Business text messaging is a type of SMS marketing campaign that can help grow a business. A lot of small business owners think business text messaging to be effective only for businesses with a big budget. A survey suggested that text messages have an approximately 20% of click-through rate and are read on an average of five seconds. It is one of the most effective methods to reach out to the customers. If you own a small business, here are five reasons why you should use business text messaging if you own small business: Better customer service: Using text messaging services makes it easier follow-up appointments and help determine the quality of service. It also helps to quickly identify problems that might have occurred while implementing the service. Business text messaging helps a business increase its loyalty and earn a high Net Promoter Score (NPS). More sales and faster responses: Enabling “click-to-message” at all locations makes it easier for business owners to engage with their customers. Business text messaging helps to receive messages from customers almost immediately, leading to better sales and in-store visits. Grow your business: Quite often a customer who wants to get in touch with you regarding an urgent purchase might not be able to because of busy phone lines. Business text messaging makes onboarding customers easy for a business. A customer service tied down with phone calls can find this arrangement helpful, as customers can get in touch with the business representatives by simply dropping a text. Handling sensitive conversations: There are businesses that deal with sensitive services, take for instance funeral home and cremation services. It can be difficult for the business to talk to people dealing with a loss of a loved one. Thus, business text messaging can be helpful for handling a sensitive conversation. Saving time and money: Calling up customers to fix appointments can take up a lot of time of your business. This requires a separate phone service set-up and manpower, resulting in overshooting the budget of your business. Business text messaging saves a considerable amount of time, as it is faster and economical to text message a customer to fix an appointment rather than calling them personally.

Ever wonder what this frequently used term blood glucose actually does? If not, here's your answer! Blood glucose (blood sugar), is an element present in the blood that carries sugar to all the body cells, so that they can create energy for physical/mental functions. And naturally this energy (formerly sugar) is a derived from the food that we eat. But at times the body loses its ability to produce insulin, which is important for breaking down the glucose in the body. And in such a condition one develops an autoimmune disease, which is known as diabetes. Diabetes can severely disrupt a person's life, as it can trigger other serious conditions related to eyes, heart, kidneys, nerves, etc. But this can only happen if an individual is careless about their lifestyle. With great food habits, ample of exercise and positive attitude one can easily lead a normal life. And to achieve this one has to regularly take blood glucose tests. Although everyone is advised to maintain a healthy balance of sugar in the body, a diabetic individual mandatorily needs to keep an eye on the glucose levels. They can monitor their diabetes condition by regularly conducting a blood glucose test. Most people with diabetes ideally must check their blood levels every day. This is because then they can effectively manage their dietary schedules, exercises and medications. A diabetic patient needs a glucose meter aka glucometer to measure their sugar levels in blood. It is a brilliant device that can effectively help you maintain self-discipline as well as accuracy. The device comes in a kit which has a log diary, lancets and small needles. The glucometer is extremely simple to use and handle. You just need to ensure two things while you're using the glucose meter. Firstly, make sure that you clean your hands with soap, as you don't want initiate any form of contamination in your blood stream. Secondly try not to share your kit with anyone or use someone else's kit, as it can be infected. Preferably you must maintain a log diary, this will not just aid you but also your doctor who can analyze your progress accordingly. Usually for a fasting test, normal level of blood glucose ranges around 70 to 100 milligrams per deciliter. On the other hand, when it comes to a random blood glucose test, it must ideally fall under the range 125 milligrams per deciliter. If you observe anything beyond this level, then you must immediately consult your doctor to gain more perspective about your condition.

Customer Resource Management (CRM) software is a vital tool for any business that deals with clients or customers. It is especially relevant in the retail arena, as customers are the central point of such businesses, and customer related data needs to be integrated with other data like sales and inventory to ensure the best service.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software

CRM is important whether you are a small business or a large enterprise. When you are dealing directly with customers you need and build a relationship with them for repeat business. You must also provide excellent support and send them targeted promotions according to their likes, dislikes, and buying trends.

Choosing the CRM software

A CRM application can integrate lots of modules for different needs according to the number of users and the salesforce management complexity. Large enterprises usually have a robust IT infrastructure, development team, and trained professionals to manage resources efficiently. For these businesses, an in-house proprietary CRM system or a CRM application is the best choice. For small to mid-size businesses, CRM in the form of SaaS or cloud-based service would be ideal. This eliminates the need to invest in a lot of hardware and networking infrastructure. The service provider will set up the necessary storage and databases for you in their own facility. Cloud-based solutions are scalable and you can expand your database as your business grows. Just be sure to spend some time in researching CRM solutions before you choose the SaaS provider.

Additional features

Many CRM services also have other modules for handling inventory, sales, accounting etc. They are built to optimally work with each other, sharing data and processes without compromising security. Even if you purchase other modules from a different vendor, these solutions all have APIs that let you smoothy connect with each other. You can be assured of good integration across departments so that the data can be organized and analyzed according to different needs, to benefit the overall business operations.

CRM software classification

While you can choose the CRM according to your business size and current needs, ensuring scalability is also important. You should determine your main goals and choose your CRM Software accordingly. For instance, if you want a solution that can help your sales and support teams, choose a Salesforce CRM. Pipedrive is a good example of a sales CRM. These analyze leads and select prospective buyers. They can facilitate targeted emails, phone contacts and other campaigns along with after sales support and service. An operational CRM helps you keep track of all customer data including contact details, buying patterns, inquiries about products or services, feedback, and other related data. This helps determine which products the customer would be interested in next. Create targeted emails and other strategies for repeat business. There is campaign management CRM software that helps you design, track, analyze and report on the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. Collaborative CRMs let you share customer-related data across different departments to help streamline processes and devise better business strategies. Bitrix24 is a collaborative CRM tool, It enables the organization to collect and collate customer information across various departments like marketing, sales, technical support etc. For deeper insights into your customer base, go for Analytical CRMs. They can access data from various sources like your salesforce data and customer data, determine the main demographics of your customers, their major preferences etc. These can be fed into Campaign Management CRMs to design better marketing strategies.

Things to remember

When purchasing your CRM Software, be sure that they are mobile ready. Social media capabilities like the ability to integrate with social media APIs to track customer activity and information on these websites is also extremely important. Most CRM Software combine different capabilities in a single solution. Just go through the features and functionalities offered in the CRM suites that you shortlist, and choose the best one for your needs.

You can build your own world in your backyard, and while you are at it, why not make everything creative? Now add a theme to your backyard from start to end so it looks like a whole new world. It can also be your sweet escape at times. By taking a gradual approach, you can actually transform your backyard into anything you like. You just need to be patient and do everything passionately and after some weeks, you can have your own wonderland in the backyard. Here are some theme oriented ideas that you can incorporate. Holiday garden Think of a perfect holiday according to you. If you are a beach person, you can actually create a swimming pool that looks like a mini beach and fill the land with beach sand with mini shacks and a small bar with good sound system installed. Rain forest in the backyard Love nature and greenery? Turn your backyard into a small rain-forest. Fill it with greenery by planting trees and bushes all over with pathways so you can talk a walk in the jungle whenever you like. You may also place big rocks near trees like in actual rain-forest and a mini lagoon that looks natural. Backyard spa Now you don't need to go anywhere for rejuvenation. You can build your own Jacuzzi and sauna bath station in the backyard. This can cost slightly more, but if will be worth every penny. You need to be careful with the wood you choose as it is in the backyard and exposed to the environment outside. Backyard gym Work out in the open in your own backyard can be a whole new experience. While most gym equipment are expensive, you can build a pull-up gear yourself with wood and some carpentry skills. You may also build a wooden shack where you can practice yoga daily and set some health and fitness goals. Organic Garden Purify the soil in your garden and start growing your own fruits and vegetables that are 100 percent organic and naturally grown. You can also inspire others to adapt organic living and choose to live a healthy life. Some of the ideas are cheap and some can be expensive. But to make the most of them all, you need to plan well and plan smartly to cut cost while recreating your backyard.

Pet insurance is purchased to pay the costs incurred in the eventuality of an unexpected expenditure related to the health of the pet. It is best to buy a pet insurance policy when pets are young and healthy. Whatever maybe the species of pet, a cat, dog, horse, turtle, or any other fascinating animal, ensure the insurance plan has an unlimited annual or lifetime coverage. They are the most beneficial in times of need.

• Trupanion pet insurance has one simple plan that covers 90% of veterinary costs as part of their unlimited lifetime insurance coverage with no payout limits or conditions. The insurer pays the veterinarian's bill directly to him after the pet owner pays their portion of it. Expenses covered are for unexpected illnesses and injuries, hereditary and congenital conditions, diagnostic tests, surgeries and hospital stays, medications and veterinary supplements and prosthetic devices. What is not covered is the expected costs like examination fees, wellness and preventive care, and all pre-existing conditions.
• Healthy paws pet insurance is a consistently high rated insurer who provides fantastic customer service. They offer solid insurance coverage for cats and dogs and reimburse the actual cost of the veterinarian’s bill, and additionally, there is no limit as to for what and how many claims a pet owner can make. They have a comprehensive illness and accident coverage with unlimited lifetime benefits. The medical conditions covered by the Healthy Paw pet insurance policy are accidents, all hereditary, chronic and congenital diseases, cancer and dental treatments. Apart from these, diagnostic testing, surgery and hospitalization, prescription medications, emergency and specialty care, alternative care, and even behavioral therapy are the medical treatments covered by this policy.

Since treatment of pets is skyrocketing, it is best to have pet insurance that prevents the need for owners to choose from spending for their treatments or to euthanize them for economic reasons. Depending on what species of pet you own and the kind of illnesses they are prone to, decide on pet insurance plans accordingly. Choose early. Choose wisely.