What Is An SMS Chatbot & How to Build It? 2024

Today, in the world of instant communication, many companies are unable to address customer concerns or respond to them promptly and adequately. Due to these delays, customers get angry, and possible sales are lost as a result of conventional customer service platforms. 😞

So this is where the SMS chatbot comes in as an effective solution that takes control of customer relations while providing immediate and round-the-clock service via text message.

In this article, we’ll discuss everything about an SMS chatbot, including its definition, working, types, benefits, and use cases. We will also discuss how it is different from a messaging app chat and how you can build one yourself.

What is an SMS Chatbot?

An SMS chatbot is an AI program that can text people through an SMS. These chatbots are capable of sending and receiving messages, making communication with the users bidirectional.

SMS chatbots are usually applied in business organizations to relay customer service operational messages and to run marketing initiatives and are available to anyone with an active mobile device regardless of internet status. Businesses can conveniently use these chatbots to conduct surveys or get feedback that they want from the customers. 

An example of using a text message chatbot is using the prompt messages ‘Did you enjoy the occasion?’ and ‘How did you find it?’ Response 1 for good, response 2 for average, response 3 for poor.

How SMS Chatbots Work? 

SMS chatbots work pretty simply. It works just as you send a text message to a friend, manually. The only difference is that when you send a text message to the chatbot, it processes the message to understand and generate a response, similar to how a person would.

To understand how text chatbots work, let’s take an example:

Let’s say a user starts a conversation with a text message chatbot for a restaurant. The user asks, “I am a vegetarian. What vegetarian dishes do you have?”

1. The chatbot receives the message.
2. The chatbot identifies key terms in the message, such as “vegetarian” and “dishes.”
3. Using these keywords, the chatbot searches the restaurant’s menu database for vegetarian options.
4. The chatbot then replies with a list of vegetarian dishes available at the restaurant.

This process shows how the use of an SMS chatbot effectively responds to users’ questions and offers information depending on the message content.

Benefits of SMS Chatbot: Why Do You Need It?

For today’s on-the-go customers, SMS chatbots provide a highly effective and flexible tool for forward-thinking businesses. Whether you want to upgrade your customer relations, boost interest, or grow your business, these tools offer numerous advantages. 

Here’s why they matter for your business:

1. Wide Reach

SMS chatbots can reach a vast audience since they operate through SMS text messaging, which is accessible to anyone with a mobile phone. Moreover, this also means that you can engage customers even if they do not have an internet connection or an intelligent smartphone. This makes text message chatbots more important for businesses. 

2. High Open Rate

Text messages are especially effective since they have an open rate of over 98% while other forms of communication such as emails are low. This ensures that your messages are seen and increases the likelihood of user engagement.

3. Enhance Customer Experience

Through the use of SMS chatbots, customers can get quick responses to their queries, thereby enhancing their satisfaction levels. They also provide their customers with round-the-clock support, meaning that no matter the time of day or night, if customers need the support of the company, they will be able to get it, hence improving the overall experience.

4. Increased Customer Engagement and Retention

SMS chatbots can also initiate conversations with customers through sending messages, special offers, and updates. With the use of timely alerts, order status notifications, or promotional messages, they create awareness among customers. Such constant communication with customers proves useful in strengthening the relationship, hence improving retention levels.

5. Scalability and Flexibility

As a business expands, so does the number of questions clients pose to the company. SMS chatbots offer solutions that are easily scalable, which means that one can address several conversations simultaneously and still respond within a reasonable period of time. They can be easily prescribed in size depending on the amount of usage required and are thus suitable for use by big firms or small ones.

SMS Chatbot Use Cases

The use of SMS chatbots has become critical in different industries because of the effectiveness of the system in the communication process and the improvement of customers’ experiences. Such bots are capable of performing many functions, including responding to customers’ queries, giving real-time information, and even passing reminders. 

Here are some common use cases:

1. Customer Support and FAQs

An SMS chatbot can be used to attend to customer support by offering solutions to some of the most commonly asked questions, and real time support. For instance, in a retail firm, an SMS chatbot can be employed to assist the customers in issues to do with their order status, returns, or store locations. The chatbot can also pass on the most complicated problems to human representatives where he deems fit so as not to leave the customer stranded.

2. Appointment Scheduling and Reminders

Doctors, barbers, hair stylists, and any business that deals with appointments can benefit from the chatbots since they can use the platform to set appointments and send gentle reminders to the clients. This means that patients or clients can schedule, rearrange, or even cancel an appointment through SMS. The chatbot is also useful to send out timed reminders before the appointment, hence helping to minimize cases of no-shows and increase utilization.

3. Order Tracking and Notifications

Another use of chatbots is e-commerce stores; they can send order updates to their customers through the use of SMS. In the post-purchase process, follow-up messages include order confirmation, shipping notice, delivery reminder, etc. Customers are also able to track their orders or modify the delivery details through SMS.

4. Surveys and Feedback Collection

It is possible for organizations to leverage SMS chatbots in carrying out surveys or collect customer feedback. For instance, when a client has made a transaction or has passed through a service channel, the chatbot can then proceed to send a link to a survey or directly request a few details via an SMS. This method is fast and easy, thus making the response rates high and the information obtained useful in enhancing the products or services.

Types of SMS Chatbot

There are three primary types of SMS chatbots, which serve different purposes and utilize varying levels of technology. 

1. Simple Chatbots 

Rule-based or menu-based chatbots are the simplest kind of chatbots that function on the basis of a decision tree. They take the user step-by-step through a set of options pre-established, akin to multiple choice questions. 

These are very useful for simple questions, but they cannot comprehend any other question and are unable to answer questions not in the set routine. They are best suited for basic questions and frequently asked questions (FAQs) but may not be very helpful for sophisticated queries that need some degree of interpretation.

2. Smart Chatbots

Advanced chatbots employ AI and NLP for more meaningful interactions than the basic automated chatbots. They are more advanced than normal chatbots as they are able to learn patterns and variations and, therefore, make the conversation more natural. 

These bots are capable of handling and answering close-ended questions and, therefore, can handle more complicated customer interactions. They are designed to automate a conversation as closely as possible to a human-to-human conversation.

3. Hybrid Chatbots

As the name suggests, a hybrid chatbot has elements of both simple and smart chatbots. They can also identify user input and can also display options for selection as defined beforehand.  This way, they are better equipped to handle a broader spectrum of queries and questions that may come their way. 

If the hybrid bot cannot solve a problem, it can transfer the conversation to a human employee. Thus giving the client an option between an automatic response and a live person.

Text Chatbots vs. Messaging App Chatbots

The difference between text chatbots (SMS) and messaging app chatbots based on functionalities, requirements, and user experience are:

Feature	Text Chatbots (SMS)	Messaging Apps
Consent Required	Yes (in most regions)	Yes
Mobile Number Requirement	Yes	No
Internet/Data Requirement	No	Yes
Character Limit	Yes (160 characters)	Very high (20,000+ characters)
Mobile Signal Requirement	Yes	No
Supported on Android and iOS	Yes	Yes
App Download Required	No	Yes
Available in all countries	Yes	Limited (e.g., WhatsApp not available in China)
Read Receipts Available	No	Yes
Emojis Supported	Partly (can reduce character limit)	Yes
Supports Links	Yes	Yes
Supports Images	No	Yes
Supports Videos	No	Yes
Customer Pays for Messages Sent	Yes	No
Message Encryption	No	Yes (in most cases)

How to Build an SMS Chatbot? 

To achieve effective communication and functionality of the SMS chatbot the following steps are followed in the construction process. Thus, the given steps allow the creation of a chatbot that will increase the level of user engagement and deliver useful services.

1. Create an Account and Activate SMS Tools: First, register with the customers, where you will need to create a username and enter your email address. After logging in, go to the “SMS” tab and click on the “Activate SMS” button.

2. Upload Your Contact List: Get ready a CSV file with the list of contacts. Under the “Leads” tab, click on “Import Phone Numbers” to upload your CSV file. This means that during the upload of the data, the attributes should match the required contact attributes.

3. Create an SMS Blast: After you have uploaded your contacts navigate to “Marketing Tools” and then to “Chat Blaster.” Click on the “New Chat Blast” button, give it a name and set SMS as the type. Select your audience for the blast (e. g. , All Contacts) to perform the SMS blast.

4. Add SMS and MMS Content: Learn how to apply content widgets to your SMS bot. They include; In the StartBot visual builder, different media widgets can be inserted. For instance, use the quick question widget to develop engaging answers and let the users respond with choices such as ‘Yes.’

5. Insert Conversational Q&A Triggers: Establish Q&A triggers to make smart responses possible. Choose “Chatbots” in the left-hand navigation and open the “Q&A” folder to add new triggers. Type specific words (for instance, ‘sales’ or ‘customer service’) and define the responses to the entered keywords to encourage free conversation with users.

Conclusion

Since SMS has high open rates and can reach a large number of people. And SMS chatbots offer a powerful and versatile way for businesses to engage with their customers. For sure, they are an excellent tool for improving customer service, driving sales, and automating various business processes. These chatbots offer instant, round-the-clock service by default; customers can turn to them for help at all times. 

All in all, SMS chatbots are a great opportunity to improve the client experience, attract more customers’ attention, and avoid possible losses in businesses. By following the steps in this guide, you can provide your audience with consistent and efficient customer service that will help your business grow. And as technology continues to evolve, the state of chatbots will also evolve and become more versatile