Text messaging goes strong!
Text messaging, the mother of all messaging apps! Yes, you read that right, text messaging is a messaging app (or application) on your smartphone, just like WhatsApp, for example. The only difference is that it is installed as standard on all phones and phone subscriptions sold on the market, meaning it is always ready to use.
It has long been rumored that text messaging would disappear. In practice, the situation is that there is no such standard communication method now, and at least not in the foreseeable future. Of course, consumer behavior has changed so that most have switched to using instant messaging apps, such as the Whatsapp app. In fact, this change has opened up an even stronger position for text messaging as a communication channel for companies, communities and public administrations when you want the message to reach the recipient with certainty, provenness and with the highest possible attention value.
One sign of the resurgence of text messaging is that its use in the United States has increased since 2015. Gary Vaynerchuk, who also spoke at the Nordic Business Forum, highlights SMS marketing as one of the key marketing channels for companies.
Marketing automation – not just separate software
Different marketing automation software is being implemented in more and more organizations, both private and public. The software offers many opportunities to enhance customer communication and customer experience. Commonly used software include Hubspot, Salesforce Pardot, Eloqua and Marketo. In addition, there are slightly lighter and therefore more affordable software on the market.
Marketing automation is a bit misleading as a term, because automation can be used to do much more than just marketing, for example, it is enormously useful in sales and customer service. Marketing automation does not always mean only separate software intended for this purpose, but automation can also be implemented for a single sales or customer service process.
SMS service as part of marketing automation
In its simplest form, automation can be an SMS service. The SMS service can even be connected as part of an enterprise resource planning system, where it acts as a channel for internal or external operational management to handle a specific issue.
A good example is the customer satisfaction surveys of car dealership chains on the functionality of maintenance. In these, text messages are integrated as part of the maintenance enterprise resource planning system. In this case, the text message service does not just mean an interface solution where a text message is sent and received if necessary, but there can also be a lot of logic or automation behind it for phasing the sending of messages, returning responses and forming multiple question-answer pairs.
The best solution is to connect a Finnish text message service to the marketing automation software, in which case the quality of communication, consideration of data protection and contractual matters are handled reliably. Global communication is also usually possible through a Finnish operator, meaning that sending messages abroad or to foreign telephone subscriptions is not a problem.
Basic features include an alphanumeric sender (the text message will be sent to the consumer as, for example, “CompanyOy”), 2-way text messages, keywords for controlling responses, attaching a fee to the response (max. 50€) and accurate reporting on message delivery and delivery confirmations.
Building an integration
There are mainly two ways to integrate marketing automation into a production control or CRM system. The fastest and most universal way is a Webhook, where an event in the automation system causes an http call to the SMS system’s API interface. In a webhook integration, it is important that at least the recipient’s phone number is included in the call. More flexibility is gained if the message content is also included.
Configuring webhook calls can be challenging. Especially with character encoding, situations can arise where the e-mails do not work correctly, the reason for this may be using the wrong source character set or double encoding of the string. The easier way for the user is direct integration, i.e. “Plugin”. In Plugar, the hard work of integration has been done and the text message can be used directly.
There is also a third option: using an integration service. Integration services include Zapier, IFTTT, Microsoft Flow. The idea behind these is that integration has been done in several systems and they can be connected by configuration. For example, the CRM system event “New customer added” can, through the integration service, result in a welcome message being sent to the new customer via email or text message. The developers of the integration services have spent time and money on making the integrations, so there is usually a fee for using them.