9 Ways Financial Institutions Can Use SMS to Delight Customers

Do you own a bank, a mortgage firm, a credit union, a brokerage, or a financial institution and want to boost your client communication efforts? One of the most effective methods to service and engage with your consumers is to send vital communications through SMS gateway messaging.

Text messages are the preferred means of approaching clients, with a 209% greater response rate than email, phone, or Facebook. Today, we’ll look at how finance professionals may use SMS financial messages to deliver critical company information and develop long-term relationships.

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9 Uses for SMS Texting in Financial Institutions

SMS is a popular way for investment advisers, insurance agents, and bank representatives to stay in contact with their clients. Here are nine ways your bank may utilize text messaging to help clients and workers.

1. Welcome Messages/Introductions

Introduce yourself to new clients and express your gratitude for their patronage. With a follow-up text, thank clients for subscribing to your SMS finance services and offer contact information for future communication or services.

2. Improved Customer Service

Allowing clients to contact you by SMS for customer assistance may be a lifesaver – for both your customers and your company. Reduce wait times by delivering automated replies for common operations such as current balance, office hours, account balances, and more.

3. Notifications of Policy Changes

Have your terms and conditions or other policies changed? Instead of producing and distributing policy change materials by email or snail mail, provide consumers a link to them.

4. Confirmation of Transactions

When consumers make online purchases, sending a confirmation SMS confirms the transaction and makes them feel safer.

5. Verification of Document Request and Receipt

Use SMS to request signatures on papers or to confirm receipt of documents that have already been signed.

6. Reminders for Appointments

Because of SMS technology, speaking with real agents regarding appointments has become obsolete. SMS may be used to confirm, cancel, or reschedule appointments for optimal convenience.

7. Reminders for Payments

Are late payments having an impact on your bottom line? Maintain account balances by issuing payment reminders to clients that owe money (or are overdue).

8. Polls and Surveys

Do you want to stay on top of your marketing efforts? Sending SMS surveys allows you to discover more about your consumers, change marketing tactics, and fine-tune operations to match the demands of your clients all year long.

9. Promotion of Events

Do you want your consumers to attend an investing conference, workshop, or trade show? Text messaging event information is an excellent technique to get attention, signups, and confirm attendance.

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The Advantages of Using SMS in Your Finance Business

SMS messaging services may help fund service providers in a variety of ways

• Customization: Text messages are personal, thus they help to strengthen connections. When a consumer gets a text from you, particularly if it is critical or time-sensitive, they feel valued and recognized, which strengthens your relationship and builds loyalty.
• Response Rate: Text messages have a 45% response rate, however, emails only have an 8% response rate. One in every five emails sent from commercial addresses ends up in the recipient’s junk mail folder. This may be especially troublesome in the banking business since the information being communicated might be time-critical and sensitive to personal security.
• Critical news is sent more quickly: Finance consumers, like most individuals, prefer to receive important information by text rather than email. While emails might get lost in the mix (or the spam bin), text messages are read, keeping your consumers informed.
• Text messages offer a high open and response rate, allowing financial professionals to plan meetings and confirm signed papers quicker than any other communication medium.
• Makes your brand stand out: Does your firm stand out from the crowd? Many financial firms still use antiquated procedures. By providing text messaging ease, you can break the mold.
• Reduces human error: Using automatic answers helps to decrease the occurrence of both large and little errors.
• Lead generation: Printing your company’s textable cellphone number on marketing brochures and business cards promotes your financial messaging services while also encouraging people to contact you by text.
• Boosts email campaigns: If your important content surpasses text character constraints, send a text message instructing them to check their email to fill in knowledge gaps.

Does the TCPA apply to SMS Finance Texts?

In a nutshell, sure. Text messaging for financial services organizations is heavily regulated by regulatory bodies such as the FTC, FCC, and FINRA. These authorities may levy severe fines ranging from $500 to $1500 for each infringement.

Check that your organization is adhering to TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act) guidelines:

• Obtain explicit writing permission
• Provide full transparency with an opt-in message.
• Terms and conditions should be communicated clearly.
• Only contact during working hours.
• Include your company name in all messages.
• Allow customers to opt-out.
• Respect the National Do Not Call Registry and respect opt-out requests.

Exemptions from the TCPA for Financial Institutions

There are certain exceptions now that we’ve demonstrated that financial institutions are subject to TCPA obligations. The TCPA does not apply to emergency or urgent updates; nonetheless, marketing that promotes goods or services must satisfy TCPA criteria.

The communications listed below do not need opt-out instructions or previous explicit written agreement.

Financial institutions are able to:

• Text message security or account updates
• Inform clients of potential security breaches involving their personal information.
• Inform consumers of any transactions or incidents that may suggest a risk of fraud or identity theft.
• Inform consumers about the actions they may take to avoid identity theft in the aftermath of a data breach.
• Inform consumers of the steps necessary to arrange for the reception of pending money transfers

DOs and DON’Ts in Finance

Keep the following guidelines in mind for effective business texting:

• DO NOT request personal information (such as complete bank account numbers, passwords, or PINs) through text message.
• DO remind clients that they may opt out of SMS messages by answering “STOP.”
• DO NOT text phone numbers that have not been specifically supplied by the consumer.
• DO make all financial textbooks available for free. Customers’ data plans may not be charged for your SMS.
• DO NOT text consumers to collect debts. Debt collection texts and phone calls need prior explicit written agreement.
• DO include your name and company’s contact information in the text.

Please keep in mind that this is not legal advice and is just for informative reasons. It is not meant to be a replacement for legal advice from trained counsel, nor is it designed to assist or assist you in remaining compliant as you take full responsibility for all legal problems.

Begin Using SMS Finance Texts with Guni

Are you ready to start using financial messaging services? Guni offers easy SMS solutions, allowing you to begin contacting your financial consumers right now. If you’re a financial professional who’s never used SMS messaging before, Guni makes it simple to get started.

Guni’s cost-effective and user-friendly platform is suitable for financial institutions of any size or sector. You can manage your SMS strategy on a single platform with capabilities like message scheduling and two-way messaging. Check out Guni’s messaging platform to get started. It is simple to use and offers a wide range of SMS services, including bulk SMS alerts, push alerts, advertising and commercial alerts.

Begin your free trial now, with no credit card necessary!