Just Launched: Two-way Messaging in the Netherlands

Traditionally, the Dutch have always been very open-minded about new technologies. And the mobile phone is no exception with the country currently enjoying an 81 percent smartphone penetration. That’s 8 out of every 10 people in the Netherlands who have a mobile phone in their hands regularly, presenting a massive opportunity for businesses – especially now that Clickatell has launched two-way long numbers across the Netherlands.

What does that mean?

Well, now the recipients of regular B2C communications can reply directly to your messages allowing for meaningful two-way conversations between your business and its customers.

Two-way messaging has enormous ramifications on marketing trends. If you’re able to have a conversation with your customer, then it follows that you’re able to ask them what they want and deliver it. This is huge for customer-business relationships and will change the way you do business. You’ll go from marketing the way you think you need to market, to marketing the way your customers want you to market. It’s a convenient way to make your business as accessible as possible to your customers.

How does two-way messaging work?

Two-way messaging uses local long numbers. These are numbers that enable your customers to respond directly to your messages. The numbers are about the same length as a standard local phone number but are more cost effective than other forms of two-way communication. And the best part is that the cost of sending a text to your business sits with the person sending it, which means your business keeps its expenses down while receiving greater rewards for your offerings.

This form of communication is tailor-made for the business-client relationship. It allows your business to send personalised communication to your customers who want to receive it. There’s no need to build a relationship first. The customers receiving your messages are doing so because they want to. Much like people can opt in or out of seeing messages on their Facebook feeds by liking a business page, so it is with two-way messaging. If a customer doesn’t want to receive your communication, they’ll simply opt out.

But there are other benefits. The short format of an SMS forces both the business and the customer to be concise in what they communicate. This means that both are getting clearer, more focused messages. Customers don’t have to waste time reading through unnecessary messaging and businesses can tell immediately what it is their customer is after.

4 quick ways you can use your local long number to grow your business in the Netherlands:

Banking alerts: Two-way messaging is the perfect way to send alerts to customers about important activity in their banking accounts. If a customer suspects any unusual activity, they can respond to your long number to receive more information about the transaction.

Customer surveys: Allowing customers to rate your products or services by simply replying to your messages is a great way to measure your customer satisfaction levels while gaining valuable feedback.

Polling campaigns: Similarly, two-way messaging is a very cost effective way to gather votes in a polling campaign allowing you to measure customer loyalty, collect data, or understand what your customers want most.

Competitions: A great way to identify new leads and build up your customer database is to get your audience to enter a competition by replying to your promotional messages with their name and phone number.

If you’re interested in learning more about how to get started with two-way messaging in the Netherlands, have a look at our interactive pricing estimator where you’ll find all you need to know about pricing and areas of coverage.