Text Messages and Serving the Customer

A friend of mine told me recently about a smoothie shop in her town that is making good use of mobile technology to serve their customers.

Visitors to the smoothie shop can sign up to receive SMS updates from the store. The shop sends a daily text message to its subscribers, telling them about the special of the day and sometimes offering extra discounts, such as "Visit us today and show us this text message to receive 50% off any large smoothie!"

Social media and other digital communications tools like SMS, Twitter, Facebook, and email can be a great way to offer something extra to your customers and to build a better customer relationship. Here are a few reasons (and rules) for why this works:

1. It's welcome. Perhaps the number one reason why these forms of communication can be successful at building customer relationships is that they require the organization to ask the customers' permission. (Seth Godin wrote a great book back in 1999 that explains how and why Permission Marketing works.) Your customers must opt-in to this service. They - not you - get to choose whether they receive your communications every day (or week, or what-have-you). Customers who view such messages as spam will not receive the service. Those who do subscribe to the service will not view your messages as spam (and if they did, they could unsubscribe).


2. It's expected. Your customers know what messages they will receive from you, and how often, because you tell them before they even sign up. You post point-of-sale advertisements in your shop that tell them how they can "sign up for free [daily/weekly] messages containing [updates/news/coupons/special offers] via [text message/email/Twitter/Facebook]." Or you print this information on your packaging. Or your sales clerks ask them if they would like to sign up as they check out (and then direct them to a paper or digital sign up sheet, rather than putting them on the spot by asking for their contact information verbally).


3. It's easy. Your subscribers get your information pushed to their email inboxes, Facebook accounts, or mobile phones. They don't have to go searching for your news and coupons on your website, via Google, or in your store. And your messages are short, so they don't take long to read. If you have too much to say (i.e. more than 140 characters, whether or not you are using Twitter), you give the customer a headline and a link to a webpage that contains all of the information. If they are interested in the headline, they can follow the link. If not, they can delete your message.


4. It's helpful. You send these messages for the purpose of serving the customer. You give them information that they would like to hear. You give them information that they care about. If your organization serves smoothies, you distribute links to articles about healthy foods and healthy living. If you sell bicycles, you distribute links to news about cycling and cyclists. If you provide business services, you distribute links to information about industry developments and best practices. And, when appropriate, you distribute special offers for your products and services. Every message you send to your subscribers should serve your subscribers.

For building customer relationships, these communications methods can be a great tool. But remember, as with any marketing effort, your SMS and social media communications should serve the customer, not just serve you.