminding people that the event is happening because they used to forget the date & time and miss the LIVE session. 

• It is incredible how our attendance rate went up almost by 50% by sending those text reminders. 

The positive impact has been so much that business texting is now part of our permanent strategy, and we also use it as a service for those who want to be in our webinars so that they don’t forget or miss the appointment. 

Your business can also benefit from this strategy! These are some ideas that Kenneth shared with us to leverage the power of text messaging:

• Hiring & Recruiting. Franchisees constantly search for great talent for their multiple units, so texting would be highly effective in growing their teams. Suppose you already have a list of interested prospects who applied for your organization in the last 12 months, with their contact information. In that case, you can send a text to let them know of new open positions to ease the hiring process.

• Promotions. If, for example, you are a food service franchise that gathers customer information through a VIP program, you may send those unique customers a discount code to come to your restaurant and enjoy a sports event, an anniversary, or a birthday celebration, to mention a few ideas. This implies the text is personalized, which may be more welcoming than just a general sales text. 

Don't miss: 6 Infallible Tips to Increase Sales in Your Franchise

• Reviews. Why not text your VIP customers for a good review on Google? This would help you improve your search ranking searches so when other people type “pizza restaurants near me”, ot “best tacos in town”, your business appears on those Google reviews.

• Crowdsource social media content. Make your customers participate in your feed and stories! Ask them to send you a picture of their family enjoying one of your products or the craziest place they’ve had your burgers or whatever product you serve. Be sure to ask their permission to post and use that content for your social media. 

• Basic customer service. Business owners know that not everything will go right 100% of the time, and business texting can be a great way to discover areas of improvement in your organization. 
  
  “Every franchisee wants to be aware when things don’t go well and be able to jump on that to make it right or do their best. Enable customers to text you with feedback, especially before they go to Google or other public platforms to complain. That's really powerful”, said Kenneth.

In case you missed it: Top 5 Reasons Why Franchisees Struggle

 

• Important Reminders. Just as we do in AFA, franchise business services can also send text messages to remind their customers of events or due dates. “If you're a tax planning franchise, for example, you can start sending reminders around February saying, ‘Hey, April 15th is coming up. Go ahead and complete your return so you can get your refund faster’. They can be short but very hands-on and personal.

• Schedule appointments. Another interesting way to use texting as a tool for your business is to make appointments, especially if you run a service brand and serve customers at home. A tip: making it personal will add more security for people.
  
  “Something that works really well is to send a text ahead of time, even with a photo of the person coming to your property, and say something like ‘Hey, here is Billy. This is what Billy looks like. Fun fact: he loves dogs, so you don't have to hide yours’. This really breaks the ice and helps people feel more comfortable and have a better overall experience, which then leads to more money down the line, better reviews, more referrals.” 

• Re-scheduling. You can also use this strategy when somebody cancels their appointment, letting people on the waitlist or with future services scheduled know there has been an opening. That way, you’ll be able to make up that lost revenue.
  
  “A few years back, my neighbor needed to fix a drainage situation, and the contractor said there would be months before he could get to his house because he was backlogged. Three or four weeks went by, and the contractor had somebody back out, so he texted my neighbor and told him he had gotten an opening so he could start on his project earlier.”
  
  “I share that story to show that it almost doesn't matter what industry you're in. If you think more creatively, there are ways to provide better customer experiences while keeping more money in your pocket. And that's what we all want.”

• Guidance. If your franchise provides instructions to do a procedure or sells a system, you can also leverage the power of business texting. Kenneth explained that whenever your clients find an obstacle during the process or aren't sure how to proceed, they can send you a text or a picture of their issue so you can then explain what to do next and how to solve the problem. “Taking a quick photo of that and sending it on it's really convenient and helps you move through the process faster”, he explains. 

Don't miss: 4 Systems for Multi-Unit Franchisee Success

Business Texting Golden Rules

The conversation with Kenneth made me think of these best practices for business text messaging. We apply some of them to our strategy. Others are vital points that Kenneth sees as an expert. Consider them in your marketing plan to be effective and win big with texting.

1. Make sure that you give your audience something valuable. You don't want to be annoying; you should be helpful and of service. 
2. Text as you would want to be texted.
3. Be thoughtful about who your customer is, what you're trying to accomplish, and your expectations. 
4. Remember, there's a human on the other side of your texting.
5. Be conscious about the regulations so you don't break any laws, like the 10DLC (10-digit long code phone number) that helps to cut down on spam.
6. Allow people to opt in to receive your communications. Don’t buy contact lists and text everybody; that will only cause problems.
7. Beware of spam messaging because mobile carriers will flag you as potential spam. Avoid texting in all caps, typos, shortened links, and too many emojis or exclamation points.
   
   “None of those by themselves are usually bad things. When you do several of them in large volumes, it can get you flagged, affecting the delivery rates of your business texting.”.

Kenneth shared one last piece of advice for franchisees and business owners who aren't texting yet and have been thinking about it. “Give it a shot. The worst-case scenario is you do it for a few months and realize it didn't work like you thought. But the best-case scenario is you start making much more money and saving time, which is pretty good.”

If you want to learn more about Text Requests and their services, visit TextRequest.com 

WATCH THIS VIDEO INTERVIEW on YOUTUBE HERE.