Win Over Customers Through Text and Email

Twenty years ago, no one would’ve thought of using email and texting as a form of marketing to customers.

But today, business professionals send 74 trillion emails each day, which makes it the preferred form of communication; however, texting is becoming vastly popular, and it ranks in the top four most adopted marketing tactics. Here are a few reasons why you should be using both.

Both forms of communication are easy, fast, and effective, and allow you to engage with your pest control customers according to their preference. That said, there are certain situations where email might be better than texting and vice versa. According to this article, The most effective SMS program is used to enhance your emails, not replace them. SMS and email are used for many different types of communication, but ultimately, your customers want both. The best way to determine how to include SMS into your communication strategy is to ask yourself:

• How quickly should the recipient receive the message?
• How business-critical is the content of the message?

Depending on your answer to those questions, and how much imagery, branding, or design your messages require, you can quickly map how you should get your message to your recipients and by what channel.”

If you’re still wondering which format works best in certain situations, here is a guideline for email versus texting:

Email

• If you have long and/or complicated messages to send to your pest control customers, such as explaining the types of service treatments or addressing customer service questions, then email is probably the best form of communication.
• If you have multiple attachments to send, such as contracts or service agreements, it’s best to send these via email as it can be hard to read these on a mobile device.
• Emails have come a long way, and by using HTML, you can create attractive, attention-grabbing marketing emails with your brand and imagery to reach your prospects. Text messaging is usually simple and basic.
• If your customers need to research any type of communication history with your company, it’s easier to do this through email and texts.

Texting

• If you’re looking for high engagement rates, then texting is the way to go. SMS has an open rate of 98% and a response rate of 45%. Unlike email, text messaging doesn’t get buried or confused for spam.  
• Texting is short and concise, which makes it ideal for appointment reminders, alerts, and service notifications.
• Texting is fast. Your customers can read it and respond immediately rather than having to remember to dig through their emails. Additionally, if a live conversation is needed, then your phone number is easily accessible.
• It’s the preferred form of communication. According to this study by HeyWire Business, when consumers were surveyed, “52% said they would prefer texting customer support more than their current preferred method of communications. 31% said it was important for texting to be an available support option, and 47% said that texting could improve their overall satisfaction with customer support.”

Whether it’s text, email, or by phone, it’s important to give your customers a mix of multiple communication channels. Doing so increases overall customer satisfaction because they can choose which form of communication they prefer.