In today’s lightning-fast changing world of business, efficiency and accuracy are the ultimate tools of value with customers in mind. I think the most important value to add to a business is the instant connection to their customers and with that in mind one of the most popular features would be the communication channels that you have available to you, such as text messaging.

You have to embrace this trend when the opportunities given to you as a business owner allow you to instantly connect your customers, which is something that wasn’t always available as an option in the past. Therefore when you find a POS software or a point of sale system with an integrated SMS text messaging feature, please understand that this can be an incredibly important utility for your business. In this article we will explain which are the most frequent types of businesses that we think can benefit mostly out of such a feature towards their customers and why.

1. SMS text messaging is good for General retail businesses.

General retail stores will definitely benefit a lot from text messaging features in their point of sale software for many reasons. Do you want to instantly inform your customers about your promotions, sales, newly added products and new arrivals? You can do this easily and automatically with a feature like this in your software. Not to mention you can also send reminders via text to your customers about future plans, events and promotions, to ensure your customers will visit your store and we’ll keep on coming back over and over again and you will make sure that these events are more successful.

2. Restaurants can benefit greatly from text messages to their customers.

Here’s how restaurants will reap the benefits of text messaging features included in their restaurant software. Customers can maybe Place orders through SMS text messages and the staff can reply with follow-up necessary questions regarding the order or to confirm the order. In the same process, in the end you can also let the customer know that their order is ready to pick up, whenever it is ready. If you have a waiting queue for a table and a lot of customers waiting around, maybe walking around the establishment or outside in the neighboring business while they are waiting, a text messaging system can be utilized to let them know whenever their table is open and ready.

3. Bars can also utilize SMS text messaging from their POS bar software.

Similarly to how Restaurants benefit from this technology, Bars can reap the same benefits of it. Like allowing your customers to order drinks from the bar, by never leaving their table through an SMS. This can allow them to not have to wait for the waiter’s attention every time they need a drink or a refill, it will free up a lot of the waiter’s time to serve other items and other tables. So the idea is that if you can improve the customer wait time, you’re improving your customer satisfaction and overall experience.

4. SMS text messages are a must for beauty salons and spas.

If you have a beauty salon or a spa, you will most definitely want to use a text messaging feature from your salon software or Spa software, in order to remind your customers of their approaching appointments and to make sure that you do not have too many cancellations and missed appointments due to the customers forgetting their appointments all together. So by reducing the numbers of canceled or missed appointments you’re improving the efficiency of your Salon or Spa business. And if a cancellation needs to be made on your end, where you need to move some appointment or cancel some appointment, you can always let the customers know via a text message of any last minute cancellations or need to reschedule.

5. Dental offices can also benefit from this feature.

Similarly to the salons and spas, the dental offices can utilize a Medical Spa software with an SMS feature to inform and remind their patients of all of their upcoming appointments and with that confirm their intent to attend. Also you can take advantage of this communication to confirm the appointments to your patients on your end and give them any additional instructions of what they need to do to get ready for the appointment in your medical spa.

6. Fitness centers and their need for SMS features.

Like the retail businesses, fitness centers can benefit by sending SMS messages directly from their gym software to inform of special events and promotions but also to inform about class schedules and confirm attendance from their patrons. And also like the salons and spas you can use this feature to remind your customers of their appointments if they have appointments with trainers or other individuals that help them in their routine.

7. Auto repair shops can also benefit tremendously from these features.

When you have a customer that’s already left a vehicle for repair in your repair shop, you can let them know via text message directly from your repair shop software that their car is ready for pickup or of the status of the repair if anything changes and should it take longer. This is especially useful for customers that don’t have the time to wait while their car is being fixed and perhaps that cannot be bothered with phone calls at work, but they don’t want the slowness of email and want to find out immediately when their car is ready or if there’s any changes to the repair schedule.

8. SMS text messages from a POS system are helpful to event planners as well.

In these types of businesses you can use a text message to give your clients updates and reminders for their orders, whether it be their flowers, directly from the flower shop software, or their dress directly from their bridal store software. And of course if there’s any changes to the planned event schedule or location, you can inform your attendees of any such changes and remind them of these commitments so there’s fewer no shows at your events.

9. Real estate agencies can benefit greatly.

Of course you can use a text messaging feature to inform your clients of any new listings that match their requirements and also to schedule viewings for properties. But also you can use this in a real estate agency settings to send text messages for appointment confirmation purposes, also for sending necessary paperwork or documents.

10. How Medical Offices can benefit from text messaging.

Medical offices, assuming they use a medical spa software with the feature of text messaging or SMS feature, they can first and foremost remind patients of their upcoming appointments and to confirm their intent to attend, but also they can provide the special instructions whether dietary or otherwise, that are important for the client to adhere to, before they attend the appointment. Also like many other businesses mentioned above, Medical Offices can use the medical spa software text messaging feature to inform their patients shall there be any changes in their appointments on the medical office side and also in the end they can send important updates about their completed results and about their health, assuming compliance with all health information regulations and laws.

So as you can see this kind of technology can find use in all kinds of businesses, especially small businesses so make sure your small business point of sale system or software has this feature because you never know when you may need it. And we could have kept this list going to name 200 businesses, but by now we are pretty sure you get the idea. This can improve customer experience, it can reduce missed appointments, it can keep your business running smoothly and efficiently and always full of customers, exactly as you scheduled it to be, and reduce misunderstandings between you and your customers. So whether you’re looking for a restaurant software, a nail salon management software, a grocery store software, a spa software, a bar software, a deli software, it doesn’t matter, just make sure it has this feature and you will be glad you did.