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SMS surveys SMS surveys

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SMS Surveys

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SMS surveys, aka text message surveys, are ideal for reaching customers who are always on the go. They’re also useful for following up on a phone conversation or an in-person contact.

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Consumer Opinion Services

What are SMS Surveys?

The invention of smartphones has everything that has become easy for us to do. You can search for any information within seconds, or talk to anyone any minute via many features on your mobile. 

SMS or text message is one such feature that allows you to send anyone any information in just a few seconds. The speed makes it easy to share surveys through SMS to any of your customers, all you need is their valid contact information. Moreover, it takes only 90 seconds avg. for a person to reply to an SMS. 

SMS text survey helps you collect customer feedback just like any other channel. However, because of the ease and daily use of SMS, the response rate of the survey is 7.5 times higher than email surveys.

[Also Read: What is Survey Report?]

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Why should you use SMS Surveys?

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  • Forbes says that within 3 minutes, 95% of your customers open and read your SMS.
  • More than 50% of people prefer contacting customer service via SMS to using other channels.
  • The open rate of an SMS is 98% in comparison to email.

Apart from these three data to support the benefits text message surveys can provide you, there are some others. Sending a personalized text message with a survey added to it can become your most advantageous tool for collecting customer feedback.

  1. High Response Rate: Smartphones are so common that it has now caught up to 67% of the world population. And, with an open rate as high as 98% makes SMS a very popular channel. This also means that customers are more likely to take the survey than ignore it because the response rate is linked with the open rate.
  2. Fast Response: The ease of responding to the survey via SMS makes the response time fast. Smart Insight, reports that 31% of people reply to an SMS within 5 minutes. This means that you receive feedback in real-time.
  3. No Pressure: The SMS survey allows people to reply whenever they feel comfortable. It does not require them to respond to the survey immediately which makes it easy for the receiver to take their time to reply.
  4. Easy to optimize: Once a customer provides you with their contact details it does not take much effort to administer an SMS text survey. You can customize your message and add the survey link or a relevant question. Then all you need to do is send the message to the customers.
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When to use SMS Survey?

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1. Event Feedback – Customer engagement text message Survey

You can use SMS to ask your audience about their opinions on an event or workshop organized by you. You can ask a simple question to measure NPS® or CSAT after the event ends. This will help you collect customer feedback on their experience right after the event.

2. Product Feedback – Post Purchase text message Survey

After a customer purchases a product from your store you can send them a survey by text  within 24 hours. Because their shopping experience is still fresh they will be excited to give you their opinion on the product. Text message surveys can make it easier because they will need a few seconds to reply to you back.

3. Service Feedback – Flight or Cab Experience

Just like “Uber” asks their passengers to rate their experience right after the trip ends and payment is completed.

A quick and short SMS text survey asking about their flight experience after they land and collecting their language will help you collect their suggestions and feedback. You can use the immediate response to examine your own company inside-out and improve where required.

4. Delivery Feedback

Whether it is food delivery or package delivery, delivery service is the most important phase of completing a customer’s purchase journey.

You can use an SMS survey to ask them if the delivery executive was good or if the parcel was properly delivered. Customers are more likely to share their opinion on their satisfaction with the delivery service.

5. Support Feedback

After your customer calls your customer support for help with their issue, you can send them a short message asking if your support manager helped solve the problem. You can further follow up with their response by asking if they have any suggestions. This will help you learn if your customer support is providing quality service or not.

How can you send a survey by text message?

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Are you ready to send out text message surveys to your customers? Here are some helpful actions and services to get you started.

1. Determine the type of survey suitable for SMS surveys –

You can’t expect to conduct a long-form survey via SMS. These surveys should be short and fast. Surveys like CSAT, CX, and NPS® (likelihood to recommend), are ideal choices for such survey types.

You can either send a survey link that leads them to a page on your website. Or, send a question with answer options to which they can respond using by responding with the assigned number.

2. Create a list of participants –

Collect phone numbers or SMS data from people who have signed in to your company’s text message notifications. You may increase your contact list by allowing customers to enter their mobile numbers and opt-in to receive text messages on your company’s confirmation purchase pages.

This is where you decide on your survey’s target audience – either the connection you currently have or contacts you may gain elsewhere. Knowing your audience is essential for determining how your survey will go.

3. Create the survey –

In your text survey program, write down precisely how you want the survey phrased and collected. You may even make a prototype of the poll and test it on your mobile device to see how it would seem to an average user.

4. Conduct your SMS text survey –

Send your survey using the online survey tool that allows you to send SMS surveys while complying with the highest data privacy standards.

[Also Read- Ultimate guide to online survey tools]

5. Monitor survey status and analyze gathered data – 

Track your messages delivered, answers, and open rates using the software’s built-in statistics to measure the performance of your survey. The replies should then be analyzed to assist you to make more educated business decisions.

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What kinds of surveys should you send through SMS Surveys?

SMS may be used to conduct a wide range of surveys. Here are a few examples.

1. Web-based survey links

Trackable links may be created using survey software such as Voxco. Once you’ve produced a link to your survey, you can easily refer users to it via email, SMS, social media, or website. When soliciting replies from customers, linking to other sources might be just as useful.

2. Net Promoter Score®

A Net Promoter Score® (NPS® ) is a measurable indicator of a consumer’s response or feedback. NPS® surveys often employ a 0-10 scale for participants to score topics like product satisfaction or the probability of recommending a brand. Customers are classified into three groups based on their responses:

  • promoters, who score high (9-10 on the scale)
  • passives, who score in the middle (7-8), and
  • detractors, who score low (usually 6 and below)

When you see where the majority of your consumers fall on the sliding scale, you’ll know if you need to spend more on them or whether you’re on the right route to meeting their demands. Calculate your NPS® score with our NPS® Calculator.

3. Customer experience surveys

The surveys by text enable customers to share their experience about their interactions with a firm or an appointment within seconds. You can send micro surveys to determine whether they are happy with their experience and follow up accordingly.

[Also Read- What is Customer Experience Survey?]

Best practices for SMS Surveys

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1. Keep the message short: The character limit of a text message is 160. If you try to send a long message it will break down which will make it difficult for the receiver to understand.

To send a nice and understandable message, create an SMS with a few words. Get to the point. Don’t waste the message with unnecessary context. If you are embedding the survey in the message, ask the question in a few words.

2. Introduce yourself: It is always better to let the recipient know who is sending the message. Customers receive messages from a lot of brands and people. They may not notice if you send an SMS without any mention of who you are.

Adding an introduction and letting the customer know who you are, increases the likelihood of them responding to the survey.

3.Follow-up: Your customers are not always available to reply to you. Moreover, they receive many texts each day which means that your SMS may get lost in those countless SMS.

This is why you must send them a follow-up message to remind them and give them another chance. You should also follow up with a call or text after your customer reply.

4. When to Send: The best time to send an SMS survey is after they make a purchase or interact with you. If you send them a text survey immediately after interaction it is more likely that they will respond.

However, if you have customers in different regions it is best to send them the SMS text survey depending on the time zone.

SMS software often provides the option to send text based on the local time of the customer. This way you can make sure that your customers receive the survey by text when it is most convenient and not in the middle of the night.

5. Permission of your Customers: The Telephone Consumer Protection Act regulates the practice of how you should contact people. If you fail to abide by the rules, it will lead to a fine and harm the trust your customer has in you.

Ensure that your customers have given you their consent to reach them via SMS. Additionally, you should give them the option to opt out of receiving SMS from your brand. This also shows that you want to protect your customer’s rights and puts you in a favorable light.

6. Don’t send too many SMS Surveys: Limit the number of text surveys you send your customers. If you send them SMS frequently, this will reduce the importance of the message. This can also lead to your customer opting out of your service.

Send them a message only after some action is made by them. For example, send them a customer satisfaction or likelihood of recommending survey after they make a purchase.

7.Personalize: Sending a generic message will bore your customers. They are less likely to respond if they know you are sending a bunch of similar messages to others.

You can use their name and include some details of why you are reaching out to them. Personalizing your message even a bit can help you boost the response rate.

8. Make it Mobile-friendly: When you are sending a survey link via SMS, you should ensure that the survey page is mobile-friendly. Because it is an SMS text survey, your customers are going to open the survey on their mobile. So, the survey page must have a good user experience.

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The Advantages of SMS Surveys

It is simple to create an SMS-based survey. Our text message surveys solution enables you to target mobile consumers and deliver mass survey invites. Your responders will be directed to a mobile responsive survey that will automatically configure their smartphone or tablet.

  1. Simple to use: To complete the survey, simply email a link to your target audience’s phone.
  2. Broad coverage: SMS has a far larger reach than email, therefore you’ll reach a much larger audience.
  3. Convenient: Your users may respond how and when it is convenient for them.
  4. A brief analysis: All Voxco data is gathered in real-time, and findings are available immediately.
  5. Boost customer engagement: Respondents prioritize SMS over email, which increases the response rate.
  6. Individualized experience: Send SMS-based surveys with customized text messages suited to the needs of the respondents.
  7. Excellent value: SMS texting is less expensive than you believe, with a high return on investment.

Disadvantages of SMS Survey

  1. Limited Contact Information: You can send your survey to those people who have shared their contact information with you. This may lead to non-response bias because customers may respond to the brand they like to avoid other brands. This means that you will miss out on the honest opinion of several customers.
  2. Access: Not everyone has a cell phone, and we may want information from those we cannot reach through mobile, particularly the underprivileged.
  3. Lack of information: Because SMS messages are restricted in length, questions must be abbreviated, making them less explicit. There is a lot you can say and ask of responses with 140 characters.

Final thoughts on SMS Surveys

Surveys by text are an excellent method to communicate with your customers and gather vital feedback. You may easily create and send out surveys using an SMS survey tool, and you’ll be able to reach a wide audience rapidly. So, what are you holding out for?

Try out our SMS survey tool right now!

FAQs

If your customer has given you their permission to contact them through text, you can send them an SMS Survey. However, you have to make sure that your customer has given you their consent to contact using SMS.

SMS Marketing is governed by the Federal Communication Commission. Marketers who fail to follow the codes of practice have to pay fines and face penalties.

SMS Survey has an open rate of 98%. With 90% of SMS opened within 3 minutes. This makes the SMS Survey effective and responsive.
Moreover, SMS has a response rate of 7.5 times higher than that of Email Surveys. This makes SMS a popular channel of communication for customers.

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