April 15, 2025 - 3 min read

SMS : improving customer relations

Christelle ARNAUD

Introduction

The proof is in the pudding: good customer relationship management customer relations is essential for any company seeking sustainable growth. Yet this is often a complex subject for marketing teams. Where to start? What tools should be used? And above all, how can we be effective?

Among the many channels available, professional SMS is a simple, direct and effective lever. smsmode© gives you a few tips on how to strengthen your customer relations using automatedSMS based on current practices and available automation tools.

Why choose an SMS solution for customer relations?

Loyalty, satisfaction, brand image... SMS ticks all the boxes. Thanks to its simplicity and effectiveness, you can :

And in all business sectors: retail, healthcare, events, real estate, personal services, etc.

Good to know:

A well thought-out SMS campaign can increase customer satisfaction by 20% and generate an average return on investment of €50 per euro invested.

A variety of uses throughout the customer journey

Relationship SMS isn't just for after-sales. With an SMS sending platformplatform, it can be integrated into every stage of the customer journey:

This mobile medium is therefore suitable for all areas of activity, whether it's associated with confirming appointments, confirming orders, thanking customers for purchases or communicating good deals... And above all, SMS remains a fairly easy-to-use medium that can be set up quickly.

These messages, though short, create proximity and reinforce trust.

Setting up an SMS campaign: quick and easy

The implementation of a campaign SMS requires neither advanced technical skills nor complex tools. With a solution like smsmode^©just follow a few simple steps:

1. Create an account

2. Import your database

3. Compose your message

4. Plan the delivery date

5. Send and choose a confirmation

6. Study the statistics

And that's all there is to it.

GOING FURTHER

Product overview smsmode^©

Automating SMS : a real time-saver

Send a personalized message at the right time, without any manual action? It's possible with smsmode^©. You can do this in 2 ways, either through theAPI SMSor by contacting one of our SMS plugins for CRM.

These interfaces automate the sending of SMS according to triggers defined in your CRM tool, website or application. Result:

For example, you can send an SMS appointment confirmation as soon as a customer books a time slot on your site, or thank a buyer immediately after an online payment.

Don't know what to write? Take a look at the available templates

Writing a good SMS can seem difficult, especially when you lack inspiration. To help you, smsmode^© proposes more than 50 professional SMS examples according to objectives (loyalty, practical information, promotions, customer satisfaction...).

Here are a few ideas:

Why choose smsmode^© for your customer relations SMS messages

SMS has become a cornerstone of customer relations: fast, direct, economical and easy to implement. By intelligently integrating it into your marketing and CRM strategy, you can build loyalty, reduce no-shows, get more reviews and increase your sales.

And thanks to tools like smsmode^©You can go even further with automation, personalization and statistical tracking.

Need a helping hand to get started??

Create your free account

Try out our SMS platform and benefit from 20 free test credits, with no obligation.

July 04, 2024 - 3 min read

How to integrate a chatbot into WhatsApp business?

Romain Didelot

Introduction

Opting for the integration of a chatbot in WhatsApp Business messaging means choosing the #1 ally for customer relations in an application made for 2.0 conversation. WhatsApp connects billions of users. Thanks to WhatsApp Business, companies now have a multi-functional channel for engaging their customers. Using chatbots within WhatsApp enables you to stand out quickly and on a massive scale. This tool alone can change your brand image. A conversational bot helps your support team, engages your customers and gives you an omnipresence capable of boosting your sales processes. Follow our guide to implementing a WhatsApp Business chatbot implementation.

How does WhatsApp Business work?

WhatsApp has launched WhatsApp Business, a free downloadable mobile app for small businesses. The app energizes your mobile communication and takes it to the next level by helping you connect with your customers via message, engage in conversations with them, showcase your products and answer your customers' questions. With WhatsApp Business, you can create a catalog to showcase your products and use special features to automate, sort and reply to messages. By using WhatsApp Business APIAPI, you can also connect a chatbot to your business accounts.

Attention

Marketing is tightly controlled on WhatsApp Business. To guarantee a quality customer experience, push marketing is not possible. You can sell your products on WhatsApp (a payment system is integrated), but the exchange must be initiated by the consumer. Only template messages are initiated by the brand, but they are subject to prior validation by Meta before they can be sent to customers.

Billing is per conversation, with a lower cost when the conversation is initiated by the user. Once the conversation has started, everyone can interact for 24 hours. During this window, messages sent by the user to the brand, as well as those sent by the brand to the user, are free.

The model chosen by WhatsApp for its business app is very user-friendly, making it both a service and an ideal channel for customer relations. The integration of a chatbot is therefore more than relevant.

COMPARATIVE

WhatsApp, SMS, RCS and Time2Chat. Which one to choose?

What is a WhatsApp chatbot?

Definition of a chatbot :

A chatbot is a program capable of interacting with humans via messaging, a web platform or a mobile application.

This conversational robot, considered AI in some advanced cases, "replaces" the customer advisor for users, most often during the first contact. Chatbots are ideal for solving simple problems, answering frequently asked questions or clearly defining customer needs before a human agent intervenes .

In short, chatbots are expert tools for easily enhancing your customer experience via message.

The use of chatbots in WhatsApp Business

While the use of chatbots is widespread on web solutions or Facebook Messenger, it is not yet extremely present on WhatsApp Business. On the user side, it works like all conversational chatbots: people communicate with it on WhatsApp via the messaging interface, as if they were talking to a real person. In most cases, the chatbot is simply a set of automated responses organized in a tree structure that simulates a human conversation.

But for truly convincing results and a better customer experience, it's best to opt for an AI-enhanced chatbot. This is the case with the chatbot we offer in collaboration with our partner Dydu, an expert conversational AI startup that offers a chatbot based on natural language understanding, artificial intelligence and generative AI, for a seamless customer experience.

While it's "possible" to build a response tree on WhatsApp Business yourself, the service has many limitations that you should be aware of before embarking on a development that won't offer all the advantages of a true conversational bot. Building the bot yourself can be tricky and time-consuming, which is why you need real assistance.

Why create a WhatsApp chatbot?

With the chatbot, you win on all fronts:

You offer your company a potential customer base of 2 billion users and a simple way to establish a dialogue.
You can increase customer satisfaction by 60% (Forrester consulting)
You guarantee a minimum response time and reduce the time it takes to process requests.
You give your advisors greater peace of mind , and more time to concentrate on complex issues.
You can allow your advisors to manage multiple simultaneous conversations and also launch large campaigns to obtain information that you would not otherwise have the resources to obtain.
You can automate part of your support, but also part of your sales!

Customer relations involve a fair amount of repetition, so being able to entrust these tasks to a virtual agent is a big plus. Chatbots are available H24, never worn out by answering the same questions, and insensitive to the annoyance that can sometimes arise from a dissatisfied customer.

What's more, exchanges on WhatsApp Business are charged by the conversation, which means that on this messaging service more than any other, resolving a customer request within 24 hours saves money. The use of a well-configured chatbot that can respond to messages all the time is also advantageous from this point of view.

WhatsApp limits commercial approaches, prohibiting outbound marketing. The use of messaging for businesses is therefore reserved for customer relations. But not every customer has a problem. Some will contact you in search of a product. If you want to be there for them quickly and at the right time, this is the ideal tool.

Chatbots for all subjects

All companies can use these tools, as all corporate functions are concerned. Whether it's a question of retrieving a purchase order, a forgotten password, a customer address... All support departments, from accounting and IT to general services and logistics, are confronted with recurring questions that AI can handle efficiently.

The chatbot can also be a true digital collaborator, influencing the well-being and efficiency of your employees . The possibilities are endless, and the data that can be transferred to your robot is virtually infinite.

Management, HRHRIS, stress management ...

These diverse issues in a large company can be easily managed bythe robot's artificial intelligence. These "Business to Employee" (B2E) applications are available on several channels, including WhatsApp, and are able to support employees in small, medium-sized and larger companies.

GOING FURTHER

Discover WhatsApp Business features

Choosing the chatbot smsmode^© for WhatsApp business

Many platforms can help you build a WhatsApp bot, but not all of them will help you get your account validated for access to the service's API. And without WhatsApp validation, you won't be able to launch your chatbot.

It's possible to create a company profile on your own, or even set up a basic chatbot without an API, but doing so without support is very time-consuming, and processing a large number of requests may prove impossible.

Creating a chatbot yourself means writing all the answers to a huge tree structure and selecting (on a smartphone) all the trigger keywords.

The most smsmode^© easy connection to the WhatsApp API

To access the WhatsApp Business API and send large volumes of messages, it's best to use a service provider recognized by Facebook. WhatsApp is an application that aims to inspire trust. It takes to heart the verification of all business profiles to guarantee its users a quality experience and avoid SPAM and phishing at all costs. Validating a profile can therefore be arduous, and authorizing use of the API even more so.

Choosing us also means making the process of creating your company accounts, and therefore your WhatsApp chatbot, easier.

By using our WhatsApp chatbot solution, bot development can begin immediately, while awaiting WhatsApp approval. This means you can save time and have a working bot as soon as you get your API key.

Like all bots, our solution lets you create conversation flows, but it does so with the help of Artificial Intelligence. Its AI is based on LLMs (Large Language Models), like OpenAI's Chat GPT. In other words, advanced technology for human language recognition and dialogue assistance.

A dedicated, experienced team is with you every step of the way, whether you want to set up a high-performance, easy-to-use response tree, or begin a machine learning process dedicated to your business. We'll help you rapidly create the most efficient conversation flow capable of responding to +90% of requests.

By choosing smsmode^©, get your company profile validated quickly and enjoy all the benefits of a WhatsApp chatbot:

95% comprehension rate from launch.
A solution that is insensitive to spelling mistakes.
Artificial intelligence that's constantly improving.
Quick answers to best guide the conversation.
A deep conversational pattern that can be perfected by analysing your chat history.
The right tone for your brand.
A 100% French solution offering a level of security guarantee that complies with RGPD requirements.
The possibility of integrating your bot with your customer service or CRM software.

GOING FURTHER

Discover the WhatsApp Business API

How do I integrate my chatbot? The steps

The first step for real chatbots is to have a connection to the WhatsApp Business API. Secondly, you need to meet certain prerequisites. The purpose of the chatbot is important to WhatsApp. It is forbidden to use a WhatsApp chatbot for marketing messages, WhatsApp chatbots are reserved for customer service. Also, at any time, switching to a human agent must be possible.

The stages of creation :

Conclusion

WhatsApp Business is expected to become a preferred customer service channel for users. Its intuitive use allows users to get answers quickly and at any time. On the brand side, WhatsApp Business is a great way to build loyalty. It allows you to adopt a personal communication and keep in touch. With a chatbot, your presence on WhatsApp Business is constant. You have the opportunity to relieve your customer service and at the same time give the consumer a 360° support. This will fully satisfy your customers and boost your sales.

Create your free account

Try out our SMS platform and benefit from 20 free test credits, with no obligation.

Need more info?

We look forward to hearing from you.

June 22, 2024 - 5 min read

SMS & tourism: a winning strategy

Elsa Paparone

Introduction

In 2022, around 70% of travel-related queries were made on smartphones, a trend that will be confirmed in 2023, with the figure reaching 72%.

The reasons for this craze? Practicality and the constant improvement of mobile platforms. Many professionals have understood this challenge. As a result, they complement their strategy by sending SMS to their customers, taking advantage of the reach and KPIs of this mobile channel for marketing and notification.

Why integrate SMS into my marketing strategy?

77% of French people say that their smartphone is their best ally on vacation. Book accommodation or a flight, search for information, products and services nearby, consult itineraries, etc. The cell phone seems to be as indispensable as sun cream, since 87% of holidaymakers say they go on vacation with it.

Tourism is a sector where the convenience and immediacy of the telephone make all the difference, offering customers significant added value in terms of ease of use. SMS is perfectly suited to the communication needs of tourism professionals, who benefit from a relevant medium to meet the expectations of e-tourists in the various contexts and stages of the customer journey.

There's no doubt about it - if there ever was - that a professional in the industry can improve his or her relationship with the consumer while remaining competitive in a constantly evolving market through the use of short messages.

Enhance your tourism experience with SMS !

GOING FURTHER

High-performance marketing.
10 tips to maximize the impact of your campaigns SMS

In this guide, identify the contact points where SMS can optimize your advertising campaigns.

Use cases

Confirm reservations for an optimized travel experience

Thanks to the implementation of SMS notification and whatever the service offered (hotels, camping, apartment and house rentals, car rentals, airlines, transport companies, travel agencies, city offices, tour operators, etc.) you can send your customers confirmation of their actions directly to their cell phone.

Sent by message, this summary of your stay or service will be a real aide-memoire, bringing together all the practical information and details (date, order number, as well as the facility's telephone number, etc.).

Text messaging, which can be consulted even without an Internet connection, represents a real added value to the e-tourist experience and an improvement in customer satisfaction...

[SenderID]

Thank you [First name]!
Your reservation for bike rental in [City name] is confirmed for [Date].
Your bike will be waiting for you at [Address].
Enjoy your ride!"

[SenderID]

Hello [First name],
your booking at the hotel [Name of the hotel] from [Date] to [Date] is confirmed.
We look forward to welcoming you!
Find all the details of your booking on [URL].
See you soon!

Announce events by notification to promote your destination

Inform tourists about events in your region, news, ideas for outings, leisure activities, cultural events, etc., that will be taking place during their stay. Sending SMS is an effective way of disseminating and promoting information at the heart of the tourist season. And it's by playing the simplicity card (a simple SMS sent), that tourist structures provide a relevant and measured response to user expectations. In short, the right information at the right time, as directly as possible!

[SenderID]

Hello [First name],
This is the [City name] Office.
Tonight at [Time], join our special evening tour.
A unique opportunity to discover [Name of tourist site] from another angle.
Book now!

[36037]

Don't miss it!
On [Date], join us for the big[Name of event] party at [Place].
On the program: shows, entertainment for the whole family and a fireworks finale.
Come one, come all!

Carry out an advertising campaign to promote its offers

What about advertising on SMS for the tourism sector ? Integrating SMS into a promotional strategy enables businesses and local tourist offices to reach out to their target groups, and relaunch their campaigns for advertising and loyalty-building purposes. It also enables agile digital communication, using mobile messaging as a gateway to your customers, to bring them (back) to your website. The opportunities offered by this effective and innovative channel are very real, particularly when it comes to last-minute "purchases".

GOING FURTHER

Boost your SMS campaigns with a mobile page

Adopt SMS enriched: a text message coupled with a link to a mobile landing page.

By offering exclusive promotions or targeted opportunities, the challenge of boosting sales of a destination or service must, to take full advantage of the advertising message's potential, be coupled with strong personalization and originality of the offer as a key differentiating factor.

[Monsite]

Want to get away from it all?
Take advantage of our special offer: -20% on all stays at [Location]
For bookings before [Date].
Book now and go on an adventure!
[Booking link]

[Monsite]

Looking for a last-minute getaway?
-25% off accommodation at [Location] for departures before [Date].
Don't miss this exceptional offer!
[Booking link]

Examples of crisis communication messages

Whether your company/institution is impacted by a minor disruption or a total unavailability of service (both internal and external), an effective communication plan must be put in place upstream to enable you to react instantly to these threats, and avoid a second crisis. Tailor your content to your needs and organization, so as to warn your recipients and customers. Here are a few examples of SMS to include in your stakeholder communications plan in the event of a crisis:

Conclusion

Text messaging has established itself in the tourism sector as an essential communication tool. Its ability to reach travelers in real time and directly into their pockets enables professionals to enhance the customer experience, notably through personalized offers, and thus strengthen loyalty. Its ease of use, combined with an almost instantaneous open rate, makes it particularly effective for urgent notifications (booking reminders, timetable updates, etc.). As the digitalization of tourism services accelerates, the integration of SMS as a strategic channel continues to grow, responding to the need for immediacy and proximity among ultra-connected travelers.

Create your free account

Try out our SMS platform and benefit from 20 free test credits, with no obligation.

Need more info?

We look forward to hearing from you.

Adopt SMS for responsive and effective rental management communication

The Société Immobilière Grand Hainaut and Habitat de la Vienne have invested in SMS communication for various exchanges with their tenants, using the ERP Prem’Habitat d’Aareon. A winning strategy that they use on a daily basis to notify, alert or follow-up.

in partnership with Aareon & ERP Prem’Habitat

(more...)

SMS in customer relations revolutionizes delivery and after-sales service

Poiscaille offers subscription-based home delivery or delivery to a relay point of crates of seafood based on the catch of the day.
This fast-growing startup has made SMS a fundamental link in developing and energizing a high-quality customer relationship and experience.

+20 000

ACTIVE SUBSCRIBERS

+6 000

SMS SENT PER MONTH

92%

SATISFIED CUSTOMERS

ABOUT

Created in 2015 by Charles Guirriec, Poiscaille is the marine version of the vegetable basket: fresh, sustainable, ethical and delivered anywhere in France, in a short circuit. The obligation is: 48 to 72 hours between fishing and delivery to the customer, anywhere in France.

BUSINESS SECTOR Food delivrery

COMPANY SIZE

80 employees

CREATION DATE

2015

LOCATION

France

CHANNELS

- SMS

INTEGRATION - Zapier plugin

USE CASES

- order tracking
- delivery notification

Download the Poiscaille success story

You may also, for legitimate reasons, object to the processing of your personal data. If you wish to exercise these rights, please send an e-mail to dpo(at)smsmode.com.

proactively alert customers by sending an SMS

Instant transmission of customer service information

As a proximity tool “par excellence”, Poiscaille relies heavily on mobile phones to support its customer communication. SMS is used to track shipping incidents, transactional messages such as order reminders, changes of the delivery location following a shop closure, etc. It is also used to send alerts to distribution outlets in case of a missed delivery.

This interactions by SMS are destined to grow with the objectives. By the end of 2023, the number of subscribers will double (as the number of notifications) and Poiscaille will invest in marketing communication. A polymorphic status of the channel makes all its interest.

In the customer journey, SMS is very well suited to contractual and urgent communications and, at the same time, to more retention marketing and acquisition communications.

Tom Guibourdenche, Poiscaille customer service manager

notificaciones SMS de atención al cliente

SMS-Benachrichtigungen des Kundenservice

HIGHLIGHTS OF SMS

a very high message open rate
a channel for all target groups, including seniors
no spam or junk mail

WEAKNESSES OF SMS

the small size of the message available
the cost of long messages

SMS as a means to secure the reading of information

A direct, personal communication channel

Poiscaille relies heavily on SMS interactions, because it solves one of the main challenges of interaction management: it makes sure that the message is read and taken into account by the customer in a short period of time. Indeed, thanks to its unequalled reception and reading rates, this channel allows to be direct and to have the guarantee that the message will be received, while email shows delivery failures due to spam filters, low opening rates and a partial adoption by an older population (which represents a significant part of Poiscaille’s customers).

In customer service, it is not easy to hit the target with every message. SMS ensures that the customer reads the information.

Tom Guibourdenche, Poiscaille customer service manager

Used in different ways depending on the scenarios defined at Poiscaille, SMS replaces email, repeats the information sent by email or, in some cases, completes it. This is the case, for instance, with certain contractual informations is sent proactively, such as the postponement of a delivery or the cancellation of an order, which requires a confirmation of reading by the customer while delivering a long message. Thus, the combination and synergy of email and SMS — including a link to this email — is the best way to contractualise the sending of informationn and offer an optimal customer experience.

creating the perfect customer experience

Personalization is the key to customer relations

Through sending of these notifications, Poiscaille adopts an approach geared towards personalising and individualising exchanges to guarantee growth and retention. To do this, Poiscaille consultant refer to a library of predefined templates based on listed scenarios. The degree of personalisation of these messages evolves according to the nature of the problem encountered by the customer: from the insertion of simple data such as the first name to the complete rewriting of the message in certain specific cases. A contextualisation of the customer relationship that Poiscaille wishes to extend to hyper-personalization — is to offer an ever higher overall quality of experience — 100% automated, with the transmission of a panel of variables to the SMS messages.

Successfully completing the data pivot is the prerequisite to build a truly 1to1 customer relationship.

Fabien Andraud, head of sales smsmode^©

This automation of scenarios requires technological changes based, on the one hand, on data-centred software and, on the other hand, on the parameterisation of triggers and workflows. The first steps towards automation have been taken via Zapier for exchanges with distributor relay points. Poiscaille’s short-term objective is to scale up the model by applying this automation to the customer care part and by choosing the most suitable technological interconnection. A must-have for — and in the service of — customer relations which would then enable the full potential of the SMS channel to be exploited.

WhatsApp Business API : Customer Care Window / Templates

The launch of the WhatsApp Business application for businesses marks the emergence of new opportunities for your business. By connecting to our smsmode© CPaaS platform you will not only have access to WhatsApp Business but also to all our other communication channels. Continue reading

Since the opening of the API WhatsApp Businessthe French platform smsmode© puts at your disposal its API corresponding. The latter allows you to easily send automated WhatsApp messages directly through your applications. Continue reading

reception SMS by VNM

NEW: Portability to a Mobile virtual number (NVM)

SMS reception offers for companies have now changed! As of a few days ago, it is now possible to transfer a SIM card reception number to a Mobile Virtual Number.

Have you set up an SMS reception service based on a SIM card number rental? Continue reading " NEW: Portability to a Mobile Virtual Number for SMS reception "

SMS : improving customer relations

Introduction

Why choose an SMS solution for customer relations?

A variety of uses throughout the customer journey

Setting up an SMS campaign: quick and easy

Automating SMS : a real time-saver

Don't know what to write? Take a look at the available templates

Why choose smsmode© for your customer relations SMS messages

July 04, 2024 - 3 min read

How to integrate a chatbot into WhatsApp business?

Introduction

How does WhatsApp Business work?

What is a WhatsApp chatbot?

Definition of a chatbot :

The use of chatbots in WhatsApp Business

Why create a WhatsApp chatbot?

Chatbots for all subjects

Choosing the chatbot smsmode© for WhatsApp business

The most smsmode© easy connection to the WhatsApp API

How do I integrate my chatbot? The steps

Conclusion

Create your free account

SMS & tourism: a winning strategy

Introduction

Why integrate SMS into my marketing strategy?

Use cases

Confirm reservations for an optimized travel experience

Announce events by notification to promote your destination

Carry out an advertising campaign to promote its offers

Examples of crisis communication messages

Conclusion

Create your free account

Adopt SMS for responsive and effective rental management communication

SMS in customer relations revolutionizes delivery and after-sales service

proactively alert customers by sending an SMS

Instant transmission of customer service information

SMS as a means to secure the reading of information

A direct, personal communication channel

creating the perfect customer experience

Personalization is the key to customer relations

WhatsApp Business API : Customer Care Window / Templates

Optimize the customer experience with the WhatsApp module of the smsmode© platform

NEW: Portability to a Mobile virtual number (NVM)

Why choose smsmode^© for your customer relations SMS messages

Choosing the chatbot smsmode^© for WhatsApp business

The most smsmode^© easy connection to the WhatsApp API