Any successful business will have multiple ways of communicating with its customers. You may find yourself wondering how chat and text message options compare and which is best for your interactions with customers.
Both of these will play a role in your communication and marketing strategies for most businesses. You may just use them in slightly different ways or to varying extents. Take a closer look at the differences between messaging over text versus chat to understand better how you can use each.
What are chat messages?
Chat messages are messages that are sent over the internet. Examples include live chat, webchat, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp.
One important characteristic is that you do not need a cellphone plan for chats. Using live chats only requires an internet connection, whether that is Wi-Fi, ethernet, or data.
What is text messaging?
The most significant difference between texting and messaging apps is that texting takes place with a mobile application on your smartphone. It does require a cellphone plan, but it does not require an internet connection.
You can easily use SMS messaging for both transactional messages and promotional messages. Examples of transactional messages would be payment requests, answering questions, and payment reminders. Examples of promotional messages would be SMS marketing, such as announcing sales or sharing discounts.
Notably, text messaging and chats are different. That being said, some of the best live chat software will let you transfer chat conversations from your website to text messages. Podium is one of these tools. This may seem like a minor ability, but it offers significant benefits, as clients often prefer to communicate over text.
