Before there were telephones, people relied on snail mail and telegrams to deliver time sensitive information. Often, it doesn’t arrive fast enough. With the advent of the telephone, people were able to share information with each other instantaneously, as long as both people were near a phone that is. Now that the vast majority of people own a mobile phone, people are more connected than ever before. Virtually anyone can contact anyone else no matter where they are or what they’re doing. This is of great importance to businesses. Not only can businesses contact their customers, but their customers can contact them.

Even today, though, the ability for businesses to stay in contact with customers is limited by infrastructure. Even the massive call centers operated by large corporations are often insufficient for handling the large call volume. Smaller businesses can’t always afford to hire people to sit by the phones. Fortunately, there is another way: texting.

The text message marketing advantage

There are a number of reasons why text message marketing can be so advantageous. For one, many consumers prefer it to phone calls. To many people, getting a phone call is more invasive and distracting than getting a text. The younger generation especially prefers to text. Furthermore, while a phone call or email might go unnoticed for a time, the vast majority of texts will be read within minutes of being sent.

Most importantly, text messages can be used to automate and simplify a lot of the communication that businesses have to worry about each day. Text message marketing started out as a way to tell customers about deals or send coupons. But today, text message marketing can do a whole lot more.

Automated text response

When most people think of SMS marketing, they imagine a one-way communication. Now, that doesn’t have to be the case. Advances in cognitive computing now allow for automated text response. Not only can businesses automatically send out texts to customers, but customer can text businesses and receive an automated response. Imagine how much simpler communication between businesses and customers becomes when it is automated. A customer might have a question about a businesses location or hours of operation. Rather than having to call and tie up an employee for a minute, they can simply text their question. Thanks to cognitive computing, the text response system can analyze the incoming text, arrive at the meaning of that text, and respond with the appropriate answer. Automated text response isn’t limited to question and answer. They can respond to greetings, compliments, and even insults with great accuracy.

Though the technology is still in its infancy, it is advancing at a tremendous rate. In the near future, communication between business and customers can be largely automated freeing up employees to work on other important aspects of running the business.

Source: mediapost.com/publications/article/232129/why-cognitive-computing-is-a-big-deal-for-big-data.html