The use of text messages by businesses has increased considerably in recent years, as business leaders increasingly come to view SMS as an effective communication medium. Thanks to SMS it is now possible to contact staff within seconds and even choose which departments you may wish to communicate with by sending SMS to just a specific group.
Despite the many benefits of text messages for business, there are some situations in which sending an SMS is simply bad business practise.
Here are some of the worst scenarios of when opting to communicate via SMS should be avoided:
Redundancy notices: Redundancy is a very delicate situation that should never, ever be communicated via a text message. Even in the case of a big company in which it is difficult for managers to be in personal touch with all employees, a redundancy notice should always be communicated personally and in private.
Employee reprimands: As in the case of redundancy notices, all that negative information that concerns only one person or group of employees is better communicated in a face to face meeting. Your staff will appreciate the opportunity to be given the chance of discussing in person which areas can be improved.
Bonus cancellations: It is always recommended to give bad news in person, or at the very least via a phone call. Receiving an SMS notification that your bonus is to be cancelled will not endear any company to their employees. Most employees will prefer to be told personally about it in case they have questions.
Meeting Cancellations: Whether a big or small company, texting a customer to let them know that you will not be able to meet them is never a good idea. Why? A courtesy phone call, apologising why the meeting will not take place, will be far more effective in keeping your customer happy and will allow them the opportunity to re-arrange with you immediately.
As a general rule of thumb when sending bad news, it is important to be particularly careful and always give negative or individual information in private. The personal touch is often called for in these situations and employees and customers will be more appreciative than if they had received a single text.
Other than that, tools that allow you to Send SMS from PC or an SMS API are proven to be an effective way to share information via employees, such as meeting times or minutes, general announcements, rotas, holidays and, of course, good news.
