Perfecting the Art of Conversation: SMS

With more people using smartphones, text messaging or “texting” is becoming the most popular way to communicate. It’s simple, efficient and effective with 95% of texts from businesses being read within 3 minutes of being sent – Forbes. But texting for business purposes is not the same as messaging your friends. It’s good to follow a few basic rules to maintain professionalism.

Avoid abbreviations and emojis

If you are communicating in a professional environment, avoid using abbreviations and emojis because these can come across as informal, and not everyone can be expected to understand what they mean.

Read through the whole message before hitting send

Once you send a text, there’s no way to get it back. It’s always worth taking a few extra seconds to re-read the message and check for errors, especially if your messaging platform doesn’t have a spellchecker.

Be concise

Text messages are best kept short and simple. If you find yourself writing a more than a few lines, or if you expect a lot of back and forth, you might want to consider sending an email or having a phone call instead. As a rule of thumb, follow the 140-character tweet length limit to ensure messages are kept brief.

Beware of your tone

With only text in messages, tone can easily be misinterpreted. The last thing you want is for someone to get the wrong idea and become upset. Try avoiding short, blunt statements, and instead use polite language.

Only text when it’s appropriate

Nobody wants to find out they have lost their job via a text message. Likewise, if you have good news, a text might dull down the excitement. Understand when a text is or isn’t appropriate and use accordingly.

Only text at appropriate times

Consider the timing of your text message too. Getting sent a work-related text outside of work hours could be considered impolite. It would be even worse to be woken up in the middle of the night. Always think about the context of the message you are sending and if it needs to be sent urgently or it can wait until a more appropriate time.

One text is enough

If you’re not getting a response, it’s probably because the person on the other end is busy. Sending multiple messages is not going to make them reply quicker and will most likely come across as rude.

Always respond to text messages

If someone has sent you a message, they expect a response. Even if it’s just acknowledging the message has been received and understood. Likewise, if you are done with the conversation, let them know.

Message Templates

If you are sending texts for business purposes, you may find it frustrating to send the same message repeatedly. In this situation it can be extremely helpful to create message templates to save time and keep the quality consistent.