Business SMS, or text messaging for businesses, lets you conveniently send messages from your computer and connect with your employees and clients instantly.
Cloud Edge’s SMS gateway connects with core mobile network providers and converts your outgoing message into a supported SMS format. Once the conversion is completed, this data – and your message – is then delivered to your recipient.
Below, we’ll look at the ways you can benefit from business SMS and how it can act as an innovative marketing tool to acquire new business leads.
What are the benefits of business SMS?
The most immediate benefit of using business SMS is enabling anyone within your organisation to send and receive SMS messages directly from any web-enabled computer, however there are other ways business SMS can directly and indirectly benefit your business as well:
- Lost device? No problem! Access your business SMS through the cloud and never lose your message history.
- A communication channel that an increasing number of customers prefer and have access to.
- Never miss out on important information again! Easily respond to missed calls when you or your employees are in a meeting.
- Send automated reminders and confirmations – make sure your clients have appointment times in writing and schedule shift times for casual staff without fail.
As VoIP uses cloud technology, you won’t need to worry about losing messages or misplacing your device and missing out on crucial information. All business SMS data is stored in the cloud, so if an employee changes or misplaces their device, they can immediately access their conversations upon logging back in.
Beyond the ease-of-use for your employees, a growing trend around the world has been the adoption of faster, easier methods for communicating. Smartphones with the ability to support multiple communication apps are now the primary source of contact for many individuals.
This is particularly relevant when contacting both your employees, and potential customers. Most people today will agree that responding to a text message is a lot less intimidating than answering a surprise phone call.
If you have plenty of busy staff who are often in meetings or out on the road, this means you can rest assured that any important information they need can be quickly sent, avoiding the possibility of missing a crucial voicemail or an email being filtered to spam.
When combined with VoIP, the ability to text and call from a dedicated VoIP number allows you to give out a single, consistent number for customers to reach you on. Consequently, this single number can be used across all of your branding and marketing, keeping your communication channels consistent and reliable.
Can business SMS be used for marketing?
Business SMS lets you send messages to large groups of people at a low cost. You could use business SMS to send customers sales alerts, links to website updates, appointment or delivery reminders, or personalised messaging. But where does SMS marketing fit into this?
Through Cloud Edge, your business SMS package can allow you to set up a custom number for your business, and create unique keywords to automate marketing campaigns.
You could set up a special offer where clients text a specific phrase or word to your dedicated number to receive a discount voucher or to RSVP for an event. As our business SMS is easily automated, you can automatically send replies while storing the client’s mobile number for further promotions.
Once you have a suitable list of clients open to receiving promotions via text, you can send timed marketing messages to individuals or a bulk list of numbers, organised by their responses or level of engagement with your business previously.
Provided that this is undertaken with the same high level of care and ethical consideration as your other marketing strategies, business SMS can be a cost-effective and simple way of reaching out to your clients in a way almost guaranteed to ensure they receive your message.
Get New Zealand business SMS with Cloud Edge
At Cloud Edge, we want the best for our customers – whether it’s through our business phone packages, 0800 number offerings, or providing top-of-the-line business Internet solutions. Our business SMS gateway is just another one of the innovative ways we’re helping NZ businesses reach their customers and stay connected.
If you’d like to learn more about our business SMS packages, or want to speak to Cloud Edge about upgrading your existing business communications to VoIP, contact one of our helpful team today.
