Time for Call Centers to Adopt SMS
by Matt Silk, SVP, Waterfall Mobile -
June 14, 2010
Time for Call Centers to Adopt SMS
By Matt Silk, SVP, Waterfall Mobile
There are currently more than 270 million cell phone users in the US. Globally, there are two times as many users of SMS as there are active email users. Those two facts conspire to make the mobile phone the easiest and most direct way on the planet to reach people – especially with the younger crowds who prefer text messaging to speaking on the phone.
Given that we live in an increasingly busy and on-the-go society, it has become harder to reach consumers at home. By adding interactive SMS messaging to call centers, contact immediately becomes both easier and cheaper. And that’s not even mentioning the fact that it reduces call center communications costs and improves customer satisfaction.
How many times have you waited 30 minutes for a call center rep to answer a simple question? Imagine as a business owner you could replace that horrible customer experience by spending a couple pennies on a text message. With proactive messaging, as well as making key pieces of information available via messaging (balances, order status, etc.) businesses can take huge costs out of their models.
Mobile provides marketers with another communication channel – one they can use in the same way companies use an email or direct mail lists. The clear benefit of mobile, however, is that it is an interactive channel and goes to the cell phone which is always with your customer. While customers are on the phone, it is easy for the representative to inform customers of these features and sign them up.
Below are some of the top ways call centers can improve customer service and save time and money by leveraging SMS:
Customers can receive order status updates via text message.
You can use text messaging to instantly contact the customer about an order just placed or a problem or question they have contacted the company about.
Imagine you place an order from a catalog over the phone, and within seconds you get a text message with your confirmation and order number in case you need it. That gives you all of the important information right on your cell phone.
Not to mention, if you have a problem or a question for a company, SMS is an excellent way to communicate the answer or solution to the query. I recently contacted my cell phone provider with a problem that they could not resolve on the phone. They then mentioned they would stay in contact with me through the process of solving the problem. Over the next several days the company notified me via text message where I was in the process of my issue being solved. It was an excellent way of letting me know that I was not being pushed off or forgotten and that they were trying to find a solution.
Companies can send reminders to pay bills or for upcoming appointments.
Businesses should be using text messages to inform customers of upcoming deadlines or events. This helps prevent future incoming calls from customers that miss payment deadlines or notice they missed their appointments.
If a client doesn’t appear for an appointment, that is a loss for a business because they could have put someone else in that time slot. Sending a text message is an easy and unobtrusive way to remind a client of that appointment before it is missed.
And the same goes for bill reminders. Sending a text is an easy way to reminding clients they haven’t paid their Visa bills this month before they miss it. This could prevent a negative customer interaction in the future where an angry customer calls to get late fees removed.
Text messages can notify customers in real-time about account activity.
You can use SMS to “ping” clients when there are changes to their accounts – for example when a home address, phone number or email on an account has been changed. This immediately gives the customer an opportunity to contact the business and let them know if they did not make the change – potentially saving the client a big hassle in the future.
SMS is also helpful in many situations in the banking business, such as when an account has been locked out because someone has entered the wrong password the set number of times. Instead of the bank having to call and alert the customer of the situation, a text message could be sent with the next steps. Text messaging could also be used to notify an account holder when they have overdrawn an account or a large sum of money has been withdrawn.
Anyone who has had a fraudulent charge made on their credit card has also received a call from the bank to warn them of the possible fraud. Many times when that has happened to me, I didn’t pick up the phone because I didn’t know the number. With SMS, a text message could immediately alert the customer of the potential situation and then the customer could verify online if they made the purchase and if not contact fraud protection.
Companies can relay important messages immediately to clients on the go.
This has an obvious appeal for those in the travel industry. You could provide updates on delayed trains and planes no matter where the client is. It could help people avoid leaving for their travel too early or help customers in a rush to catch a connecting flight know they can take their time getting to the gate. Lastly, it’s also a great way to deliver news on why flights are delayed and on the expected wait time.
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions on the above or if you have on other ways call centers could benefit from integrating SMS.
Matt Silk is the SVP of Waterfall Mobile, a San Francisco-based company that provides world-class digital messaging solutions and can be reached at: msilk@waterfallmobile.com. You can read Matt’s blog at www.MobileDemystified.com
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