8 ways to use text message survey software to gather customer feedback
Texting questionnaires provides you with an opportunity to engage with your customers, obtain valuable and actionable insights, as well as gauge satisfaction.
What is text message survey software?
Organisations can quickly gather valuable insight into customers’ views about their products and services by setting up text message survey software and creating SMS questions to send to their customer base, or other stakeholders. Questions may seek to determine a Net Promoter Score (NPS) or require a simple response – YES/NO, Agree/Disagree etc. For more insight into the feedback, comments can also be requested. Essentially, it’s an affordable means of getting the data needed to improve customer experience.
Text Poll feedback could target:
- Events
- Service
- Customer satisfaction
- Market research
- Data cleansing
It can be hard to get your customers attention, and this is where SMS has the edge.
We’re confronted with various means of communication, for both business and personal use, on a daily basis. Technology advancements means that we can be contacted 24/7. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean we read or take everything in.
Instant messaging applications, such as KIK, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Viber or Snapchat, are constantly popping up with their own unique usability, but they aren’t used by everyone making it difficult to select just one app for communications. This is where SMS messages have an advantage, as all phones can send and receive texts as standard.
A Deloitte Study found that 87% of respondents owned or had access to a smartphone. Furthermore, telecoms regulator Ofcom reports that, on average, people check their smartphone once every 12 minutes during their waking hours.
You might assume that only applies to the younger market, but what you might find surprising is the uptake of smartphones in the 55-75 age group, which, as of 2018, was 77%. Also notable was that smartphones are the most frequently used devices in the UK, with 95% of smartphone owners from all age groups using the device in the last day.
This presents a great opportunity for communicating with your customers, of all ages.
SMS questionnaires: here’s the facts!
SMS Messages have a 98% open rate and mobile users read 90% of all text messages within 30 seconds of their receipt (Source: Dynmark)
We already know that readership is high, but what about interaction? Research also backs strong response rates for questionnaire text messages.
- Text messaging has a 45% response rate. In comparison, email has 6% (Source: Velocify) (Source: Velocify)
- 90% of text messages are read in under 3 minutes (Source: Connect Mogul)
- 31% of consumers respond to SMS surveys, with an average response time of less than 5 minutes (Source: Smart Insight)
Benefits of sending surveys via text message
Texting questionnaires provides you with an opportunity to engage with your customers, obtain valuable and actionable insights, as well as gauge satisfaction. This can be helpful for a number of reasons. Marketers can use the information gained to enhance a product or service or to improve customer experience.
Although many businesses are aware that conducting customer surveys can be beneficial, acquiring feedback from customers can be difficult. An IPSOS study found that 95.3% of consumers would be likely to complete an SMS Survey. Here are some other reasons why sending surveys via text message might be right for your business:
Easy to create and distribute
Setting up a survey is quick and easy. It takes just a few minutes and can be deployed instantly, meaning data can be available within hours or days and collated quickly for analysis.
Better response rates
How many emails do you receive a day in comparison to text messages? Recipients get messages direct to their phones instantly, though the proportion of text messages means it’s far more likely to be read quickly, as opposed to a busy email inbox.
Gather feedback quickly
People tend to always have their phones on them, so the likelihood of them seeing a text quickly increases. The proportion of text messages received, as opposed to email, is also much smaller.
Affordable and less time-consuming than alternatives
Compared to other methods of communication, such as direct mail and phone calls, the pricing for sending out text messages and time taken to distribute is much shorter. No stuffing envelopes with postcards, letters or otherwise. No trying to get through the gatekeeper or reaching a voicemail when performing calls.
Collating responses
Toucan Text can collate feedback responses and send them to a business system or database of your choice, which could include CRM or email.
Smartphone ownership
Whilst 5.1 billion out of the 6.8 billion people on earth own a mobile phone, a lot of these will be smartphones. However, it’s important to take into account that some of your target audience may well own a basic mobile phone when creating your questionnaire text messages.
Text Message Survey Software Examples
1. Event Feedback – understand the successes of your event, what could be improved and gain vital insights for future decision making. E.g. customer days, product launches, seminars, conferences or trade shows.
2. Service Feedback – gauge how your field-based workers are performing and find out if your customers are getting the service they expect. If service levels are falling below par, it can be rectified. If it’s exceeding expectations it could be replicated in other areas of the business.
3. Customer Satisfaction – discover how happy your customers are with your products and services.
4. Market Research – gain insight into what your target market’s motivations and needs are.
5. Data Cleansing – update data to ensure customers are receiving appropriate and requested communications.
6. Customer Renewals – ensure customers know when they’re coming to the end of their subscription and are due to renew.
7. Staff Surveys – exit surveys and more can be performed to understand how the company interacts internally, as well as anything that can be improved.
8. Product Launches – for time-sensitive requirements for feedback on a new product/service offering. This could include anything from testing a concept, to pricing and preferred features.
Setting up a survey via text message
Your SMS questionnaires can be sent using SMS Automation Software. This integrates SMS with your existing systems, such as your CRM or ERP, to automate and schedule surveys, as well as collect feedback.
Messages can be scheduled or triggered from an event in your database, such as:
- Following an update to a field in your database
- After an entirely new entry within your database
- Following a period of inactivity from a set date
When used in conjunction with automation, businesses can ensure that any responses that need further attention can be followed up swiftly by notifying relevant personnel.
To discuss how text message survey software could work for your business, get in touch by calling 0330 998 0022 or emailing info@toucantext.com.
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