Text Request Adds Texting to Business Landline, VOIP, Toll-Free Numbers

In 2011 American sent a record high 2.3 trillion texts, and by 2015 it had declined to 1.9 trillion texts, according to the industry trade group CTIA. While telecoms have been scrambling trying to keep up with the disruption of mobile messaging apps, they have been evolving to use this medium more efficiently across all devices with new use cases. Text Request, a provider of cloud-based live text conversation platform, has announced a new number hosting service that is going to allow organizations to add the Text Request dashboard to their existing landline, VOIP, and toll-free numbers without changing the current phone service for free.

Just a few years back carriers were charging $.10 or more to send a message through SMS, this resulted in the market creating a better alternative, thus the messaging apps were born. And now companies like TextRequest are using the technology to give organizations a cheap and effective way to address the engagement consumers are looking for.

Text Request was created to leverage the power of mobile technology along with the flexibility and scalability of cloud to provide businesses with a simpler way to engage with their customers. The platform was built to give organizations a way in which they can carry a two-way text conversation from any desktop or mobile device. Businesses in the United States and Canada have used it for lead generation, sales, customer service, internal communication, collections, follow-ups, reviews, and more.

"Text Request is like Outlook for texting. We've taken the personalization, speed, and preference of typical text messaging, like what you do with your friends, and added all the organizational oversight, security, and customizations a business might need, including tags and BCC group texts," said Text Request co-founder and CEO Brian Elrod.

Text Request works by giving a business a unique local number to send and receive text from an online account, which are designed to be simple, personal, and powerful. Once the account has been established, you can send and receive text in real-time, right from your Internet enabled device. You can now connect with your customers directly and through text.

The platform has a wide range of features so businesses can address their communications needs without having to use another application. This includes group messaging, picture messaging, message forwarding, automated away message, advanced search options and more.

As more organizations make mobile part of their ecosystem, using all the capabilities of this technology is crucial to fully engage with today's customer base. According to Smart Insights, fewer than 30 percent of emails are opened, while 96 percent of texts are read within four minutes. And with more than 60 percent of website views taking place on mobile devices, texting is the quickest, cheapest and most efficient way to engage with this audience.

Edited by Maurice Nagle