As essential businesses continue to deliver services during the ongoing pandemic, their normal operational flows can be overwhelmed by crisis conditions. Quite simply, in an effort to perform their functions safely and efficiently, they may not have time to manage some of their other daily tasks, including paying regular attention to email and other communications.
But, those communications are often an essential component of customer and staff management, especially now, when information timing is essential to ensuring worker and customer safety, as well as simply managing customer needs and relationships.
Doctors, for instance, are under a significantly greater burden that normally, having to treat patients with all sorts of conditions, while preventing the spread of the coronavirus. That may mean having to communicate office hours and policies to patients, or sending appointment updates as needed. Many restaurants and other food service providers are offering delivery or pickup services, and need to communicate with customers regarding their orders. Teachers may need to communicate with their students regarding coursework or online learning arrangements. Leadership teams within any business might need to communicate organizational updates to essential employees. There are countless situations where communication is critical, but phone and email simply aren’t the most viable option.
Text messaging, on the other hand, can get information to employees or customers quickly, even if they are unable to check email or answer the phone immediately. Research also shows that text messages have a much more immediate read rate than email, making it more effective for communicating important information. SMS provide a simple response mechanism that people are understand and for which they don’t need a separate app or device.
“Right now, when essential workers are already operating at maximum capacity, real-time, accessible communication is more important than ever,” said Andrew Kimmell, CMO and Co-founder of TextUs. “Text messaging is the most efficient communication channel for conversations requiring fast, timely responses.”
TextUs offers a business text messaging solution on a scalable platform that allows companies to communicate with staff and customers in real time, ensuring faster delivery and timely response capability. Importantly, during a crisis, SMS may be the easiest and most effective way to engage with customers – and it works both ways, ensuring customers have a way of contacting your businesses with any questions or concerns.
“Given the current pandemic, TextUs has enabled us to communicate quickly to hundreds of our staff about work assignments, address issues day and night, and stay connected even with our remote team members,” said Bruce Weinberg, assistant vice president, Nursing Workforce Management at Ochsner Health System. “This application has been instrumental in how we communicate with our front line employees.”
TextUs is offering its platform to essential businesses at no cost through Q2 2020, to help them more effectively manage staff and customer communications as they help overcome this pandemic.
Edited by
Erik Linask
