Connecting to Customers over Cell Phones

By Ramon Ray

As more customers depend on mobile phones, business owners need to realize that text messaging may be a new way to make a sale.

What's the one communication device that every professional, business owner, employee, baby sitter, college student, mother, father and boss have with them these days? That's right. A cell phone.

Cell phones are no longer the status symbols of the late 1990's or the bricks of the 1980's. They are tools that enable vital business communication and should be considered by your business as an alternative way to communicate with your customers or prospective customers.

Although email, websites, RSS feeds, podcasts and blogs are important communication vehicles, there are times when communicating a short text message via cell phone is important and/or welcome. This text messaging is also referred to as short message service (SMS). SMS enables brief text messages to be sent from cell phone to cell phone or from computer to cell phone.

How could you use SMS in business? There are a growing number of ways. If you are a clothing retailer in a local mall, why not send a message to your customer's cell phones about a sale when they are in the area? Maybe you could draw them in with something like this: "Fifteen percent off for the next 60 minutes."

If your customer is waiting for an important package, email them the tracking information but also text the information to their cell phone. Whether it's a message telling them the package is late or one simply telling them it's safely arrived, they will appreciate being contacted.
Of course, you don't want to communicate these messages to your customers without their permission. Before you start sending them text messages, ask your customers if they would like to receive sales or order information via their cells phones.

In order to start communicating with your customers via cell phone it's important to develop a cell phone communication plan with measurable results. Here's how to start:

1. Develop the plan with your marketing, technology and sales departments (if you are all three departments, that's fine too).
2. Start collecting customer cell phone numbers and -- like all customer information -- treat it as private information.
3. Look for a reputable company that can help you manage the program.
4. Test your cell phone communication program with a few customers before rolling it out to a wider customer base.

One company, Joopz, provides a Web text system through which you can email a message to your customers via the Web and see their response to you in real time. Another service, from 4info, lets you distribute your Web content to customers who ask for it via a text message.

I was impressed by how fast and how well Joopz worked. I registered with this free service (more features are available for fee-paying premium customers) and sent a text message to my cell phone. Seconds later, I received the message and replied back to Joopz and the message quickly appeared on my Joopz webpage.

With 4info, your customers, partners, and employees can access your online information by sending an SMS message to 4info. Once 4info receives the message it will query your database and send the information back to the person via a text message to their cell phone.

These types of services will help you manage your cell phone communications and, if you want, take advantage of global positioning satellite (GPS) technology to send a message to your customers when they are physically near your store. Maybe you have a small kiosk in a mall and want to maximize foot traffic to it. Have an alert sent to all your customers when they shop at the mall, giving them a special discount.

Communicating with your customers via cell phone is not going to be welcome by all customers. That's why you need to allow them to opt out of this service. But some of your customers are younger, busier, have less time and expect more from business partners than "business as usual" communications. These are the customers who are going to be most interested in alternative communication options.

Another reason to consider communications beyond email, fax, and telephone is your competition. As a small business, it important for you to demonstrate to customers and prospective customers what makes your business different. Why should they buy from you? While your competition down the block or a mouse click away might only communicate via email, you'll be able to communicate with the customer with a range of options to fit their lifestyle and need.

Ramon Ray is an author, speaker, technology writer and former small business technology consultant. He publishes SmallBizTechnology.com, a website that helps small and mid-size businesses strategically use technology as a tool to grow their businesses.