Captivated Business Texting

Worried your messages to customers are just getting lost in a sea of spam? They probably ARE. ? 87% of consumers ignore any calls from numbers not saved as contacts. In the same study, only 22% reported that they listened to the voicemails within 24 hours. ? It’s time to text your customers instead. ?? ? The average marketing SMS conversion rate is between 30-45% (compared to only 3.26% for email)... but only 14% of businesses are using SMS/MMS messaging to communicate. ? Do it easily - and effectively - with Captivated. ? Find affordable month-to-month options, including the features and integrations that meet YOUR specific business needs. #texting #spam #standout #growyourbusiness #digitalcommunication #makeconnections #connecttogrow

We were delighted to share David Avrin's book, "Ridiculously Easy to Do Business With," at last week's WorkWave Conference in Dallas. His expertise has also been invaluable, notably in the nine-part customer experience video series he created for our company.

The struggle to get noticed in your customer's inbox is becoming more difficult than ever. But when it comes to your business communications, it could be time to take some (or most) of those messages OUT of the email inbox. Here's some food for thought to help you #RethinkYourService: First, we're not saying email doesn't have a place! Email is an exceptional form of communication for some updates or messages. However, when you're looking to get a reply quickly, or your message is an 'alert' of any kind (an estimated arrival, or a form to be filled out, or an offer that requires quick action) - email is not your best bet. SMS business texts average conversion rates between 30-45% for marketing-related messages. This is a stark contrast from other prominent marketing channels – only 2% of cold calls result in meetings, and conversion rates for email, SEM advertising, and social media ads are 3.26%, 3.17%, and 9.21% respectively.? Texts have a nearly 100% open rate. Over 60% of phone users open a text within just 3 minutes of receiving a notification, and 58% respond within 5 minutes when a response is requested. Email has a place when it comes to keeping customers in the loop, and should absolutely be included throughout your customer journey. But texting is the more convenient and efficient choice when it comes to time-based messages. Looking to get more strategic with the types of messages you send? Stay tuned for our next post on best practices.

Our #RethinkYourService Series continues as we tackle the topic of AI. Automated technology can be extremely helpful for streamlining consistent, everyday processes and minimizing the manual efforts required - but it can also wreak havoc on the personal relationships your company strives to create with customers. Anyone who has dealt with the frustrating experience of battling with an automated customer service agent can attest to how deflating it can be: somewhere between yelling "SPEAK TO A LIVE AGENT" into your phone over and over again, and typing the same keyword into a chat widget 10 times, you're left wondering whether the company you're trying to reach even cares about you at all. So how can you keep your customers from feeling this way when they're trying to reach you? How can you automate for efficiency in your business processes and customer conversations, WITHOUT compromising authenticity? The answer is not to remove automation entirely. Rather, the key is to be intentional about how you automate, and to be sure your processes are both integrated AND personalized. With our full-service business communication platform, you can manage inbound leads and customer requests, send automated appointment reminders, collect payments, send any forms or surveys, schedule messages, launch targeted or personalized discount offers, and manage your sales and service funnels from ONE platform in real-time. This allows you to build workflows to automate everyday processes, while allowing customers to receive (and respond to) all of your messages conveniently as text messages. You can jump in to the conversation in real-time, or automate where incoming leads are routed, and keep the customer feeling like a true priority all throughout. Automate your processes ?? Strengthen your customer relationships

Introducing the first installment of our #RethinkYourService Series! Now more than ever, customers are looking for a simple, personalized experience. It's simple: you need to be ridiculously easy to do business with. Yet, in today's market, there are still key points of friction in the customer journey that often go unresolved: 1. Communication is fragmented - the customer gets an automated reminder from one place, exchange messages with someone on your team, but then has a call with someone else on your team, and all of these touchpoints are kept/recorded in different spots... or NOT recorded at all 2. Inbound customer service handling is delayed or disrupted - requests come in and your team has to manually refer the customer to someone else in a different dept, or redirect them elsewhere, which contributes to longer wait times and a more frustrating experience for everyone 3. There's a lack of continuity - customers schedule an appointment through one service, check-in or pay through a different portal, and get follow-ups from a separate email or phone number All of these can be addressed by taking a second look at the systems you have in place today, creating better and more unified ways of handling customer contact, and setting up the right routing or workflow cadences to support your business' operations and your customers' best interests. Captivated lets you create a seamless communication process and improve your customer experience from top to bottom, addressing all of these issues and more. With our full-service communication software, you can connect with customers via text to manage leads and conversations in real-time, grow your business, and automate the rest. ??