Insights

VIDEO: A Deeper Look at Texting to Toll-Free from #TFUS17

Nov 13, 2017

Toll-Free texting represents one of the strongest value propositions of Toll-Free Numbers today. Industry leaders gathered together to speak on a panel at the 2017 Toll-Free User Summit in Chicago, IL, to investigate how texting can increase a Toll-Free Number’s impact and why more organizations should make texting to Toll-Free Numbers a part of their business.

Moderated by Ann Berkowitz, Somos’ CAO and joined by Vale Staffieri, Sr. Product Manager, four panelists participated in the Texting to Toll-Free Numbers panel at the 2017 Toll-Free User Summit, covering the latest news and ideas around texting over Toll-Free Numbers.

Watch the full session below:

To introduce the panel, Staffieri described how texting to Toll-Free Numbers will serve as a future source of growth for the Toll-Free Industry.

Currie stated that adding an extra communication channel by text enabling a Toll-Free Number is an easy process. Only a small percentage of Toll-Free Numbers are text enabled today, which opens the opportunity for Responsible Organizations (Resp Orgs) and Service Registrars to initiate their customers into the world of texting.

Mendelsohn cited one customer that has already seen a 25% increase in customer feedback just by providing the option to either call or text the business’ Toll-Free Number.

“If you’re incorporating all your channels together, it’s important the level of customer service is the same across each channel,” Mendelsohn said. “We have a set of  Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that we’re constantly adding to for developers to integrate SMS and Voice into their applications … brands want to be able to initiate the outbound conversation.”

Donohue stated she noticed a rise in trends around new uses of Toll-Free Numbers in the area of business-to-consumer texting.

“We’re seeing a trend of threaded messaging — it’s more congruent to conversational messaging,” Donohue said.

“A lot of independent software vendors are text enabling Toll-Free Numbers … and they’re unleashing a new communication channel with their customers, such as car dealerships, insurance companies, and natural disaster relief,” Johnson said.

Texting over Toll-Free Numbers is gaining traction in the world of customer communications, and the industry will continue to follow the example of the Resp Orgs and Service Registrars leading the charge in texting innovations.

Somos is grateful for the panel participants who contributed their knowledge to this year’s Summit, and thanks the audience members who also joined the panel discussions this year. Make sure to join us next year at the 2018 Toll-Free User Summit in Las Vegas!

Click here to watch the recording of other 2017 Toll-Free User Summit Sessions.