Enhancing Two-Way SMS Messaging with Autoresponders
SMS messaging can be a one-way, or a two-way affair. Sending coupons, sale notifications, or event announcements are all one-way messaging. The recipient doesn’t need to reply in order to use the information sent.
In two-way messaging though, recipients can reply to your messages. And that makes it much more interesting, engaging, and potentially a lot more work to manage. But thankfully there’s a handy feature in NetMessenger called autoresponders that can help with that added work.
But first, before you can use autoresponders, you need to have a way people can reply to you if they want. You can choose a virtual mobile number which looks and behaves just like a regular mobile number. Or you can choose to rent keywords on our shortcode. People reply to the shortcode using the keywords you provide and the messages get routed directly to you. Either way the person replying to your message won’t really notice a difference. Which one you use depends on your circumstances and goals for your campaigns. Learn more about Inbound SMS.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s look more at how autoresponders can help enhance a two-way messaging campaign. Here are some examples of using autoresponders:
Confirmations
Whenever I take an action, I like to know it actually worked. Don’t you? Autoresponders are great for giving us the warm fuzzies of knowing our message was received. For example, I order a pizza via SMS, they send me a confirmation request with the total. I reply YES to accept the total of £15. Then nothing. No more text messages from the pizza place. It won’t be long before I’m pacing, looking out the window and wondering if I should call them just to make sure they took the order. But let’s say right after I reply YES, I get a confirmation message thanking me for my order and letting me know it will arrive in 15 minutes. Much better. Now I can relax and wait for the delivery.
Whatever the action a person takes, sending them an automatic reply – even if it is just to say “We got it!” really will spread warm fuzzies throughout the land.
More information
Sometimes a text message just isn’t enough space to say everything that needs to be said. Let’s suppose I was driving around and saw a house for sale. I loved the look of the house from the outside, and the sign said to text a number for more information. So I texted the number and immediately I get a reply with a link to a web page with more information on the house.
Of course the estate agent set up the autoresponder when he created the listing for the house and the signs advertising the ability to get information via text. Now, I probably would get the reply text quickly, perhaps while I was still in the neighbourhood. I could contact the agent for a viewing, or keep driving if it no longer interested me.
The autoresponder benefits the home shopper and the agent. It saves them both time. I can think of similar uses across many different industries and business sectors. Everyone loves to save time.
Send additional information
This is an exciting example where I’ve won a contest that I entered via SMS. I get free concert tickets to a show on Friday night. But I need to reply YES in order to claim the prize. So I type in YES as fast as I can while thinking of who I’m going to bring with me to the show. Almost immediately I get a reply that I need to show the text message with the special code at the Will Call window by 7 p.m. Excited I call my best friend and tell her the good news.
In this example, just sending a reply letting me know I won a contest I previously entered didn’t give me the instructions on how to claim the prize. But the autoresponder after I confirmed my information gave me the proper instructions. Autoresponders are great for providing instructions on how to claim discount coupons, sending addresses, or what hours a person can pick up a package at the store.
Using autoresponders improves communication with people, but it also helps save you time by automatically sending out messages based on replies you get to your virtual mobile number or keyword. In fact, if you have a lot of replies, it may not even be practical to manage them manually. You’ll need an automated system, which NetMessenger can provide.
To learn more about NetMessenger, autoresponders, and how SMS messaging can work for you click on our live chat to talk with a representative. Or you can email or reach us by phone using the contact information at the bottom of the page.
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