Simplify Support via SMS Customer Service

What is Customer Service Text Messaging?

Customer service text messaging is exactly what it sounds like – the art of using SMS to connect, support, and engage customers throughout their lifecycle with your company. Crucially, it’s not just about answering customer queries via text, or even dishing out regular marketing messages.

A comprehensive approach to using SMS for business customer service involves considering every stage of the customer journey, from the first moment you start attracting leads with personalized texts, to the point when you’re using AI SMS to guide customers through a troubleshooting strategy, and beyond. One major thing that differentiates SMS customer service from things like SMS marketing – is that it’s a “two-way” experience.

You’re not just bombarding customers with messages about your latest products – like you would be with generic, one-way SMS platforms. You’re inviting customers to take part in a tailor-made ongoing conversation – one that boosts engagement, strengthens relationships, enhances customer satisfaction, and builds loyalty.

An enterprise text messaging solution like Clerk Chat is custom-built for customer support, engagement, and relationship management. We’re talking customizable templates, deep integrations with CRMs, help desks, and contact centers, unified inboxes, and in-depth analytics.

So, why does all of this matter? Because right now, more than 89% of customers actually want to text with businesses – throughout the customer journey. But only around 48% of businesses have the tools they need to use SMS for customer service and support. If your company can take advantage of this growing trend – you don’t just end up with happier customers, you benefit from better profits, higher customer lifetime value, and more efficient teams.

The Key Features of Customer Service Texting Software

SMS customer service software isn’t just a specialist version of the “group chat” feature you get built into a standard smartphone.

An SMS customer service platform is a full-blown digital solution, often combining SMS call center software with a host of tools for personalization, segmentation, analytics, and more. Different platforms offer varying features, but the best options should include:

Versatile Two-Way Messaging

This is the main thing that differentiates customer service texting software from simple mass-messaging solutions. Effective customer service, throughout the buyer journey – requires a two-way dialogue. That means your platform needs to send and receive messages.

Platforms like Clerk Chat usually offer shared inboxes, so teams can collaborate on customer requests and maintain context throughout the conversation. They might even offer an opportunity to extend conversations into new channels, with integrations for things like RCS, over-the-top messaging apps, email marketing tools, and more.

Integrations with CRMs and Helpdesks

Integrations aren’t just crucial for empowering omnichannel customer service strategies – they’re essential for keeping teams, data, and processes aligned. Integrations with CRM (Customer Relationship Management) platforms like Salesforce or HubSpot make it easy to personalize interactions with up-to-date insights, and maintain relevant profiles.

Connectors with helpdesk tools, like Zendesk, or Zoho Desk ensure you can track the progress of a request, and prioritize crucial action items. You might even look at integrations with tools like Microsoft Teams, so your employees can access SMS in the apps they already use.

Advanced Segmentation

Personalization is crucial when you’re using an SMS customer support tool. An effective platform should make it easy to customize messages with CRM data, but it should also help you segment your audience based on their location, purchase history, behaviors, and more.

Some platforms, like Clerk Chat, even enable dynamic cohorts for contacts, ensuring that your “segments” automatically update in real-time based on the latest data. That least to better sales, marketing, and service strategies, as well as new opportunities to find and retain VIP customers.

Workflow Automation

While you might not be able to automate every aspect of your customer service text messaging strategy, you can simplify a lot of tasks. You could set up automatic replies for off-hours, trigger texts when a support ticket is updated, send reminders or follow-ups to customers automatically, and so on.

You could even experiment with AI in customer service to automatically respond to common customer queries, or guide buyers through initial onboarding steps.

Analytics and Reporting Tools

If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it. Robust reporting features help track everything - from message delivery and open rates to response times, campaign ROI, and team performance.

Want to see how texting impacts your CSAT or resolution time? It’s all in the dashboard. You can even set up your own custom reports, for behind-the-scenes insights that can help you make smarter business decisions in the long-term.

Built-In Compliance (Especially TCPA)

Compliance is crucial – even when you’re using SMS for business customer service, rather than just marketing. You’ll still need to adhere to TCPA guidelines and global standards, which means tracking opt-in and opt-out information, sending messages at “relevant” times, and keeping audit logs.

Depending on your industry, you might have specific SMS compliance guidelines to follow too. For instance, in healthcare, you’ll need to follow HIPAA rules. In the finance space, there are FINRA and SEC guidelines to consider.

Other Features to Look for in an SMS Customer Service Platform

Beyond all of the obvious must-have features mentioned above, there are a few “extras” you might want to look at when evaluating platforms. For instance, if you’re going to be using SMS in marketing campaigns, look for a platform that makes it easy to set up 10DLC numbers.

If you’re involved in a highly regulated industry, and you’re going to be sending healthcare SMS messages or finance updates, look for advanced compliance features.

Other valuable add-ons include:

• API Access: A well-documented API means you can build exactly what you need—whether that’s syncing with internal systems, automating custom workflows, or embedding messaging into your own app or dashboard.
• Rich Messaging Options: Sometimes, a simple text isn’t enough. Modern platforms support rich media- MMS, RCS, and even integrations with WhatsApp or Messenger - so you can share images, files, or interactive buttons to create deeper engagement.
• Artificial Intelligence: Want to tap into conversational AI for customer service? Experiment with customizable agents, like Clerk Chat’s AI agents that can handle everything from lead qualification, to nurturing, and handling FAQs.

The Applications of SMS Customer Service Tools

When it comes to the applications of text messaging, customer service agents often assume SMS is just for one thing – handling support requests. But forward-thinking companies are quickly embracing SMS to enhance various stages of the customer journey.

Many companies even use SMS alongside other channels, like email, chat, and voice, to enable comprehensive omnichannel experiences for customers.

Here’s how you can make the most of your SMS customer support tool.

Acquisition & Conversion

While you can’t just message leads at random, hoping they’ll eventually decide to buy something, you can use SMS in the lead acquisition process. You can invite customers to “opt-in” to your contact list with a “text to enter” option, or a sign-up form on a landing page.

As soon as they reach out, you can use automated text messages to start the nurturing process. SMS can help you schedule demo or sales calls instantly, follow up with leads after an initial consultation, and even qualify leads before passing them onto your sales team.

Engagement & Nurturing

A great customer experience is affected by every stage in the customer lifecycle. Once you capture a lead’s attention, you don’t just want to send them the occasional update. You want to invite them to take an active part in an ongoing conversation.

You can use SMS to send messages that let customers know when they’re nearing a limit on their subscription, when you receive a support request, or even when they qualify for a new offer. You might even use SMS to gather feedback from customers, sending out miniature CSAT surveys or requesting reviews from happy buyers.

Onboarding & Activation

The onboarding process is often where churn begins or ends – particularly for some companies. With SMS, as soon as a customer buys something, you can send them a friendly, personalized welcome message, guide them through the set-up process, and share personalized tips based on their behavior.

You could even send messages that celebrate milestones. For instance, you might use a finance SMS platform to congratulate customers when they reach a savings goal, or spend an entire year with your company. Or you could use SMS to introduce new products and services as they emerge.

Accelerating Support

The most obvious way to use an SMS customer service tool, is to speed up customer support. When customers need answers or solutions fast, SMS offers an easy way to distribute information. You can create automated messages that automatically trigger when a customer sends a message with a specific keyword, or when a system has an outage.

You can even use messages to follow up on open cases or checking in on past issues. This leads to faster issue resolution times, higher customer satisfaction rates, and better loyalty.

Retention & Expansion

SMS can also play a valuable role in building long-term relationships with customers. SMS is great for sending out renewal reminders, sorting through payment issues, and keeping customers informed about critical updates. You can dive into behavioral data to target customers with upsell or cross-sell offers, or target customers who might have gone quiet over time.

You might even use SMS to identify your most loyal and happy customers, and invite them to join a loyalty or referral program.