Most people own mobile devices and are familiar and comfortable with texting. But texts have gone beyond personal communication. Today, many consumers have opted in to receiving texts from companies and organizations they do business with. Businesses use texts to alert customers to sales, send promotional links, confirm orders and deliveries, and much more. 
We’ll explore business text message marketing and how organizations can utilize this powerful and affordable customer communication tool. 
Business text messaging (or business texting) involves sending and receiving text messages from a business phone number to prospects and customers. Business texting is a form of communication and marketing businesses can use to connect with their target audience. 
Businesses use text message marketing to increase sales, streamline communication and reach customers where they are. Examples of business text messaging include the following:
Business text messaging is divided into MMS and SMS messaging:
SMS marketing and mobile marketing are different. SMS marketing refers to sending marketing texts, while mobile marketing uses websites, social media, mobile apps and more to send mobile ads
Businesses use text messaging in the following ways:
Like email automation, automated text messages are an excellent way to help customers schedule appointments and receive timely reminders. Scheduling and reminder texts are convenient for businesses and customers while helping lower cancellation rates. They also reduce the time employees spend making phone calls to customers, helping improve overall business efficiency.
Many customers pay their bills online but might forget to pay by the deadline. Sending an attention-grabbing text notice that their bill is coming due will help customers make timely payments. 
You can also accept mobile payments via SMS by sending customers a link to a payment page; this is called text-to-pay. Text-to-pay benefits businesses and customers: The business gets the money it’s owed, and customers won’t incur unnecessary interest charges and fines.
Use text-to-pay to simplify the payment process, improve your collections process and reduce nonpaying customers.
If you have an online store, you know that customers expect order confirmations and delivery updates. Many online businesses have incorporated text messaging into their inventory systems to send customers order updates. Customers like knowing their order status in real time. 
Sending customers birthday and anniversary greetings is an effective way to build brand affinity and customer loyalty. People usually like being acknowledged on these occasions, so reaching out to customers will create goodwill. Your business message will also stand out from other birthday and anniversary messages.
Send text messages to inform prospects and customers of events and promotions before they occur. You can provide updates and schedule changes before the event and send out text messages after the event to gather customer feedback. 
You can also get creative with text messages during an event. For example, request selfies, conduct a scavenger hunt or ask trivia questions for prizes.
According to a SimpleTexting survey, 70 percent of consumers opted to receive texts from businesses in 2022, making business texting an integral part of a great customer experience.
Many restaurants use smartphone apps to support online ordering, but they can be too expensive for smaller restaurants and businesses. Use business texting to take one-off orders, promote new offerings and limited-time specials, announce company news, and collect customer feedback.
Many businesses use text messaging for customer service. Business texting can enhance your customer service strategy, as many customers prefer texting over speaking with customer service reps by phone. 
Additionally, many business texting services let you create browser portals that provide customer support texting from your business website. 
Learn what’s important to customers to serve their needs better. Use business texting to send text-to-vote SMS polls to gather survey data on customer insights. You can then personalize your offerings according to the preferences of various audience segments. For example, you can run different promotions for customers with and without children.
According to Text Request, 68 percent of people read every text they receive – even spam.
Contests are an effective way to increase customer loyalty and attract new customers. Use business texting to ask customers to enter a code to participate in sweepstakes, or choose random numbers to award prizes during special days and promotions. Different jurisdictions have specific laws and regulations about contests, so consult with legal counsel to ensure compliance before initiating a contest.
Coupons drive customer engagement, and text messaging is an effective way to distribute coupons and announce discounts and specials to customers. Texted coupons can encourage more customers to visit your store or place orders on your website. 
With texted coupons, customers don’t have to worry about lost or expired paper coupons. You can also promote flash sales by text message to create greater urgency for your products or services.
Word-of-mouth recommendations are an effective way to grow your business. The best sources of referrals are satisfied customers. Send text messages to your best customers, asking them to refer their friends to your business. Add discounts and other rewards to incentivize customers to help increase referrals.
Inspirational and motivational text messages can help your business stay top of mind with your customers and increase engagement. The types of messages you send will depend on your business. For example, if you operate a gym or other health-oriented business, you can send health-focused text messages in the morning to help customers start their day on a positive note.
Using text message marketing best practices is crucial. For example, always get permission to send texts, make unsubscribing easy, and keep messages concise and interesting.
Business texting offers several significant benefits over other types of business communications.
Text message laws regarding consent differ slightly in the U.S. and Canada.
The best text message marketing services are affordable, easy to use and integrate with the rest of your marketing programs. Here are a few to consider:
Jennifer Dublino contributed to this article. 
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