How to Manage Multiple Messaging Channels with SMS Automation

The average consumer jumps across ten different communication channels while contacting businesses. These channels vary from phone calls, live chat, text messaging, chatbots, social media, instant messaging platforms, email, and more. Such an array of channels presents both – untapped opportunities and unprecedented challenges – to businesses.

While there are several advantages to multichannel or omnichannel customer engagement, managing multiple messaging channels is a leading cause of concern. Here, we take a look at how SMS automation can be a viable solution for handling multichannel messaging.

The Challenges of Managing Multiple Messaging Channels

To understand how SMS automation contributes to efficient and cost-effective messaging channel management, one first has to understand the challenges it presents. Broadly, the complexities associated with multichannel messaging can be summarized as follows:

• Channel and Resource Overload: The digitization of customer service has unlocked multiple channels. However, nearly a fourth of businesses struggle to offer a multi-channel experience due to a lack of resources, time, and budget. The sudden flood of channels has also made managing multiple messaging channels overwhelming.
• Inconsistent Customer Experience: Different channels possess varying degrees of features and capabilities that affect service delivery. Such variations inject inconsistency in customer service, which can dilute the customer experience.
• Lack of Single Source of Truth: Multiple channels present multiple sources of data. The resulting data inconsistencies will make it difficult to pin verifiable customer details and lead to inconsistencies. It also leads to the creation of data and communication siloes that cause a disconnect in the customer experience.
• Managing and Tracking Performance: Since customer service delivery is spread across multiple messaging channels, it can be difficult for businesses to gain a singular and unified view of performance. Moreover, since the performance metrics are a function of the channel involved, it further complicates performance tracking and measurement.

Scaling Messaging Channels with SMS Automation

Against the above challenges of managing multiple messaging channels, SMS automation comes as a breath of fresh air as it allows the following benefits:

Integrated Communication

Whether you use it as a standalone application or as a part of a larger communication management platform, SMS automation operates as a hub for all customer interactions.

The dynamic ability to add or subtract lines of communication makes scaling messaging channels easier and more effortless. Such unification also simplifies the measuring of messaging channel performance as a whole.

Centralized Data

By integrating all messaging channels, SMS automation platforms effectively lay the foundation for a centralized customer database. All the data across various channels gets deposited in an internal database or integrated CRM, which destroys communication and data siloes.

More importantly, this data reserve can cross-verify changes and effect updates multilaterally to establish an up-to-date and consolidated customer data repository.

Instant Contact

Nearly 85% of consumers prefer receiving texts from businesses. Such a preference drives up the open rate of this communication channel (to as high as 98%), making it highly effective in transmitting information.

With SMS automation in the picture, businesses can enjoy 24/7 availability with the ability to respond instantly. Integrating messaging channels also allows you to send timely SMS updates, acknowledgments, and reminders in response to interactions on other channels.

Personalized Messaging

SMS automation is a boon for personalizing messaging channels. It can fetch customer data from the centralized location and customize SMS templates to incorporate the receiver’s name and other details. As a result, businesses can add a touch of personalization without compromising on the speed and efficiency of customer service delivery.

Scalable and Consistent Service

Automating text messages removes human bias or errors. With such variables out of the way, businesses can continue scaling messaging channels and deliver consistent customer experience and service quality through them all.

Most importantly, businesses can handle inquiries and requests, even during peak season, without any significant resource or cost overheads.

Cost Savings

Businesses looking for cost-effective messaging channel management can benefit from SMS automation in more than one way. For starters, we’ve already talked about how it aids in scaling messaging channels by decoupling it from resources and associated costs.

By integrating messaging channels, SMS automation not only makes it easier to handle high volumes of messages but also delivers a consistent, personalized customer experience throughout. Finally, it offers a singular view of all messaging channels, making it easier to track and measure performance.

Integrating Messaging Channels with JustCall

Whether you’re planning a bulk broadcast or a trigger campaign, SMS automation can be one of the pillars of managing multiple messaging channels. It smoothens the multichannel customer experience by making it consistent, reliable, and effective.

If you’re looking for a holistic platform for integrating various messaging channels, then your search ends at JustCall. As an all-in-one customer communication platform, JustCall can deliver everything, from personalization to scalability. All you need to do is select the plan that works for you!