What is Conversational SMS in Business? Examples, Benefits, Use Cases of Conversational Two-Way Messaging [2024]
With over 5 billion individuals globally actively participating in SMS exchanges, representing approximately 65% of the world's population, the significance of Conversational SMS cannot be overstated. Conversational SMS, an evolution beyond traditional one-way messaging, facilitates interactive dialogues between businesses and their clientele.
This paradigm shift transcends mere text exchanges, offering a dynamic and responsive framework for engaging customers. But what is conversational SMS? How is it different from traditional SMS?
This detailed blog post will delve into conversational SMS in detail. From key features to its specific examples and use cases, we're going to explore how businesses are harnessing the power of Conversational SMS to foster meaningful connections. Let's explore!
What Is Conversational SMS? How Does It Differ from Traditional SMS?
Conversational SMS, also known as conversational messaging, transforms traditional one-way communication into dynamic, two-way interactions. This innovative approach harnesses the power of artificial intelligence to simulate genuine conversations between businesses and their customers.
Now, how is conversational SMS different from traditional SMS? Traditional SMS follows a one-way communication approach, primarily used for broadcasting promotional messages without expecting or encouraging responses. In contrast, conversational SMS prioritises two-way communication, mimicking real-life conversations with back-and-forth interactions.
Furthermore, conversational SMS actively seeks interaction and feedback, fostering personalised connections and providing an engaging customer experience. It employs automation and natural language processing to enable dynamic, back-and-forth exchanges. Traditional SMS, on the other hand, typically lacks such interactivity, often delivering generic promotional messages without encouraging responses.
How Does Conversational SMS Work?
Conversational SMS is a cutting-edge communication tool revolutionising interactions between businesses and users. Employing advanced technologies like chatbots and AI agents, conversational SMS goes beyond traditional messaging. These platforms engage users in dynamic, human-like conversations, enhancing the customer experience.
Conversational SMS works through automated chatbots that simulate human-like interactions. These bots, powered by conversational AI, understand user queries, providing real-time responses and solutions. Powered by AI & ML, they evolve over time, learning from interactions to enhance accuracy.
Whether it's conversational customer support, surveys, or personalised interactions, conversational SMS adapts to diverse needs. AI agents analyse user input, recognising patterns to deliver contextually relevant responses. This fosters efficient and engaging communication.
The synergy of conversational messaging and advanced technologies ensures a seamless conversational customer experience. Users find themselves engaging in natural, back-and-forth conversations, often unaware that they are interacting with automated systems.
Key Features of Conversational SMS
Conversational SMS stands out for its real-time, two-way communication, integration of rich media, and the ability to incorporate automated responses. The key features of conversational SMS are listed below.
1. Two-Way Communication
Conversational SMS prioritises genuine dialogue by facilitating two-way communication. This dynamic interaction allows for back-and-forth exchanges between businesses and customers, mimicking real-life conversations.
2. Personalisation
Conversational SMS enables a personalised experience by creating a dialogue. This stands in contrast to traditional SMS, which is often used for broadcasting generic promotional messages. The personalised touch fosters stronger connections.
McKinsey reports that brands leading in personalisation experience accelerated revenue growth, outpacing competitors. Additionally, 73% of consumers affirm that a customised experience is pivotal in cultivating brand loyalty.
3. Automation for Two-way Conversations
Automation plays a crucial role in conversational SMS. Businesses use automation and AI to enable true two-way conversations, allowing for efficient responses to customer inquiries and enhancing overall user experience.
4. Dynamic Content
Conversational SMS incorporates rich media elements, elevating the user experience. Users can receive and send images, videos, and links, creating a more dynamic and visually engaging conversation. This feature enhances the versatility of conversational messaging, making it suitable for various purposes, from customer support to marketing campaigns.
What Are the Benefits of Conversational Messaging?
The benefits of conversational SMS are multifaceted – from enhancing customer communication and streamlining support to powering engaging marketing campaigns. Let's explore the benefits of conversational SMS in detail.
1. Customer Satisfaction
Conversational SMS allows for real-time, two-way communication, addressing customer queries and concerns promptly. This instant interaction enhances customer satisfaction by providing quick and efficient support. Customer satisfaction is one of the crucial factors behind sales growth- An incrementation of 20% in customer satisfaction yields a corresponding upswing of 15% in sales.
2. Faster Response
SMS is a near-instantaneous communication channel, enabling businesses to respond swiftly to customer inquiries. 90% of customers consider a "prompt" response crucial or highly significant when they pose a customer service inquiry. This speed contributes to a positive customer experience and helps in resolving issues promptly.
3. Cost-Effective
Sending SMS is generally more cost-effective than other communication methods. It reduces the expenses associated with customer support, as automated responses and quick resolutions can be achieved without extensive manpower.
4. Personalisation
Businesses can customise messages for specific clients with conversational SMS by taking into account their interests, behaviours, and past exchanges. Personalised messages create a more engaging and meaningful customer experience. Faster-growing companies derive 40% more revenue from personalisation compared to their slower-growing counterparts.
5. Scalability
SMS is easily scalable, making it suitable for businesses of all sizes. Whether dealing with a handful of customers or a large user base, businesses can efficiently scale their conversational SMS efforts to meet demand. Enhancing the scalability of SMS conversations is achievable through the utilisation of automated messaging, predefined templates, segmentation, targeted messaging, and analytical tools.
6. Brand Education
Conversational SMS serves as a platform for educating customers about products, services, and promotions. Businesses can share information, updates, and exclusive offers, fostering a better understanding of their brand.
7. Customer Feedback
Conversational SMS provides a direct channel for collecting feedback from customers. Businesses can get important insights, pinpoint areas for development, and assess overall consumer happiness by using surveys or follow-up messaging.
8. Build Brand-Customer Relationship
Stronger relationships are developed between brands and customers when they participate in continuous, tailored SMS discussions. Building a relationship can result in happier consumers becoming brand ambassadors and boost customer loyalty. According to a survey, it was found that a significant majority of customers tend to boost their spending with brands they feel connected to. Specifically, over 50% of consumers reported an increase in their expenditures with such brands.
Top 7 Conversational Two-Way SMS Examples & Use Cases in 2024
A well-crafted conversational SMS can serve multiple purposes, such as recovering abandoned carts, offering product recommendations, facilitating up-sells and cross-sells, sending welcoming messages, gentle reminders, and organising contests. Let's delve into each aspect in more detail.
1. Welcome Texts
Businesses use conversational SMS to make a positive first impression on new subscribers. By sending a warm and personalised welcome message, companies can introduce new customers to their brand, share key information, and create a foundation for a lasting relationship.
2. Abandoned Cart Recovery
Conversational messaging is an effective solution for addressing abandoned carts. By sending timely and friendly reminders about items left in the shopping cart, businesses can encourage customers to revisit their purchase and complete the transaction, reducing cart abandonment rates.
During the initial half of 2022, e-commerce brands incurred a revenue loss of $417,814.92, attributed to a 69.99% average cart abandonment rate. The implementation of conversational SMS can aid businesses in preventing such sales losses.
3. Product Recommendations
To enhance the customer experience, businesses employ conversational SMS to provide tailored product recommendations. By analysing past purchases or browsing history, companies can suggest relevant products, thereby increasing the likelihood of additional purchases.
4. Up-sells & Cross-sells
Conversational SMS serves as a strategic channel for promoting up-sells and cross-sells. After a customer has made a purchase, businesses can use SMS to recommend complementary or higher-priced products, maximising the value of each transaction.
Recognising the fact that obtaining a new customer can incur costs 5-25 times higher than retaining an existing one, focusing on upselling and cross-selling emerges as a significantly more lucrative strategy for expanding your business.
5. Feedback Requests
Businesses use conversational SMS to ask clients for feedback in order to gain insightful information and enhance their goods and services. Businesses are able to comprehend client preferences and improve their services by using this two-way communication.
6. Kind Reminders
Businesses utilise conversational SMS for sending gentle reminders about upcoming events, appointments, or deadlines. This proactive approach helps customers stay informed, reducing the likelihood of missed engagements and enhancing overall customer satisfaction.
7. Customer Support
Providing seamless customer support is a critical aspect of any business. Conversational SMS facilitates quick and efficient communication, allowing businesses to address customer concerns, answer questions, and provide support in real-time. This instant connection enhances the overall customer experience.
Conclusion
Conversational SMS marketing in business has emerged as a dynamic communication tool in 2024, fostering meaningful interactions between businesses and consumers. Through real-time, two-way messaging, businesses can provide personalised experiences, enhancing customer engagement. Businesses need to explore the effectiveness of conversational two-way SMS examples in enhancing customer engagement and communication.
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