Customers today expect, and demand, relationships with the brands they frequent. They want those brands to know them, their history with the brand, and the pain points they’re seeking to have the brand solve.

They also want those relationships to be across every channel they use to engage with the brand. They want personal, knowledge-based engagement every time.

That’s a lot to ask. An omnichannel messaging approach to marketing and client engagement uses technologies that can facilitate, deepen, and enrich consumer relationships.

The power of personalization using chatbots and other technologies can transform how you scale customer engagement. Personalization using technology has advanced considerably in recent years, providing brands with new opportunities to make deep connections.

One of the most powerful ways to use chatbots is via text marketing via SMS campaigns.

The Rise of Conversational Marketing

Conversational marketing is a new way to meaningfully engage customers in ways that were not possible just a few years ago. As businesses use personalization approaches to enhance engagement, conversational messaging is at the core.

Conversational marketing is an approach that uses chatbots, messaging tools, and voice assistants like Siri and Alexa. The tools allow brands to replicate a humanlike conversation with clients on webpages, in texts, and in apps.

The technologies allow brands to build deeper relationships and better customer service experiences.

Conversational marketing allows for two-way conversation that feels like a real discussion. In doing so, chatbots allow for connections that work because they are, in fact, personalized. By using existing data about customers and collecting information in the moment, the best chatbots create a personalized engagement each time. And, because the chatbots improve with each engagement, the personalization improves over time.

Chatbots can further enhance the power of personalization with customized marketing. Personalized conversational messaging chatbots have multiple benefits, including real-time interactions with customers available 24/7 across channels; fewer operational and personnel costs; effective scaling of customer engagements; personalized experiences based on existing and gathered data; enhanced customer satisfaction rates; better problem resolution; and more sales conversions.

Delivering on What Customers Expect

While it may seem counterintuitive to think that technologies can foster personal engagement, according to the data, such connections are deeply desired.

A recent Mitto survey shows that 90% of customers want brands to interact with them on their preferred channels, whether that’s a website, SMS, social media, or chat. The survey also found SMS is a vastly preferred channel, largely due to the speed of text marketing capabilities. Among the other SMS-related findings:

• 48% of respondents favored SMS over email for brief questions and confirmations
• 58% of customers expect a text message to arrive immediately for two-factor authentication
• More than half want to use SMS to confirm large purchases
• For pay-by-link payments, 30% of respondents prefer SMS over email. This was a priority for 27% of all respondents, although the rate jumped to 70% among Generation Z and millennial respondents

Using Personalized SMS Reminders

SMS reminders are a powerful way to create personalized engagements that connect to customers and complete transactions. SMS reminders are commonly used to acknowledge and remind users of appointments.

However, they have deeper utility, allowing brands to remind consumers of many other elements, from subscription renewals to incomplete purchases to return visits to websites.

Chatbots can automate reminders sent via SMS campaigns, providing prompt, timely, and responsive connections to customers. Using chatbots frees up customer service and administrative support staff to complete more critical work.

SMS is an ideal way to provide these personalized experiences, with details included in brief, easy-to-read messages. They can also prompt immediate two-way conversations that continue to be personalized and forge connections.

Chatbot solutions like those provided by Mitto create powerful opportunities to connect with customers. The power of personalization that chatbots offer is a way to meet clients where they are and deliver what they need.