Use cases for SMS – More than just a message

The use cases we most often talk about is, of course, SMS marketing. It's a simple and effective way to reach your customers without distractions. You can convey your message with a simple and short sentence, and lead your customers directly to an offer or a website with a link. SMS marketing is personal and if used correctly can be highly engaging! But you have to be smart when it comes to your messages and how you formulate them. You have to write engaging messages that make your customers want to take action! You can read more about how to engage your customers in the article "Appeal to emotions in marketing".

SMS is naturally used as a communication tool. It started with personal communication between two individuals, and has evolved into a communication tool for businesses as well as individuals.

Companies can use SMS both for internal communication, but also to communicate with partners and customers. By using SMS to convey information, you can be sure that the recipient sees the message, and it is much more likely that they will actually get the message.

You can use SMS to inform your employees about everything from meetings, changes or important information. Have you heard the saying "This meeting could have been an email"? If you are efficient enough, the meeting can be an SMS. The magic of SMS is that it forces you to boil down your message and get straight to the point. Forget all the fluff that comes with meetings and in an email, instead send an SMS where you are straight to the point and save your employees from wasting their time.

Another few use cases for SMS is notifications. SMS is a perfect notification system. The messages reach the recipient quickly, and unless they have turned off notifications (who does that?) or turned on airplane mode, they will receive the SMS. All messages that are urgent or essential should be sent by SMS!

You can use SMS to notify emergency situations, changes or urgent meetings, for example. Have you changed your opening hours? Send an SMS to the customer! Has an unexpected situation taken place? Keep both your employees and customers informed! You can also use SMS to send reminders. It can be a reminder of a meeting or an appointment. You can also send reminders of deadlines and other time-sensitive topics.

If you have an online store, SMS can be a great tool to use to notify your customers about their orders. You can send out an order confirmation, notify customers when items are packed and shipped, and keep them informed on when they can expect to receive their items. The better informed your customers are, the safer they will feel.

That´s a word we have not used in a while (cough Covid), but visitor registration does not always have to be in connection with a global pandemic. There are many reasons for wanting to have an overview of who visits your premises. It would be interesting for you as a shop owner, for example, to know who your customers are, where they come from and when they prefer to visit your shop. All this information helps you run your store more efficiently.

When are the rush hours in the store? Which days, months or holidays attract the most customers? This information can be crusial for how you choose to run and staff the store. Visitor registration can be easily done using QR codes. All the customer needs to do is scan the code with their mobile phone and send a already filled out SMS.

The same technology can be used to sign up for a customer club. A perfect way to reach out to interested and loyal customers is by talking to them when they show interest in you and your business. This can be by hanging a QR code in the checkout at the store or by having it visible at the online store so that the customer can easily join your customer club.

SMS is not only used to communicate. One of the newer use cases for SMS is access control! You can use SMS to give both permanent and temporary access with SMS codes sent to mobile. Inlet is a very good example of how this can be done. This function is highly suitable for those who work in the renting business.

If you need to rent out equipment, property, office premises or other rental objects for a limited period of time, temporary access codes on SMS can be a perfect solution for you. It saves you both time and resources, and it makes the customer journey much easier for your customer. With SMS codes, you can decide the duration of the codes yourself. You can change and delete codes whenever you want, and have full control over who has access to what.

In addition to access, you can use SMS for verification and authentication. It is very common to use SMS as part of a two-step authentication process to access accounts on various websites and apps. By receiving a code via SMS, the customer can use this code to verify themselves. This is a very simple way to verify users and customers, and usually quite secure. There is always a certain risk associated with authentication in this way, as there is a risk that unwanted people may have access to your phone number. For more advanced and sensitive verification, it may therefore be wise to use 2FA codes or third-party apps.