Are there messaging tasks that you or your team members repeat hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, or annually? Whether it’s email or text messages, automating the process can reduce errors and save time, improving your business’ performance in the long run. Word on the business corridors is that automatic texts can boost customer engagement and streamline communications. Here are some tips that have been proven to help businesses streamline operations with automated business SMS systems.

1. Create Auto-Replies

Customers need to feel appreciated and assured that their concerns are being addressed as soon as possible. Therefore, setting up auto-replies should be the first step in your automation process. Auto replies are crucial as they reassure the client that they’ll be attended to as soon as possible, regardless of when they text.

Schedule Conscious

Interestingly, advanced corporate texting services can trigger automatic responses based on the time (past working hours) or specific days (e.g., holidays). Besides, you can even set up auto-replies based on particular keywords in the received messages. For example, users whose messages include the term “question” will get a different auto-reply from those who use the word “problem” in their message.

2. Set-Up Keyword Based Triggers

You cannot underestimate the amount of time you can save by using keyword-based triggers to automate your responses. Some of the best mass texting platforms can help with administrative tasks as well.

On the surface, adding and removing users from lists might seem like simple tasks that don’t consume much of your time. But, in reality, such tasks can accumulate to plenty of hours lost within a week. Interestingly, after noticing specific keywords, business SMS platforms can:

• Add a user to a list (new or existing)
• Remove a client from a list
• Assign incoming messages to a team member

For example, when a customer sends your company a text with the keywords “sports watch,” the automatic system can add them to a list of users interested in sports gear. Later a team member specializing in sports can contact them.

3. Simplify Team Member Assignments

A fast-paced medium like SMS can make team coordination a challenging endeavor. Without the necessary tools in hand, teams can have a hard time answering messages swiftly and accurately.

Using a simple feature like a shared inbox, a team manager can assign incoming messages to a particular member or team. But did you know you can automate assignments to smoothen operations? You can program your business SMS to automatically assign a chat to a member and remove it from the shared inbox as soon as the agent replies to the text. This is an excellent way to match customers with support agents best suited to resolve their queries.

4. Schedule Messages

There are several instances where an organization may want to send a message to a customer in the future. A good business SMS platform gives your team the chance to schedule messages days before the due date. Then, when the day comes, the automated text will be delivered at the exact scheduled time.

Such automated text messaging eliminates the need to send everything from extended feedback requests to appointment reminders. For instance, after interacting with a customer on text, a team member can set up a custom follow-up message to be sent the next working day, ensuring that the client’s concerns are fully addressed.

5. Personalize Messages

In a world where everything is mainly automated and bots have replaced the old-fashioned customer care agents, a human touch can go a long way. When you personalize your business SMSs, it sends a message to your customers that you’re not only efficient, but you also care for them at a human level.

If you want to offer a high level of personalization without too much strife, your business can take advantage of two customization features of automatic texting systems. They include:

• Custom fields – This feature allows businesses to send customized templated messages to recipient lists. Your texting platform of choice can fill the custom data for each recipient.
• Signatures – You can also add a short auto signature at the end of each message to show your recipients that they’re talking to humans and not bots.

Despite how simplistic or complex SMS automation might be, it can significantly boost your business’s productivity. With that said, partner with a reliable mass texting service today to reach your contacts faster and send alerts, reminders, and notifications with less strife than ever before.