Service agility is becoming the top priority for more and more customers. For this reason, you must use text templates - reusable texts that make messaging faster and enable you to respond to customers more quickly. Once a template is created, the text won't ever need to be typed out again. It's as easy as embedding it into a customer conversation and editing it as needed. Businesses that use Salesforce as their CRM, can easily integrate a Salesforce texting app to derive the benefits of personalized texting by leveraging Salesforce’s customer data platform. 

Creating an automation, drip campaign, or bulk messaging using text templates will help you respond much faster to customers. By streamlining your outbound conversations, these technologies enable you to stay connected with your customers.

 

How To UseTemplates For Bulk SMS, Campaigns, and Automation

 

Bulk texts are sometimes referred to as one-to-many texts or mass texts. This entails sending a single text to a group of customers and they can respond to each text because each message is personalized for them.

SMS campaigns involve sending your recipients a series of texts over a pre-defined period of time. To create an SMS campaign, you can select a campaign template (like a flash sale template), decide on a delivery schedule, and send the messages to a contact list. Recipients will receive these SMS campaign messages on the set schedule (texts can be personalized if you have the provision for custom fields). SMS campaigns are frequently used by businesses to request surveys, launch new products, or advertise new offers.

SMS automation entails sending triggered texts (based on the occurrence of an event). All you have to do is select an action, such as adding someone to a list or sending a text template. Next, decide on the trigger, for instance, getting a text from a customer with a specific keyword. Automated responses to frequently asked questions and notifications to customers (for an approaching bill payment date) can be done with SMS automation. 

Sending Bulk Texts with Templates 

Every time you send a one-to-many text, you can write a new message, but it's more convenient to use a bulk SMS template. You can send that mass message more than once by using a bulk SMS template, giving your customers a consistent experience. Sending out mass appointment reminders or customer review requests, for instance, can be easily done with bulk SMS. Such messages don't require recomposing the message copy each time they are sent.

Sending a bulk text using a template will look something like this, depending on your SMS platform provider:

• Choose a list. It is a pre-requisite for sending bulk texts.
• Go to the "Compose Message" option. This will launch a new window where you can use your pre-written bulk text template or you can compose a fresh message. 
• Select the time you wish to send the message. You have the option to send it now or you can schedule it for a later time.

Keeping bulk SMS templates ready streamlines your workday even further by making it simpler to deliver similar bulk texts in the future.

 

Setting Up an SMS Campaign

  

SMS campaigns require planning. Having a well-thought-out roadmap of how your customer journeys will pan out when you include them in a specific campaign is a very good starting point. For instance, you should design different campaigns for leads and existing customers. You will also need to craft different text templates for each campaign. Depending on the messaging platform you use, the setup process should look like this:

• Go to the campaigns section of your business texting platform.
• Decide when you want your communications to be sent out and give your campaign a name. You should have the option in your tool to space out the messages by a specific number of days. You can also designate particular days and times for message delivery. 
• Next, choose a list of contacts.
• Decide on or make your templates for SMS campaigns. Select from pre-written templates or create new ones.
• Choose which additional campaign features to utilize. When adding someone to an SMS survey reminder campaign, for instance, you can delete contacts if they respond to your campaign.

 

Unless the campaign date has passed, any new contacts added to the campaign list will also be added to the campaign that you have scheduled. Furthermore, any modifications you make to your sending schedule will only affect recently added contacts. 

Setting Up an SMS Automation Using Templates

 

Using templates to create a personalized SMS automation is simple. It just takes one text template per automation. Depending on the SMS platform you use, the procedure ought to resemble this:

• Select the event that triggers the automation. This could include receiving a text containing a particular word or phrase, getting a text from a new customer or lead, getting a text at a particular time or day, getting a text from a particular messaging app (eg. WhatsApp), or even getting a call from an integrated voice platform.
• Identify a keyword or phrase. You must determine which keyword or phrase that you are receiving will trigger an outbound message. You must choose that window of time if your trigger is to receive a text within that window.
• Determine what action you would like the automation to perform.
• Make a fresh text template or select a pre-existing one. 

 

Once this setup is complete, make sure to test the automation by texting your business number; you want to make sure it is functioning properly before your contacts start to trigger it.

 

Using Text Templates to Build Bulk Texts, Campaigns, and Automation 

Automation, campaigns, and bulk texts all start with text templates. You can send a single message or a series of them to your contact list with text templates. Automations that deliver messages in response to frequently occurring triggers can also be made using a text template. 

Use an SMS template generator to get samples of SMS templates. You can generate templates based on your usage (bulk or campaign), industry, and department (e.g., customer service, marketing, sales).

 

5 Steps to Create an SMS Automation 

 

Business SMS is a fast communication channel. Recipients respond quickly to messages, which enables your team to expeditiously resolve tickets. With the help of efficiency features like lists and templates, your SMS platform can help your staff deliver customized mass texts fast. With SMS automation, your teams can enhance customer engagement by expediting customer communications. 

 

What Is an SMS Automation?

 

An SMS automation solution is one that helps your team by automating a straightforward (or sometimes complex) workflow. Making one of these automations is like giving your team a simple task to do, one that they will always, without fail, accomplish flawlessly. SMS texting platforms can also be configured to work with another platform, such as a CRM.

 

How Can SMS Automation Help My Team?

 

Many different types of simple tasks can be handled via SMS automation. Your team members can focus on more complex, high-level tasks or one-on-one interactions with customers. In the end, SMS automation improves team productivity. 

 

Identify Repetitive Workflows

 

Workflows that could be suitable for automation must first be identified in order to build a custom SMS automation. Typically, these are straightforward, mundane workflows.  

Popular ones are: 

• Welcome texts for newly registered customers. 
• Sending informative messages to contacts who send in questions about your offerings
• Scheduled texting for pre-defined content 
• Removing contacts who text in using specific keywords or phrases  

 

Choose a Trigger 

Your trigger is the catalyst that will initiate the workflow. Most processes begin with some sort of trigger, as you'll note when you're looking for possible workflows to automate.  

Some examples of triggers are:

• Adding a new contact to your list
• Inbound text from a new customer
• Text received at a certain date or time
• Receiving a text with a particular keyword or phrase 

 

The automation depends on your trigger. For the triggers you've set, your texting platform will continuously scan incoming texts. Make sure that every time your platform detects the trigger, you want your action (which you'll select next) to occur.  

Select an Action  

Right after your trigger has been identified, the action is initiated.  

Among the actions are: 

• Adding a contact to a list
• Replying with a text
• Removing a contact from a list

 

Even though they might appear straightforward, automating these tasks can save your team a lot of time. Sending 100 texts, even if they are all the same, could save you up to 2 man hours. 

 

Set Up the SMS Automation

 

With the text business texting platform, setting up your SMS automation should be easy. The platform must provide easy-to-follow instructions for configuring a customized automation.

 

Depending on the kind of automation you want to have, you may need to: 

• Choose the trigger
• Select the action
• Create an SMS template
• Identify relevant keywords and phrases
• Provide a timeframe

 

Your selected workflow automation should begin functioning as soon as you give the automation your approval.  

Test, Measure, and Improve 

To make sure your new automation is fulfilling your requirements, you need to test it.  

Ensure the following when you test your automation:

 

• Your platform sends the right message to the right contact
• Your platform excludes the appropriate contacts
• Text messages sent at specific times of the day are compatible with multiple time zones.

 

Once the functionality of your SMS automation has been tested, you can use the reporting feature of your texting platform to gauge the impact on your team's response rate or other metrics. After that, you may either start working on your next SMS automation or, if necessary, make further refinements.

 

Want to start having conversations with your contacts right away? Take a look at GirikSMS, a 100% native to Salesforce SMS app, and get started now!

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