Let’s explore in more detail how automated SMS workflows can transform and automate customer service operations. But, before we move forward, let’s clarify the meaning of automated SMS workflows.

What automated SMS workflow is?

Automated SMS workflows are pre-programmed sequences of actions that are triggered by specific events or conditions. In the context of customer service, these workflows are used to send automated SMS messages to customers based on their interactions with a business. For example, an automated SMS workflow could be triggered when a customer places an order, and it sends a confirmation message with the order details.

Main Components of Automated SMS Workflows

Main Benefits of Using SMS Workflows for Customer Service

SMS has become a popular and effective communication channel for customer service due to some unique benefits as outlined below:

• Instantaneous Communication: SMS is like sending a digital note. It reaches the recipient almost immediately, providing fast and efficient communication.
• Direct Reach: Unlike email, SMS bypasses spam trigger words and goes straight to the customer’s phone. This ensures a higher open rate and better engagement.
• Personal Touch: SMS feels more personal than email or phone calls. It allows for a direct conversation with the customer, building trust and loyalty.
• Cost-Effective: SMS is a relatively inexpensive communication channel, especially compared to phones, making it a viable option for businesses of all sizes.
• Multi-Channel Integration: SMS can be easily integrated with other communication channels, such as email and social media, to provide a seamless customer experience.

How to Implement Automated SMS Workflows for (Customer Services) Common Issues

Trigger: Incoming message

Workflow: Trigger on incoming message → Auto-reply acknowledging receipt → Provide estimated response time

Liya, a busy working professional from Michigan, USA, decided to purchase a new smartphone online. She visited an e-commerce website and selected a model that met her requirements. After placing the order, she didn’t receive an automated confirmation SMS with the order details and an estimated delivery time. So she sent the message:

Liya’s Message: “Hi, I ordered a smartphone on [date] and haven’t received a shipping confirmation yet. Can you please check the status?”

Automated Response: “Dear Liya, thank you for contacting us from Ahmedabad. We apologize for the delay in processing your smartphone order. Your order is currently being prepared for shipment. We will send you a shipping confirmation with tracking details as soon as it’s available. Please allow up to 24 hours.”

Trigger: Order Tracking

Workflow: Trigger on order status change → SMS notification with tracking details

A few days later, Liya received another automated SMS informing her that her smartphone had been shipped from the warehouse in Michigan. The message included a tracking number, allowing Liya to monitor the delivery progress.

Automated Response: “Dear Liya, thank you for your order. Your [mobile phone model] has been confirmed and is scheduled for shipment on October 20, 2024. You will receive a tracking number once it’s shipped from our Michigan warehouse.”

Trigger: Complaint Submission & Handling

Workflow: Trigger on complaint submission → SMS acknowledgment → Follow-up for additional information or resolution

When the smartphone arrived, Liya was excited to unbox it. However, she noticed that the camera was faulty. Disappointed, she contacted customer support through the website. An automated acknowledgment message was sent to her immediately, assuring her that her complaint had been received.

Liya’s Message: “Hi, I just unboxed my new smartphone and noticed the camera is faulty. I’ve submitted a complaint through the website. Please let me know how soon I can expect a resolution. Thank you!”

Automated Acknowledgment: “We apologize for the inconvenience. We have received your complaint regarding the faulty camera on your smartphone. Our team will investigate the issue and provide a resolution as soon as possible.”

A customer support representative from the Michigan-based team followed up with Liya to gather more details about the issue. They arranged for a technician to visit her home to inspect the device. After confirming the camera fault, the technician promised to replace the smartphone.

“Hi Liya, Our technician, Mr.Jezz, will be at your home on Thursday, October 24 at 3:00 PM to check your [mobile phone model]. Please be ready.”

Trigger: FAQs and Product Information

Workflow: Trigger on keyword detection → SMS response with FAQ or resource link

While waiting for the replacement, Liya had a question about the warranty coverage. She sent a message to customer support asking about the duration of the warranty and what it covered.

“Hi, I recently purchased a [mobile phone model] and would like to know more about the warranty coverage. Can you please provide information on the duration of the warranty and what it covers?”

An automated response was sent to her, providing a link to the warranty terms and conditions: “Hi Liya, Your [mobile phone model] comes with a 1-year warranty. For more details, check out [Link to warranty terms].”

A few days later, Liya received her replacement smartphone.

Automated Response: “Hi Liya, Your replacement [mobile phone model] is ready for pickup at our Michigan store. We’ve missed you! Enjoy your device. Thanks for choosing [Your Company Name].”

Trigger: Handling Complaints and Feedback

Workflow: complaint submission → SMS acknowledgment → Follow-up for additional information or resolution

She was satisfied with the prompt resolution of the issue and the excellent customer service provided. As a thank you, she shared her positive experience on social media: “Just wanted to give a shoutout to [Your Company Name] for their amazing customer service! They quickly fixed the issue with my [mobile phone model] and went above and beyond to ensure I was happy. Highly recommend them!”

Automated Response: “Hey Liya, Thank you for taking the time to share your positive feedback. We’re delighted to hear that you’re satisfied with the repair of your [mobile phone model]. Your satisfaction is our top priority, and we’re committed to providing the best possible customer service. We hope you continue to enjoy your [mobile phone model]. Thank You!”

Throughout her smartphone journey, Liya benefited from the automated SMS workflows. The timely notifications, efficient complaint handling, and instant answers to her questions made her experience seamless and hassle-free.

Best Practices for Using Automated SMS Workflows

Implementing automated SMS workflows in customer service can significantly enhance the customer experience when executed with best practices in mind. Personalization of messages is crucial; customers appreciate receiving tailored content that addresses their specific needs and preferences. By leveraging customer data, businesses can craft messages that resonate with individuals, making them feel valued and understood.

Furthermore, it is essential to ensure compliance with regulations, such as opt-in requirements, which safeguard customer privacy and maintain trust. Customers should be given clear options to opt in for SMS communications, and businesses must respect their preferences at all times.

To maintain the effectiveness of automated workflows, organizations should regularly review and optimize their workflows and processes. This involves analyzing engagement metrics and customer feedback to identify areas for improvement, ensuring that the SMS communications remain relevant and effective over time.

Lastly, integrating SMS with other customer service channels, such as email and chat, can create a seamless experience for customers. By establishing a cohesive communication strategy, businesses can provide timely and consistent support.

Comidor Workflow Automation – SMS Component

Comidor allows seamless integration of SMS notifications within automated workflows, provided there is an SMS service provider. The SMS workflow component can be customized by adding the settings as described in the respective guide.

These SMS notifications can be dynamically connected to various workflow events, gateways, or activities using conditional flows, ensuring timely and automated communication within business processes.

Conclusion

In wrapping up our discussion on automated SMS workflows, it’s clear that the benefits are not just advantageous—they’re transformative. So, why wait? Take the leap and explore SMS automation solutions that can redefine how you connect with your customers. Let SMS be your secret weapon in the quest for customer satisfaction and loyalty!

Author Bio:
Philip Portman is the Founder and CEO of Textdrip, a business texting platform catering to industries such as Solar, Travel & Tourism, E-Commerce, Insurance, Hotels & Hospitality, Car Dealerships, Real Estate, and Healthcare. He has successfully launched several startups including landlineremover.com and argosautomation.com. With expertise in SMS marketing and digital automation, Philip is also an esteemed member of the Forbes Technology Council.

The post How to Use Automated SMS Workflows to Resolve Common Customer Service Issues appeared first on Comidor Low-code Automation Platform.

Create a customised experience that matches your daily tasks and processes. Build and modify your dashboards with a simple-to-use no-code builder. 

• Add a Label tile to your Home dashboard, to display text information in your dashboard.
• In the pop-up window specify:
  • The title of your tile.
  • The description of your tile.
  • The URL to direct you to the site you wish.
  • Background and font colors (choose from color palette).
  • The Font Size and Text alignment.
  • Click on Save Changes.

• Add a Text tile to your Home dashboard, to display a specific message to the dashboard.

• Resize and arrange the elements easily with drag-and-drop.

• You can also delete, edit or copy an element, in edit mode, by clicking on the respective button. 

• Create multiple tabs to organize your tiles in the way you wish, combine different data sources, and get deeper insights.
• Click on the “+” icon on the tab to create a new one.
• Click on the pencil button to rename the tab.
• Drag and drop the elements you wish inside each tab.
• You can also delete a tab by clicking on the “x” button.

• Switch to view my dashboard to see the home dashboard you designed.

Navigate Home Dashboard

After designing your Home Dashboard, you can see all the “graph” elements with real-time data, and can click on the “application” and “quick add” elements. You can also switch from one tile to another to view the respective elements.

Additionally, the Menu Icon, AI Copilot Application Buider, Translation, Tooltip and Fullscreen icons, the search option as well as the notifications, messages, calendar and absences icons can be found on top of the screen. While using Comidor, these features will always remain at the top of the screen.

If you click on Help, a sub-menu appears where you can get useful information about the platform.  You can get redirected to the Comidor website for:

• Comidor news
• How-tos
• Useful videos

The search feature allows for searching the entire Comidor application for any entity or object and also allows the search results to be filtered. By clicking on the Application tab the search can be expanded to include Memos and Files. After the search results are shown, the results can be filtered on the left-hand side and relevant results will show on the right.

Click on the Help Center tab, and type a keyword (e.g. Tasks). By clicking the enter key on your keyboard you will be redirected to Help Center at www.comidor.com.

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Create a Notification Service

In order to access Notification Services:

1. Go to App Factory Icon > Application Builder > Notification Services.
2. Click on the “+” icon to open the creation form.
3. Fill in the Title for the Notification Service.
4. Notification Message can be built with free text. Apart from free text, you can also add critical information such as process description or event quantity, by using their database names between the percentage symbol % (e.g. %PROCESS_DESC% will display the Title of the Process in the notification message).
5. Select the processes that this Notification Service will be applied to.
   • Choose the Process Type from the list of Process Types (General, Opportunity, Project, Campaign, Survey, Topic, Event, Ticket, Vacation, Issue, Work Package, Job Posting, Training, or Application).
     • If you choose Application another respective field will appear with a list of all Custom Applications created in App builder. Choose one Application, if you want this notification service to be applied only to this app.
   • Process Business Function includes the whole Corporate Process Map (Category) and can be used in order to apply a Notification Service to the Processes specified in the previous two steps based on their Category.
     • This option refers to Processes and not application process type.
   • In case you select Projects in Process type, you can also limit the Project type (Presales, Client Delivery, etc.).
   • Select Minimum Importance (Normal, High, Top) and/or Minimum Priority (Low, Normal, High, Top).
     
6. Select Condition among:

• • Event’s Beginning Time or Time Completion.
    • The number of Days/Hours/Minutes BEFORE Start/Finish or Scheduled Start/Finish.

• • The number of Days/Hours/Minutes AFTER Start/Finish or Scheduled Start/Finish.
  • When process completion (%) is Less than/Less than or equals/Equals/Greater than or equals/Greater than a percentage (%).
  • When a specific Database/Custom Field of the Process is changed (i.e. When the state field changes).
  • Select a notification to be sent dynamically on specific dates. Provide the title of the Date Fields and separate them with commas.

7. In the Recipients tabs, select whether you wish to Notify Creator, Admin, Admin2, Supervisor, Assigned Users (people added in the “Assigned to” field) and/or Notify users (people added in the “Send Notification to” field) that have the rights to view this Process of this specific Category.

8. Choose whether you wish the users selected above to be also notified by Email and/or SMS.

Email reminders will be sent provided that you have connected your email account in Comidor.

SMS reminders will arrive in case the recipient user has set a Mobile phone in his Personal Profile (e.g. +44123456789).

Associate a Notification Service with specific Processes, Projects, and other Comidor Units

For Notification Services that need to be associated with a SPECIFIC Process/Project/etc., you may enter the Notification Service and under the Process Links section, you can Add the already created Process/Project/etc. from the list.

To Remove an already added Process Link, just press the Remove button (see picture below).

Edit and Manage a Notification Service

In order to access Notification Services, go to:

1. App Factory Icon > Application Builder > Notification Services.
2. Select the Notification Service you wish to edit or manage from the list.
3. Click on the pencil button to Edit the entity. Made any modification and then click on Save. Click on Cancel should you need to cancel editing the procedure.
4. Click on the Actions button and select Delete to proceed with the deletion Scenario. A confirmation message will appear.
5. Click on the Tags tab on the sidebar to add a new Tag on this Notification Scenario which may be private, group, internal or public. From this point, you can also manage old tags that you have added to that Template.

Putting Tags in Notification Scenarios may help you in grouping them, filtering, and finally finding them easier.

Managing Notification Services

In order to access Notification Services, go to:

1. App Factory Icon > Application Builder > Notification Services.
2. Select the Notification Service(s) you wish to Delete from the list.

Navigate through Notification Services after you have filtered and/or sorted and/or grouped them by the way you wish. Check Data Management options for more information.

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