Your business, whether it’s a salon, restaurant, or real estate company, depends on customers. If people aren’t coming in for appointments or reservations, your bottom line is going to suffer. One report estimated that restaurants in the UK alone lose over $5 billion annually due to no-show reservations. While people have many reasons to miss an appointment or reservation, one of the most common reasons is that they simply forget.Old-school postcard mailers and automated voice messages don’t serve as effective appointment reminders anymore. Since millennials are the largest consumer base, consider reaching out with reminders in ways they appreciate and respond to quickly. SMS reminders go directly to the cell phones that are already in their hands, pockets, or purses.
Do Text Message Reminders Work?
Over 90% of customers will read a text message within the first minute it’s received, making it the perfect last-minute reminder method. In addition to sending an SMS the day before an appointment or reservation, consider adding an hour-ahead alert to help reduce last-minute no-shows. These messages can easily be customized for the recipient, making them feel more personal and direct. Adding the customer’s first name and a line about appreciating their business is an easy way to encourage a confirmation reply. Over 4 billion people use text messaging. With such a huge user base, it makes sense for your business to adopt this growing technology. Consumers actively engage with text messages and expect to see it offered by the businesses they frequent.
How SMS Can Reduce Millennial No-Shows
Millennial customers prefer SMS as their number one form of communication. Seventy-six percent of millennials agree that texting is more convenient than calling and allows them to communicate on their schedule. And when it comes to interaction, including with customer service, 53% of millennials would rather reply to a text message than dial a phone number and talk. When it comes to appointments and reservations, 75% of millennials feel text reminders are helpful.
Telesign Can Help Reduce Your No-Shows
You don’t have to be tech savvy to set up an SMS messaging system. Telesign’s easy-to-integrate APIs and SDKs engage customers through timely, personalized information in the form of SMS alerts, reminders, notifications, invites, and other automated messages.We offer global coverage in more than 200 countries and territories and offer 87 languages for our messaging. Our formatting, phone-number cleansing and overall system ensure the highest delivery and conversion rates thanks to direct to carrier routes.Ready to get started? Developers can now efficiently test and deploy Telesign APIs and SDKs with no contract commitments or minimum transactions with our self-service Messaging API. Contact us today or sign up for your free trial and try it for yourself!
