9 New Ways to Engage Your Customers via SMS [Tipsheet]

Using SMS communication (through your software or independently) is becoming a vital part of any business’s operational functions.

SMS is a must-have tool in your arsenal for keeping in touch with your customers… but with communications going out to different customers, on different days, for different things – how can you get a handle on customer communications?

Storman Cloud’s automation engine, called Daily Processing, knows exactly what needs to get sent to whom, and when.

By harnessing this power, we can increase customer engagement using SMS with little extra effort… in fact, zero extra effort, once it’s been setup and your templates are ready.

Let’s take a look at some of the times that we can send an SMS to our customers…

Over 90% of people read a text message within the first three minutes of receiving it – proving that SMS is a great tool for engaging with your customers. (MobileSQUARED survey)

Next stop: Automation Station

Keep your brand front-of-mind by engaging with your customers for important business communications such as payment reminders and to welcome them upon arrival – or even when their credit card on file is due to expire.

Here are some examples that you could setup to send automatically when particular triggers are met…

• Move In / Arrival: Storman lets you schedule an SMS X days before, or after, a move in. You could use this communication to welcome a new customer to your marina of self storage facility, you could provide last-minute information a day or so before they are due to arrive, or remind them of a particular document that they might need to bring with them – just to name a few!
  To view an example of this SMS & to download code that you can ‘copy’ straight into Storman, please download Andy’s free SMS Tip Sheet at the end of this blog.
• During the course of their stay: Ensure you have correct contact details by messaging the customer 6 months into their stay to check that their contact details are still up to date.
  To view an example of this SMS & to download code that you can ‘copy’ straight into Storman, please download Andy’s free SMS Tip Sheet at the end of this blog.
• Move Out / Departure: Why not thank the customer for their business upon move-out / departure? It might also be worth sending a link to a quick 5-question survey to ask what the customer liked, what you could have done better & whether they’d recommend your business to a friend. After all, if you don’t ask – you won’t know. Exit surveys are a fantastic way to gauge customer feedback and get customers to do the selling for you.
  To view an example of this SMS & to download code that you can ‘copy’ straight into Storman, please download Andy’s free SMS Tip Sheet at the end of this blog.
• Credit Card Expiry: If you process customer credit cards in Storman, then you’ll have a record of the credit card expiry date in Storman. Unless you update it before it expires, the payment will decline – so this is an important step to ensure you have the latest details on file at all times. Sending an SMS X days prior to the credit card expiry date is a great way to reminder customers to keep their payment details up to date. But don’t send your SMS too early; most credit card providers don’t send out new cards until about 7 – 10 business days before the expiry.
  To view an example of this SMS & to download code that you can ‘copy’ straight into Storman, please download Andy’s free SMS Tip Sheet at the end of this blog.
• When an invoice falls due: This communication works wonders! Customers often forget about invoices (particularly if you send them too far in advance of the due-by date), lose them – or their spam filters accidentally junk them. By sending them an SMS a day or two before the due date, you can really tighten up that arrears process and lock that payment reminder firmly into the customer’s mind.
  To view an example of this SMS & to download code that you can ‘copy’ straight into Storman, please download Andy’s free SMS Tip Sheet at the end of this blog.
• Late payment: This one works wonders, too! If your customer forgets to pay their invoice, why not send them a friendly reminder via SMS? Remind them of their impending lockout, or of an impending late fee. You’ll be surprised how quickly most customers pay after receiving this reminder SMS. Sending this message is a small price to pay in the overall scheme of things when it comes to chasing arrears. Of course, the power & intelligence behind Storman’s automation engine means that only customers who are late will ever receive this text message.
  To view an example of this SMS & to download code that you can ‘copy’ straight into Storman, please download Andy’s free SMS Tip Sheet at the end of this blog.

If you have upgraded to Storman Cloud, chances are, you did not look at your old notices, and checked their content. We can help with this, just give our sales team a call, and they can send you a quote for a full health check and notice upgrade, called our Concierge upgrade. 

Download my free SMS Tipsheet