Maybe you come on too strong, get too excited, or act too formal. Whatever it is, the leads or customers you’re texting don’t find you very welcoming. Because of that they don’t find your business welcoming either.
It’s easy to get sucked into a texting pattern that just doesn’t work with your audience, especially if you’ve never done business texting before. So how do you write better business texts that get people showing up and coming back?
Know who you’re texting
It’s a lot easier to solve your messaging problems when you pull back the curtain on who you’re trying to communicate with.
So familiarize yourself with your audience personas. Who are you targeting? What do they look like? How old are they? What do they like? Dislike? Do you know their main pains?
Knowing this information helps you know exactly how those people like to be texted. Texting people how YOU want to text them doesn’t matter. Text people how THEY want.
Is examining personas overkill? For some of you it may seem that way. But any marketing or sales messages should be based off research, data, and personas anyway. When you know your audience, you write better messages that people are more likely to engage with and act on.
Knowing your audience also helps you better identify whether someone is a right fit for your business. You don’t want to spend your time trying to sell your services to someone who isn’t going to convert. (All the rest of the practice you have with writing approachable texts will also help you deliver the news in an appropriate manner.)
Use language your audience will know
Your communication shouldn’t be a test or tricky to understand. No matter your audience, don’t get too involved in industry-specific language or jargon. That doesn’t make a business approachable at all.
Especially if you’re texting prospective customers, don’t talk to them like they’re customers. People who have already done business with you for a long time know terms that you use for products or services. A brand new lead doesn’t. Talk to them at their level.
This helps you send more open, encouraging messages. You don’t want to exclude anyone unintentionally.
Text them at the right time
The literal time of day that a business sends texts affects how they view the person sending the message and the business. Texting them too early in the morning or late at night certainly doesn’t put you in their good graces.
Similarly, texting people too often makes you the opposite of approachable. This is the easiest way to come on too strong. With new leads in particular this could turn them off from choosing to do business with you.
You still need to text people enough to make sure they know they can text you back. But a message every single day doesn’t exactly scream welcoming.
Texting at the right time also includes writing messages at a time that’s right for you. Think about it: If you’re in a rush and send off a message without really thinking about it, is that going to reflect in what you wrote? Sometimes it probably will. That’s one reason writing and scheduling messages is so useful, and why Skipio’s automations and campaigns prove so valuable.
There certainly isn’t a magic time to send messages to absolutely guarantee sure they all get read. But you make your messages count by carefully choosing when to send them.
Use photos and videos
Another way to embrace a more welcoming spirit is to try more than text-only messages. Sending photos and videos allows you to show more personality and helps people see that they’re interacting with a real person.
Fore example, sending a selfie before a first meeting or appointment helps someone know who to look out for if it’s an in-person meeting. And even if you’re only planning a phone call, they get a better idea of who is on the other end of the line.
Before you send any sort of photo and video, just make sure you think about your overall branding. Each help you add a little more of a personal touch, but it shouldn’t come at the expense of your brand.
Workshop your messages
Practice makes perfect, right? As you send messages and don’t see results, work with others around you to fix the language and tone.
Maybe you need a sounding board as you try to write more approachable messages. So brainstorm messages with coworkers and ask for each other’s help as you write messages. Especially if you’re creating messages that will act as templates, get key people involved to make sure they say exactly what you want them to say to get the greatest amount of engagement.
Then don’t be afraid to switch up messages as you see them working or not working. If you create a series of messages and start finding that the third message makes people want to check out from communicating with you, change the wording and/or timing.
Then, when you ask for feedback from customers, include questions about how approachable or welcoming messages felt. That’s golden information for creating future messages because it tells you exactly what your audience likes and responds to.
All of us will probably come on too strong at some point. However, if the messages you send really seem to create repeated issues, you may want to give this responsibility to someone else. If it’s possible, that is. Because when you write better texts, you demand engagement and the whole business benefits.