Traditional face-to-face interactions are steadily being supplanted by virtual engagements. Maybe you love it, maybe you hate it, but it’s a shift that many embrace without hesitation. We see it happening in work environments with zoom meetings and webchats. We see it happening with friends and family through Facetime, Snapchat and texts or DMs. 

Businesses should see this shift as a huge win for their sales conversion opportunities. Door-to-door sales people got a bad rap years ago. Today, most people don’t even want to answer the phone if they don’t recognize a phone number. Is it even possible to build a relationship without customers coming to your door? 

Enter: text message marketing; something that most consumers don’t find invasive or problematic. Done right, customers and prospects find it very useful.

Step 1: Go to the customer so they don’t have to come to you

Phones go with us everywhere, giving businesses the opportunity to meet people where they are in their day. You can do this on their terms, instead of waiting for them to come to you. In the process you can build a positive rapport in a way email could never provide.

Step 2: Get to know the customer and send them info they care about

Message IQ allows you to utilize HubSpot’s robust segementation and automation capabilities to implement smart workflows that send the most impactful messages to the right audient. One of the keys to effective SMS marketing is to not firehose people with unwanted texts. This, without a doubt, leads to a block or unsubscribe. It quickly qualifies you as nothing more than an emotionless bot. 

Instead, as you learn things about your customer or prospect, like their purchase history, job role, etc, you can learn which texts apply to them. Perhaps more important, you learn which texts don’t apply. 

Step 3: Be a human, not a bot

The other way to build rapport is to actually BE human with someone and not only rely on automated responses and systems. While it’s great to get notified that those shoes you were eyeing are on sale, isn’t it even better if you could ask someone if they are still available in your size? And if you’ll have them by next week if you order today? Time to response is critical when responding to incoming messages. Treat them like a real-time chat.

Or maybe you’re texting a reminder about an event, but a recipient receives it and wants to know what kind of food will be served. With great SMS marketing tools, the contact can reply to the text and get a real response to questions in real time. Message IQ is set up to allow this through HubSpot. You can even set it up so the proper person will receive a Slack notification when a contact sends a response.

You’ve not only allowed for timely conversation flow on something they care about, but additionally, the customer isn’t left to look up the event details from an email they received weeks ago or, worse, hunting it down on the website. Make life easier for your contacts with real-time replies. This considerate communication builds rapport, reminding them there is a person on the end of the texts they are receiving–a person and a company that cares. 

And with a real person, is the potential for a relationship with trust, and trust plays a key role in closing a sale or deal. 

While SMS marketing is built around modern technology’s abilities to connect virtually with people, the MessageIQ platform allows necessary, positive relationships with customers to be developed.

Is your SMS marketing campaign not building the rapport you hoped for? Let us help turn it around.  Contact us today.