Transactional SMS is an automated text message that a business sends to their customers to deliver important information regarding the personal use of the business’s services or products. Transactional SMS service in Nigeria are non-promotional messages, which means that the text message is triggered by the action of the customer and conveys personalized details of a transaction between the business and the customer.
For instance, if your business does an online loan service, you can send an e-receipt to your customer using a transactional SMS.
The concept behind promoting a business through SMS has evolved considerably over the decades. Even in the recent past, most organizations used only promotional SMS to push their products and services to their customers. But now the focus has shifted from pushing promoted communication to informative communication guiding customers along the customer journey. This has brought about a drastic transformation in the dynamics of business-customer relationships.
Reaching customers via SMS messaging is much more effective when sending transactional content. Most consumers prefer to be contacted by text messages for important updates such as appointment reminders or security breaches.
Research reveals that it takes an average person 90-minutes to respond to an email but only 90-seconds to respond to a text message. Today’s consumers have come to expect personal and engaging messages. To meet these demands, marketers need to develop a mobile strategy that enhances marketing efforts with messages that reach consumers most directly – on their devices.
75% of consumers want companies to text them for anything from appointment or payment reminders, offers, information, etc. This is a massive untapped opportunity for marketers.
How to Use Transactional SMS Service in Nigeria
Here are examples of how transactional SMS can be used.
1. Account Activation/Verification (Identity Verification): With the use of transactional SMS, you can enable an account activation or verification feature to increase security for your customers. When a customer signs in or register, they will be sent a unique code and will be required to verify their account by clicking an activation link or entering a verification code on their mobile device. The code is known as the One Time Password (OTP). By adding this extra step, only people who should be allowed access to accounts are given that access. Confirming identities through SMS is an inexpensive yet highly reliable and convenient way to increase security, as well as peace of mind.
2. Shipping/Delivery/Pickup Notifications: After an order is placed, real-time information about shipping, delivery, and pickup can be shared with your customers via text messages. A simple delivery update, shipping confirmation, or pickup notification will allow the customer to know where their shipment is and can notify the customer of changes, status, and delivery right on their mobile device. This creates a sense of trust and helps to build and maintain a good customer relationship. It’s important to provide customers with shipping and delivery information. This transactional SMS lets the customer know that the items are on their way and to keep an eye out for them. As more companies are letting customers order online and pick up in-store, it’s important to let them know when their items are ready. You’ll have an unhappy customer if they show up to the store and their items are not ready. That’s where these types of SMS messages come into play — a quick notification that they can now stop in to pick up the item.
3. Order Confirmations: Similar to shipping, delivery, and pickup notifications, order confirmation text messages also serve an important purpose. They verify that the order has been successfully placed, reducing post-purchase anxiety and reinforcing your brand’s reliability. Order confirmation messages are a good opportunity to not only reassure your customers about their purchase but also provide ways for them to extend their relationship with your business. Order confirmations are another one of those transactional SMS messages that people welcome. It lets them know that the transaction was completed and their order is now processing.
4. Time-Triggered Reminders: Missed appointments mean missed opportunities for sales. That’s why it’s so crucial to cut down on no-shows. With the use of time-triggered text messaging, you can make sure customers don’t forget when they’re meeting you by reminding them the day of or even an hour before. Moreover, you could automatically reach back to customers that purchased consumable products when it is time to replenish their merchandise. The benefit of a text is that it will remind them even if they’re on the go, so it’s right at their fingertips. When someone makes an appointment weeks or months ahead of time, it can be easy to forget about it when the time comes. A simple reminder text will go a long way when with busy customers and lessen the number of missed appointments.
5. Booking confirmations or cancellations: Sending transactional Bulk SMS messages to customers is a great way to remind them of their booking status regarding a hotel stay, flight, or other activities.
6. Recurring billing and payments: Transactional SMS helps you to convey information to your customers regarding every financial transaction they make. If your business has paid plans or offers an automatic recurring billing option, then you can inform your respective customers about their payment dues, successes, alert them about billing dates, and send them e-receipts. This brings transparency to your business-customer relationship, fostering a reliable and secure process of financial transactions through a communication channel.
Benefits of Transactional SMS
Transactional SMS messages are time-sensitive which means they are triggered to a consumer based on a specific time or event. It keeps your brand top of mind with your customers, reducing your reliance on marketing messages to maintain a connection.
For new customers, service-based messages can help establish initial mobile relationships without the need for marketing messaging. It also allows you to opt-in new subscribers to your mobile database, which can be used for marketing purposes.
By keeping consumers engaged after a conversion, you can establish a direct connection between your brand and your customers, build customer loyalty and drive sales while creating a consistent and seamless experience.
How to Send Transactional SMS
Sending a transactional SMS is easy. All you need is an SMS API platform that you can integrate within your existing system and effortlessly send SMS to your targeted audience through a streamlined workflow.
To make the process more effective and quick, you can seek out bulk SMS providers and leverage their advanced services to automate your bulk transactional SMS. Just integrate, determine your target audience, set a trigger event, and create predetermined responses to successfully send the SMS. You can further customize your text message as well as your sender ID.
As soon as a customer completes a determined action, your platform will automatically send a personalized transactional SMS to them. For example, if your customer places an order on your e-commerce site, then your system will send an order confirmation SMS to that customer as a response to the action.
This will simplify your communication process, enabling you to connect with your global customers instantly through a secured communication channel.
Conclusion
Transactional SMS is a must-have for businesses that are looking forward to amplifying their customer experience by establishing rich communication practices. If your business does not have the necessary technology and integrations to streamline sending transactional SMS, then you can simply seek help from the dedicated bulk SMS API platform providers. They will help you to integrate and adopt advanced bulk messaging practices with the right technology and tools and empower your organization to nurture scalable growth.
Establishing an interactive communication channel that delivers value to the customers is not only critical for delivering an impactful customer experience but also imperative to cultivate a healthy customer-business relationship upfront.
Communicating with your customers through transactional SMS is a cheaper, faster, reliable, and more convenient method over others, and it provides a well-defined customer engagement practice that keeps your business ahead.
5 Major Differences Between Promotional and Transactional SMS
