What is transactional SMS and why it is important?

Transactional SMS programs can be viewed as one of the cornerstone of the SMS messaging evolution. It is also a great measure of how far the medium has come from a peer-to-peer messaging system. Once businesses started adopting the SMS messaging service more fully this led to more creative ways that add value to the business to consumer interactions. That is what transactional SMS program elements support.

What is transactional SMS?

Transactional SMS programs refers to automated messaging activity that is sent to a consumer from a business that supports the journey around a process, product or service. You have to be careful in how you understand the communication complex because the definition can overlap on some of the characteristics that operational SMS programs have. It may help your understanding if you think about transactional SMS programs in regards to automation. Why? Well transactional SMS programs are commonly automated and personalized message workflows that go out based on consumer events. This ultimately reduces the pressure on human resource and helps boost the customer service experience.

What does transactional SMS look like?

When you think of transactional SMS you should also think of the SMS API economy and how the experiences those services create. To send a transactional SMS message your company must programmatically integrate the SMS functionality within their existing software. This is possible with Textmunication’s SMS API documentation and is essentially what software developers use to build simple or complex automation paradigms.
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That explanation just scratches the surface to the technical wonder that is behind SMS API services. Transactional SMS occurs when a consumer completes a specific action or trigger. Those actions trigger SMS activity that is designed to go out based on the details of the scenario.

What are examples of transactional SMS programs?

Transactional SMS programs can be design to fit many different scenarios throughout any phase in your consumer journeys with your business:

Order confirmations: This type of transactional SMS message goes out to your consumers after they place an order. It usually contains information that is important to consumers' awareness such as purchase date, product details, tracking and order number for reference.
Shipping updates: This type of transactional SMS message helps stabilize anticipation and help make the delivery process seem more efficient and connecting.
Appointment confirmations: This type of transactional SMS message helps retain booking volume and reduce no-shows. After a consumer schedules an appointment with you they receive this message automatically with information about the event, booking details, and location.
Security authentication: This type of transactional SMS message message helps keep account information and security really secure. Generally when trying to access a system or app, this type of messages will go out and send a security code to that user's mobile phone to ensure that it is them before granting access to important account information.

All of these transactional SMS programs help confirm an action in a scenario and also it creates a positive brand building element in the process. Consumers put a lot of pressure on business to have optimal experiences and transactional SMS messaging is one of the technical measures your team can take with your software to accomplish that.
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