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Understanding Smart City Technology

Urban areas around the globe are embracing the newest developments in modern technology by becoming smart cities. These cities integrate sensors and actuators and link them together to collect data. We were intrigued when we first learned about smart cities, so we began doing our own research to discover additional details and we wanted to share this information with others. When you read these articles you'll learn how smart city technology uses the data that's gathered to monitor energy usage in homes and buildings to analyze their energy efficiency. You'll also find out about smart transportation, which entails installing cameras in traffic lights to monitor the flow of traffic. We hope that when you read these and other articles on this site you'll gain a better understanding of smart city technology.

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Understanding Smart City Technology

3 Ways Small Businesses Can Use SMS Messaging

by Gina Reid

SMS messaging offers small businesses a way to contact their audience and engage in marketing tactics like larger businesses. If you are on the fence about whether to invest in SMS services for small businesses, there are several major benefits to this form of contact.

Build Your Contact List

Every business should use their website to build their list of contacts. Most often, you will have people subscribe for a newsletter, but when you have SMS messaging, it also gives you the opportunity to capture phone numbers. Since people are more hesitant to give out their number than an email address, you need to make sure it is worth it for the customers. Whatever messages you send via text should be markedly different from the content in your newsletter. People who originally registered for your newsletter might be willing to update their information and provide a phone number if they feel like they are missing out on exclusive content.

Understand Your Demographic

The use of short codes in SMS messaging is an excellent way to better understand your demographic. Some businesses will run multiple advertisements, each with a unique short code. On the back-end of your messaging system, you can tell which ad is performing well based on how many people sign up with each short code. Businesses that sell various types of items can use this information to see which ads are the most appealing to their audience and the types of products they are more likely to buy. Additionally, you can use the same short codes to segment your audience and only send them content that is relevant to their interests.

Provide Better Customer Service

SMS is not only about marketing messages, but you can also provide customer service to your audience. For some people, it is easier to address problems with an order or ask about a specific product by using text messaging than other forms of communication. Since most people will likely call or email your business to ask customer service questions, people who use texting may receive a faster response if your customer service is overburdened via other methods. Some customer service tasks can be automated via texting, such as common questions. For example, customers might send a short code related to order status to receive an automated update on their order. With the progression of customer service AI interfaces, common questions can be answered through texting and reduce the burden on customer service agents.

Small businesses may overlook the advantages of using another modality for both their marketing messages and customer service. Incorporating SMS can give your business a significant advantage while meeting customer needs.

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