SMS for customer service: Best practices and message templates

Customer service shouldn’t stop once your customer has made a purchase. Good service extends across the customer lifecycle, with communications to keep them up to date with the latest news, and their favourite products or services. 

SMS can significantly improve your customers’ satisfaction levels thanks to fast and targeted messages that make an impact. Two-way SMS enables businesses to interact with customers in real-time and solve their queries, without them waiting in long call queues.

With its high open and engagement rates, it’s unlikely that your message will be missed so you can answer queries quickly or send well-timed texts to support your campaigns. 

Why improving your customer service is key

Stats show that 90% of customers will buy more from a business, and 93% will become repeat customers if they have experienced excellent customer service. Creating a smooth and pleasant experience is an important part of this – people remember how easy it was to resolve their issue.

On the other hand, if customers have one bad experience with a brand, half will switch to a competitor. With the increasing number of brands out there, competition is fierce, so naturally customers expect more. Your customer service needs to stand out – and personalised and two-way SMS is a good way to do that. 

How can SMS improve customer service?

SMS helps you to keep customers up to date with important information. Whether that’s automated order and delivery updates, appointment confirmations or reminders and flight updates, helpful texts have become the expectation in many industries.

Sales and marketing messages can also boost satisfaction, especially if they are personalised, engaging and exclusive. Promo codes sent through SMS or event invites can make customers feel important, so they’re more likely to shop with you because they feel valued and recognised. 

SMS feels more personal because it’s sent straight to your customers’ mobile. But there’s also plenty of opportunity for personalisation with dynamic fields like your customers first name to grab attention. There’s also two-way conversation with SMS Chat which gives you more scope to answer queries and enables customers to reply when it’s convenient for them. 

SMS customer service best practices

SMS is a simple channel to use because texts are limited to 160 characters and you don’t have to design visuals. Esendex customers also have access to a library of message templates that are ready to use (more on that below). 

Preferred channels 

Consider your customers’ communication preferences. 

Our connected consumer report found that 94% of customers prefer SMS and would open, read or act on a text message from a brand. Email ranked second with 92% of customers agreeing they would engage with it. This highlights why using multiple channels as part of a multichannel or omnichannel strategy can improve your reach and show customers that you have taken account of their preferences.

Also consider whether your customer prefers to self-serve or likes support from a Chatbot or live agent. WhatsApp or rich communication services (RCS) can create memorable brand experiences because you can attach documents, videos, pictures, GIFs and interactive polls to improve the customer experience.

With RCS, you can go a step further and add buttons like ‘buy now’ or enable in-app purchases to improve convenience. 

Learn more: SMS vs RCS: How to they compare?

Choose a reliable provider 

When it comes to SMS, it’s essential that you choose a reliable provider who has experience in your industry and the technical infrastructure to deliver messages quickly and efficiently. Security should also play a big part. Providers like Esendex will have an ISO27001 accreditation to keep your customers’ data secure, and comply with laws including GDPR. 

Craft engaging texts 

With a short character limit, texts should be engaging and personalised to grab attention and drive conversions. Address customers by their first name and use emojis where appropriate to enhance the experience. Start with a nice greeting followed by the purpose of the message. Remember to keep language simple and concise, and complete your text with a strong call-to-action (CTA). 

Choose from a range of ready-to-send SMS templates for sales and marketing, financial services, or healthcare if you’re running low on time or inspiration. 

Verified sender ID 

Verified sender ID is critical if you want to build trust with customers and prevent fraud. Not only does it show professionalism, customers will know that your text is legitimate so will be more likely to engage with it. With RCS, you can even create a tailored business profile to establish brand consistency. 

Personalisation 

Personalisation is key to good SMS customer service. 

Add fields like first name, surname, age and gender. Personalise offers, loyalty scheme messages, and appointment confirmations and reminders to improve satisfaction and relevance, and show that you are treating customers as individuals.

Time it right  

Stick to business hours when it comes to SMS to avoid annoying customers or coming across as spam. Use your customer data to find out when they are active and then time your communications to suit. Scheduling SMS around events like payday or sales is always helpful too. 

Automate where you can 

To save time and increase efficiency, use SMS automations. 

Texts are sent automatically and can be scheduled, so that your team can plan in advance. Texts can also be triggered after an event like an appointment booking or order, so that information can be targeted at the right stage of the customer journey. Auto-replies are also handy, because 83% of customers expect an immediate response when they contact a business. 

Send messages in bulk 

With bulk SMS, send personalised texts to an entire list or group of customers. Sending hundreds or thousands of messages in one go can save you time and means you can reach customers instantly. Bulk SMS is also a cost-effective and reliable way to communicate key information like surveys to help you improve your service further.

Include links 

Add links to texts so your customer can get more information or land directly on a promotion. 

With Esendex, you can design fully branded SMS landing pages to give customers a visually appealing and engaging page to land on. They are simple to create with a drag and drop function, can be optimised for mobile and support tracking so you can analyse performance and conversions. 

Get feedback 

Use SMS surveys to collect fast customer feedback. The insights can show where you’re excelling and any areas where improvement is needed. Collecting feedback also shows customers that you care about their opinion – especially if you act on it and can let them know you’ve done so.  

Listen and solve

When crafting your texts, show empathy and care. Ensure your customer service agents are helpful and trained to a high standard, while ensuring they have the right tools in place to answer questions quickly. Automating responses with SMS Chat frees up time for agents to look into more complex queries, customers don’t have to stay on hold or wait in a call line and there’s a full audit trail. 

Do customers have to opt in to SMS? 

Customers have to opt-in to SMS. Without this consent, you can’t send them messages. 

It’s also your legal responsibility to ensure each message includes an ‘opt-out’ option, so your customer can easily ask to stop receiving texts.

Learn more: SMS compliance: A guide to SMS marketing regulations

SMS customer service examples  

Not sure where to start?

Here are some SMS customer service message templates to inspire you and improve your communications: 

Birthday or anniversary wishes 

Happy birthday, [NAME]! Take 25% off everything using BDAY25 😊 

You’ve been a customer since [YEAR]. As a big thank you for sticking with us, take 30% off your next purchase ❤️

Basket reminders 

Hi [NAME]. Looks like you’ve left something behind! Here’s a special promo code to get 20% off your order! 🤩 Just use [CODE] at checkout by [DATE].

Don’t forget about your basket, [NAME]. It’s safe for now but head to checkout ASAP before somebody else nabs it! 🏃

Loyalty rewards

[NAME], you’ve just reached [LEVEL] of our loyalty programme! That gets you an extra [%] off EVERYTHING site-wide 🥳

[BRAND]: Hey VIP, the big [SEASON] event is about to start and you get early access 🎉 [LINK]

Opening hours 

Hi [NAME], just an update regarding our opening hours for [HOLIDAY] 👍 Our team will be available on [DAYS] at [TIME].

Order updates 

Hi [NAME], your order is on the way now 📦 Click here to track it: [LINK]

Hi [NAME], your order has been delivered! 🙌 We hope you love it. Let us know what you think and we’ll give you 10% off your next order: [LINK]

Sales alerts

Hey [NAME], it’s your last chance to take advantage of our biggest sale of the year! 🙏 Browse your wishlist and bag a bargain now: [LINK]

Hey VIP! Our [SEASON] sale starts tomorrow but you have early access 👌 Ready to shop the sale? [LINK]

Hi [NAME]. Good news – the [PRODUCT] you were interested in is now on sale! 🤗 Grab 20% off with the special promo code [CODE]. Valid until [DATE].

SMS surveys 

Hey [NAME], we hope that you’re loving your new [PRODUCT]. Would you mind leaving us a quick review? We’d love to hear what you think of it and how you’re using it!

Hi [NAME], we’d love to know why you chose to attend [EVENT]. Complete this 2 min survey and enter the draw to win a [AMOUNT] gift voucher: [LINK]

Opt in and opt out 

Thanks for signing up to receive updates from us! We’ll send you the latest news on sales, product drops, and more.

You have successfully unsubscribed from our [CHANNEL] updates.

Building customer satisfaction with SMS through Esendex 

Satisfied customers will stick with your brand helping you develop long-term relationships, sales and loyalty. SMS fuels good customer service because it allows you to connect with consumers, to solve their issues and provide helpful information. 

With over 20 years’ experience in customer communications, Esendex helps over 46,000 customers send 5bn texts per year. Find out how Esendex can transform your customer service.