A Short Message Service (SMS) contact center is a support hub that offers SMS services as its main method of interaction. Customers might prefer SMS support from your contact center because SMS messages typically result in faster resolutions. SMS messages are generally opened quicker than email messages, resulting in a shorter response time for SMS messages (time taken by customers to respond).  You can use SMS for payment reminders, callback requests, and promotion alerts.

An SMS contact center can help you serve your customers more efficiently, creating a more productive environment for your agents. You can also reach your customers faster and cheaper with SMS support and thus increase your customer engagement rates. 

LiveVox provides SMS to enable you and your agents to contact and interact with your customers using SMS messages. 

Example

You can provide your customers with a phone number and a messaging prompt using an SMS system. When a customer needs help, they submit a request using an SMS message.

Suppose that an SMS message for customer inquiries is as follows: Text HELP to 123456 to submit a service inquiry.  When a customer sends HELP to 123456, the SMS system automatically creates a service ticket, after which the customer receives the following automated reply: Thanks for your inquiry! Your request number is 59104H. We’ll update you soon. For status updates or to ask a question, simply reply to this message.

Features

Some of the capabilities of the LiveVox SMS are:

• Campaign management: You can create and schedule SMS campaigns and obtain key metrics. In addition, you can create personalized messages for your customers by including customer attributes in the body of the messages.
• Two-way communication: Your agents can respond to incoming SMS messages from your customers through a unified Agent Desktop that includes a multi-channel inbox. To ensure effective service resolution, you can direct the SMS activities to specific agents based on the agent skills assigned on the LiveVox Portal. All SMS interactions are automatically linked to the customer's contact record.
• Personalized experience: SMS messages generate meaningful conversations and help create a personalized experience for your customers.
• Payment reminders: Automatic reminders by SMS can encourage your customers to pay their dues on time.
• Compliance: Before you can send an SMS message to a customer, you need their permission. The LiveVox Portal helps you maintain consent across the SMS channel in real time.
• Average handle time: SMS allows your agents to handle multiple interactions at once, increasing the chance of faster service times for your customers.
• Automation: You can optimize your SMS communication by creating your own bots.

Benefits

You can use the LiveVox SMS to:

• Save your customers and agents time:  When your customers submit a request using SMS, they are not waiting on a phone call from an agent. They submit a request and receive an automated confirmation text message informing them that a ticket has been created and an agent is working on it. Meanwhile, your agents receive the inquiry without having to create a ticket or immediately respond to the customer. Your customers receive assistance without waiting on a phone call and your agents can assist multiple customers at once.
• Improve analytics with message archives:  You can archive SMS messages to review at a later date. These archived messages allow you to analyze customer exchanges and improve your support strategy accordingly. 
• Boost customer engagement:  SMS messaging consistently shows high read and open rates, resulting in better engagement over other types of customer support. Additionally, emails and phone calls require higher bandwidth and connection requirements while text messages do not. SMS messages deliver faster results and improved accessibility.
• Support more customers: When a customer submits an inquiry using SMS, an automated system gathers basic information and raises a ticket. Your agents can spend their time actively assisting customers instead of processing requests. You can even set up an Artificial Intelligence virtual agent or a live chatbot to help customers with simple requests.
• Improve communication:  When a customer submits an inquiry using SMS, your agents can understand and process the request quicker without having an introductory conversation. Customers and agents do not need to repeat themselves if the connection is poor. You can also equip agents with written templates and scripts to save them even more time.
• Keep customers (and agents) happy:  No one likes speaking with an upset or frustrated customer. SMS messaging fosters a more positive environment for your agents by reducing potentially negative customer exchanges. 

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