Retail and Marketing say Ahoy to Mobile Communications Services

Using mobile communications in the retail industry is not a new phenomenon and is fast becoming common place. Customers are quickly embracing mobile as part of their shopping experience to research products and services, find reviews and even check prices whilst in store to see if they can buy it cheaper elsewhere.  

 

As a result, strengthening customer relationships and loyalty is becoming even more difficult in a world where customers are able to find an abundance of information at the touch of a button and search for the best deals around. 

However, mobile communications also opens up the possibilities of developing and nurturing relationships with customers. Retailers can keep in touch with customers via updates about new product ranges, special promotions, developing apps to enhance the shopping experience and so on.

In 2006 one of the leading companies who specialise in advertising boats for sale decided to utilise SMS for mobile marketing and developing customer relationships. They launched a new innovative service to enable visitors to describe what type of boat they were looking for and to then be notified of any potential matches by SMS. The company has a long history of being the first to offer new services to their sector. From used fishing boats to new power cruisers, the company pride themselves with helping members, individuals and businesses to buy or sell boats quickly, easily and cost-effectively.

The company decided that whilst it was feasibly possible for them to build an SMS system that could integrate with their existing systems, it would be to their advantage to instead use an established supplier with worldwide knowledge and agreements for sending SMS.

HSL fit the bill for what they were looking for. We have been providing mobile services to enterprises worldwide since 1999, giving the client peace of mind. With our competitive pricing and ease of integration the decision to select HSL as their SMS supplier was made even more simple. The client began using us purely to alert visitors of product matches but this has extended to also using our services for keeping in contact with their clients.

With SMS services suitable for all enterprise types, HSL's robust technology, coupled with their creative and flexible approach to enterprise requirements, positions HSL uniquely within the industry as a highly reliable, reputable and forward thinking SMS service provider. As a direct result of using HSL's outbound SMS services and continuing to keep their visitors informed with up-to-date boat availability, the company has enhanced their relationships with visitors and potential customers which means that when visitors next need to search for a boat, they are likely to be their first port of call.

Alternatively, visit us at:

http://www.linkedin.com/company/hay-systems-ltd

follow us on Twitter @HSLSMS

or call us on +44 (0)1506 605260

or email us at sales@haysystems.com

How do you get yours?

It’s 17:10 on a Monday evening and you are just about to leave the office. Most of your colleagues have already left and as you check your inbox one last time you notice an email from your manager advising, “The office will be closed to all staff tomorrow morning due to emergency building repairs. Please communicate this to all staff immediately.”  You instantly reach for the telephone but then realise most staff left at 17:00 and that there are hundreds of them to contact. You first panic, then after taking a minute to let your blood pressure normalise, consider sending out an email to all staff; it’s quick and easy to do but not even half of your staff have access to work emails from home and the half of those that do, probably won't. In fact, according to Phonedog, "email sit unread for an average of 48 hours before being read while SMS messages are usually opened only four minutes after being sent".

It’s at that moment when you remember a text alerting service which the comms or marketing or some other department recently adopted for sending out customer service updates. "The proportion of adults who personally own/use a mobile phone in the UK is 92%," according to Ofcom and as all members of staff have already given their contact mobile number, you realise that this would be the ideal communication tool to use. You quickly scroll through your emails and call through to the marketing department who confirm that the service is active and that you can use it. They make a small change to the set up to allow you access and a few minutes later you have sent out a text to all members of staff advising of the office closure, what to do instead and also asking staff to acknowledge receipt of the message by replying with their name.

You then leave the office, safe in the knowledge that your colleagues will receive the notification and that you will be able to easily check the replies against the list of staff the message was sent to.

This is just one example of how using texting (SMS) alerts for emergency communications can work and can be quicker and slicker than other forms of communication. Texting can actually be applied in a host of situations and by all company departments whether that be updating field staff, sending out IT alerts or notifying customers that their product is available or tracking where the delivery is.

HSL have an excellent text alert solution for time sensitive communications which is known as AlertBroadcast. Put simply, the solution will enable you to text a number of contacts quickly, reliably and also offers the ability for contacts to reply back to the message sender thus confirming receipt and correct comprehension of the message. Alertbroadcast is therefore cost-effective, fast and quite simply works. In fact, a number of HSL clients have been benefiting from the solution for years. For example, Dartmoor Search and Rescue have used the solution for over 5 years and have found it to be “extremely reliable”. Likewise Newmont Mining Corporation have commented that “the technology helps the warnings to be more immediate and effective in alerting our communities and staff in case of an emergency".

To find out more about how AlertBroadcast works and how it could improve your company communications view our AlertBroadcast page. If you’d like to test the solution for yourself, contact us and we’ll set you up with a free test account so that you can see the benefits in action for yourself.

Alternatively, visit us at:

http://www.linkedin.com/company/hay-systems-ltd

follow us on Twitter @HSLSMS

or call us on +44 (0)1506 605260

or email us at sales@haysystems.com