On a global scale, some 8.3 trillion text messages are sent and received each and every year. That equates to almost 23 billion text messages per day and nearly 16 million text messages per minute. The numbers don’t lie. Texting is the most widely-used and frequently performed action on smartphones today, which makes it an incredibly powerful and effective way for businesses to reach and communicate with their customers. Not sure how SMS could be used in your company? Here are 7 creative ideas to get you started.

Deliver Customer Service – 96% of smartphone users text, which means the odds of your customer base being available to send and receive communications via SMS are pretty good. Texting  also eliminates the hassle of having to call an 800 number, wait on hold and be transferred from department to department. With SMS, your customers will get the support they need instantly and via the method they most prefer.

Provide Tech Support & Expert Escalation – If your product or service happens to require a certain degree of technical support, this can also be handled almost exclusively via text messaging, making it faster, more convenient for your customers and more cost-effective for your business. Likewise, with the right SMS platform, escalation and expert assistance can be easily and seamlessly delivered.

Field Product/Service Inquiries – Incoming questions about what you sell or manufacture, or inquiries about a particular service your business provides can take a toll on busy employees. The instant nature of text messaging saves time, which will allow your team to focus their skills and efforts on other, more mission-critical tasks and projects.

Facilitate Internal Team Collaboration – Text messaging isn’t just beneficial for communication with external parties, like customers and vendors. You can also use this highly effective tool to improve internal collaboration amongst team members. Keep everyone in the loop on important news, updates and changes without having to pull them away from their day to day duties.

Foster Customer Relationships – According to Pew Research, 33% of Americans prefer text messaging over all other forms of communication.  This includes interacting with the brands with which they do business. By communicating with your customers via a method that they prefer, you’ll deliver a positive experience right from the start. Furthermore, by sending regular text messages, over time you’ll foster relationships and develop the trust and loyalty that’s so important in today’s competitive marketplace.

Streamline Intra-Store Communication – For brick and mortar business with multiple locations, using internal text messaging can help ensure more streamlined intra-store communications. This is also a great way to deliver exceptional customer service. For instance, if a customer wants a particular item that’s out of stock in one location, a message can be sent to instantly determine whether it’s available elsewhere. This saves the customer time while also preserving the sale for your company. It’s a win-win!

Optimize Call Center Operations – Any call center manager will tell you that one of the biggest challenges they face is keeping operations running smoothly at the lowest cost possible. Incorporating texting into the mix can help achieve those goals by allowing agents to multi-task, manage their time more efficiently and increase their capacity, all the while minimizing cost.

With roughly 6.8 billion service subscriptions worldwide, there are now almost as many cell-phone users as there are people on the earth. And with more than 75% of mobile phones worldwide (4.5 billion) being text-enabled, it’s no surprise that SMS is becoming the most popular and widely used form of communication.

If you’re not leveraging this powerful tool for your business, the time to start is now. Request a demo to get started today!