[Video] Using Text Messaging to Boost Revenue, Engagement, and Satisfaction | Launchpad Summit 2021
During the second annual CTM Launchpad Summit conference, Ken Sylvain and Michael Barnett co-presented on the value of text messaging for business. Watch the video above, and read on for a recap.
How CTM clients are finding success with text messaging
Having worked with CallTrackingMetrics customers for four years, on top of his 20 years of experience in client relations, Ken Sylvain has enjoyed helping his clients grow—and observing exactly what causes that growth. “I became passionate about texting a few years back when I noticed several of my clients here had explosive growth,” Ken explained. How explosive? 200 to 500% growth in a year’s time. “I looked at the top five and searched for the common trait. All of them were heavy users of texting. In fact they had automated this with heavy use of text triggers. As I dug deeper I saw other clients whose call volume jumped once they introduced texting into the communication strategy.”
He started looking at the statistics and was amazed. The stats not only validated why those clients had exploded, but also showed a trend that was gaining: text messaging.
What’s so special about text messaging?
- 88% of people use their phones mostly for texting (Slick Text)
- More than 6 billion texts go out daily
- 95% of text messages are read and responded to within 3 minutes of being received
- 78% of people wish they could have a text conversation with a business. (Forbes)
- 44% of consumers prefer to press a button and initiate a text conversation, rather than wait on hold with an agent. (Forbes)
Building a Business on CTM Software and SMS Marketing
Text message marketing is one of the central software features offered by ContactCloud, a fast-growing omnichannel communications company, founded by Michael Barnett, that brings software integration and service strategies to clients. As a white label company that packages and sells CTM’s software suite, ContactCloud is able to provide robust text messaging support for clientsーone of today’s most sought-after business solutions.
Because of Contact Cloud’s depth of work in text messaging, we asked Michael to share the top use cases and tips for getting started with texting.
Who is using text messaging, and why?
Contact Cloud customers include many small-to-medium sized businesses, who use texting extensively for sales and marketing as well as support. Barnett also works with enterprise companies who use texting more in the sales and marketing departments, and less often for support. Healthcare, in particular, shines in their use of texting (chances are you’ve received texts to confirm your appointments).
What are some specific business use cases for texting?
- Notifications. E-commerce companies send order confirmations and shipping updates, doctors’ offices send appointment confirmations and reminders, service companies alert customers when there is an outage, and finance companies send status updates like application approvals.
- Marketing. There are lots of marketing use cases, but one that Michael recommends is using CTM’s FormReactor paired with text messaging, so that agents and customers can immediately start a text conversation after the customer fills out a form on your landing page. Also, consider adding a brief text campaign as a companion to your email newsletter.
- Sales: both for manual and automated workflows. Sales teams can send one-off text messages, or set up drip campaigns for a group of customers who have subscribed to a particular product.
- Support. If a customer calls a sales agent or support center and no one was available to take the call, CTM can trigger a callback to the customer when an agent becomes available.
How can you get started with text messaging at your business?
To wrap up, Michael Barnett shared the advice he gives to clients interested in implementing texting:
- Figure out what you want to accomplish (use case)
- Determine if you can do it on your own or if you need help
- Implement + testing
- Train your internal user
- Execute, manage and report on your campaign
About the Speakers
Michael Barnett, Founder, Bipath
Michael Barnett is an ambitious and strategic entrepreneur/leader that is passionate about solving major market problems in the SMB segment. As an entrepreneur he founded Yarrow Financial, a fin-tech marketplace lending firm, and Bipath, a business call center automation company. As a leader, his primary focus is to recruit high quality talent, clearly communicate the company’s vision, create an attractive culture, and focus the organization on execution.
In his spare time, he is a wannabe musician and martial artist.
Ken Sylvain, Director of Customer Success, CallTrackingMetrics
Ken is the Director of Customer Success at CallTrackingMetrics and has more than twenty years of experience in account management, business development and operations. When he joined the CallTrackingMetrics team in 2018, we asked him to share a little about himself: From cutting my interactive teeth at AOL to building a client relationship team at ADP, I have been in client relations for 20 years. I enjoy helping companies leverage technology to grow their business. At CTM I take a “share the love approach” to partnering with our clients to serve success.