New Web Banners for National Text Platform - 898211

Exciting news! We have added several new web banners to the ftp website, which is available here: 211 Folder for 898211 Services on PreventionPays

You may download and use any of these for your agency's marketing/outreach strategy. Simply go to the FTP and click the folder: "Sample JPG Banners/Promotional Materials" All files are high resolution and can be modified using an editing application like Photoshop or Illustrator.

With text, agencies are now reaching demographics across all age groups and use rates keep climbing. According to PEW Research, adult cell phone owners text more than they use any other function on their phone, more than social media, web browsing, apps, and calling. Making a voice call is #6 on that list. Who would've thought that one day we would all have smart phones where we are using them for doing virtually everything EXCEPT placing voice calls? We're seeing these trends in real time and the data is fascinating and supports the behavior we've all been experiencing already in our personal lives. This paradigm shift in communication needs is now reverberating across social services. Gen Y and Millennials are the biggest users of SMS, but older groups, Gen X, and now Baby Boomers are a close second.  The 65 and older group has grown by a factor of 3 in just the last year!  2-1-1 contact centers are now being texted by seniors on a daily basis! Veterans (of all ages/demographics) love that they can text their local 211 for help finding resources that are tailored to their unique needs. They appreciate the convenience and ease of texting... that help to critical, life-saving resources are just a click away, that help is truly at their fingertips!

Your 211 may use any of these new banners. Just let us know with a quick email. Also, if you need to modify them, a staff with a little experience with Photoshop can easily manage those changes. Replace the logo with your agency's logo or modify any of the text. The files are very easy to alter. If you bump into an issue, you can contact us here at PreventionPays Text, just email "support@preventionpaystext.com" with your need. In most cases we've modified the banners at no additional cost! (Depending on the complexity, we may charge a small graphics fee... far less than if you were to design these in house and from scratch).

Please send comments and questions to us! We want to help. A good call to action and launch plan is the first step to building awareness about your text service and getting the word out that your agency is Text-Enabled! Are you just getting started and would like to learn more about the "call to action"? Check out our past blog posts 

Do you have news about your program? A successful launch or a specialized use case that demonstrates an exciting, new engagement strategy that you want to share with others? Just send us an email and we'll consider it for publication on our blog! Email jonathan@emsmail.org and include the subject "Best Case Use Scenario" or "Case Study Submission" We love to talk about the successes of our clients and partners. In fact, we only blog about what our clients do with PreventionPays so please send us your "Best Case Use Scenario!" and we'll blog about it!

2-1-1 and Enterprise Text Messaging on 898211

Text message I&R services and regional community alerts are helping change the 211 landscape through increased capacity, efficiency and expanded reach to underserved populations and the ever-growing population of individuals who prefer text for their primary channel. 211s and blended sites (crisis/I&R) are finding text is quickly becoming their most important communication platform in their suite of services.  PreventionPays Text and 898211 (aka TXT211) offer 211s a web-based texting platform built for 211 services and is understood as such by all mobile carriers in the US. In addition to text based I&R and regional alerts, 211s on 898211 are demonstrating increased capacity and efficiency in the following ways:

• I&R Specialists manage multiple sms encounters simultaneously

• Phone-2-Text Referrals to one or more callers

• Regional alerts to entire populations by zip code or other program keyword

• Automate triage for more qualified encounters

• Conduct fully automated follow-ups to obtain survey data and other information often required by their funders

The service can save staff time and curtail missed calls.  Traditional telephone support requires a 1-to-1 responder to client ratio, whereas 898211 has demonstrated instances where a single specialist is managing 5+ encounters concurrently.  Adding text will help with declining voice call volumes because more clients are texting 211. Text will increase response times due to the unique nature of sms communication; the natural ebb and flow of sms dialogue is synergistic with the I&R service delivery paradigm. Text will also open the door to new funding sources, as we will discuss further in this post.

What does this mean to your 211?

Adding text is a simple solution that will change how your 211 contact center operates. With the addition of texting, your resources are instantly mobilized.  Texting opens channels to grant dollars for government and local initiatives pertaining to group specific health programs, and disaster relief services e.g. veterans, youth, deaf and hard of hearing, and homeless to name just a few.  As a backup to 911 during disasters, and a conduit for rapid communications on behalf of federal agencies like HRSA, CDC, FEMA it’s imperative 211 maximize its reach to all demographics.  SMS reaches across all groups like no other communication channel and does not discriminate.  PreventionPays platform increases reach to many of the most disadvantaged and difficult to reach groups.  For many, their cell phone is their lifeline, the last link they have to human services.  898211 will increase responder efficiencies, while decreasing missed calls.  The system further supports fully automated follow-up surveys so that 211s can collect data required by their funders without having to expend precious staff time making calls to people who don’t answer their phones.  Your I&R specialists should be doing what they do best – linking individuals and their families to critical resources. 

Key FAQs about PreventionPays Text Services and 898211 Tier 1 Short Code:

The short code, 898211 and platform "PreventionPays Text" have been chosen as the National Platform by United Way Worldwide. Currently, 898211 is used by more nearly 50% of the 211s in the U.S. Watch the Nationally broadcasted webinar 

The Short code 898211 is provisioned as a Tier 1 meaning complete coverage across all mobile carriers in the U.S. with enhanced capacity like carrier grade message tracking and auto-retry.

PreventionPays is the only text solution that supports both two-way text dialogue and regional alerts under a single intuitive, easy-to-use dashboard.

Enhanced services include fully automated referrals via the OnDemand Utility (completely unique to the PreventionPays Platform)

Carriers have provisioned 898211 on their gateways to function in two very specific ways, as 211 I&R and 211 Disaster/Health & Safety Alerts 

898211 strictly follows all CTIA and FCC guidelines with fully automated opt-in/out protocols

Customized and scalable Phone-2-Text referrals to single or multiple mobile numbers -broaden your engagement and count the work your doing!  Every outgoing message is faithfully recorded and archived.  Upload, send and analyze the beautiful data!

End user privacy is always protected with fully automated opt-in/out protocols

Message tracking and auto-retry protocols: all messages you send through 898211 will receive a delivery receipt from the carrier once the message is delivered to their client’s mobile phone. In the event that it can’t be delivered, the system will auto-retry every 5 minutes until delivery is confirmed. We remove the mystery by giving you the most accurate information attainable for A2P texting. The system keeps track of every message so that your staff don't have to. Simple.

Not all mobile phones can call 2-1-1, but every mobile phone can send a text to 898211.

Provides a lifeline for under-served populations including youth, hearing/speech impaired, homeless and/or temporarily displaced (where their mobile phone is their only link to social services)

898211 is provisioned with inherent routing - each site is responsible for a specific set of zip codes (mirroring the structures already in place under 211 and United Way funding mechanisms)

898211 supports overlap coverage without duplicate responses!

898211 supports 211’s primary aim to provide consistent service to anyone, anywhere, anytime (text messaging is the most versatile, durable and consistent form of communication)

898211 is ideal for post disaster alerts, getting people connected with resources when it matters the most.  Even when web and telephonic services are down, text messages survive the most devastating disasters, as witnessed with Katrina, Haiti, Chile and Japan. In all those cases, text was instrumental in saving lives even while the normal communication infrastructureswere down.

SMS was originally created for the armed services, a small, simplistic set of characters sent and received in the most war-torn regions, a more reliable alternative to short wave radio, CB, web, or telephonic devices

898211 is registered as a 211 service with cell phone carriers, and is bound by CTIA and carrier guidelines to always function according to two levels of service:  Two-way I&R support and Regional Community Alerts (push, group text)

Contact us today for a demo! Learn why text is the most critical communication upgrade for 211s! Learn why 898211 is the service of choice by providers and their funders. 

For a demo email info@preventionpaystext.com

Need help from your local 2-1-1? Text your zip code to 898211

The Science of Live Help by Text - Defining the Encounter

We are now tracking all encounters as having the following characteristics:

1. An optin, initial text from end user requesting live help

2. An outgoing text (hand-typed or canned that is sent by a responder)

3. Close case  

Each of these series are now being tracked and recorded in the system with unique ID numbers. You can find a record of your encounters by going to the "Home" page - aggregate stats with graphs showing total incoming/outgoing sms and the total encounters. Home page is meant to be a snapshot of your daily, weekly, monthly, yearly activity on the system. Additionally, there's a specific report called "Encounters" that has the following columns: "encounter ID" "phone number" "no of outgoings" "no of incomings" "duration" and "status"

This report will help document the work you're doing in a way that is consistent and therefore, measurable. Additionally, you'll be able to use your encounter data for research. You can still count your encounters however you like. This layer of service is meant to help with that so that you can use the encounter data as a starting place and build from there.  

We will be updating the pdf that describes each of the reports to include a description of the encounters report. You can start to run reports now. Go to Reports tab, and then click the sub tab "automated reports" select the report called "Encounters" and then choose the frequency: daily, weekly, monthly, every 6 months or last year.  Then click "create report". Your report will be ready for download according to the run schedule. You can create an ad-hoc report that goes back as far as a year with a custom time-frame. Under the reports tab, select the sub tab "manual" and then select "Encounters" then choose the timeframe and click "create report".

If you have any questions about this or other new features/functionality, contact "support@preventionpaystext.com"! 

The Explosion of Text As a Two-Way Communication Tool

Mobile phones are ubiquitous and have opened doors in how relationships can be developed and maintained between two people, between groups of people, and between organizations and businesses and their clients.

Organizations have identified the mobile phone as a tool for massive and scalable communication with their clients via text with the idea that this is a quick and easy communication method to better engage individuals in their community.  

Over 80% of U.S. adults own a smart phone and over 95% of clients who agree to receive text messages from an agency/organization open those messages within the first three minutes of receiving them. It makes sense that these same organizations are dramatically increasing their investment in this type of communication.

The question is: Does an opened text message mean a relationship has developed?

In terms of building a relationship, the most ideal scenario is for two individuals to have in-person conversations to learn about each other, but this method is neither cost nor time effective for an organization to employ. So, how can text messaging be used to build relationships with individuals while serving communities of thousands, even millions?

There are several strategies that take advantage of the use of text messaging to interact with clients. Two common strategies are:

One-way Messaging: This strategy serves to disseminate information. In terms of building relationships, however, it is impossible to do so with a human being via one-way communication. 

Two-way text messaging without adaptations: This strategy involves participating in two-way conversations but never adapting the content of the messages. When trying to build a relationship, a participant in a conversation will become frustrated if the responses he/she receives indicate that the other party is not listening. Imagine if someone asks you what you want to drink, you respond juice, and then they give you a soda—how frustrating, right?

The Most Successful Approaches Embrace Adaptability Through a Fusion of Tailored, Automated Texts and Live One-On-One Responses

So, what is "adaptability"?  Our clients manage thousands of conversations with customers every day via text. This knowledge has taught us that there are certain characteristics that are essential to using text messaging as a tool to build and strengthen client relationships. These features foster quality communication while maintaining low costs and allowing for scalability to thousands, even millions of clients:

Two-Way: Again, a good relationship is based on two-way communication between both parties involved. If the client does not have the opportunity to express his/herself, it is no surprise that he/she would not feel included in the relationship. The provider also loses the opportunity to listen to the client. Client feedback represents elements of their personal stories.  If a client decides to share pieces of their personal story, that information should be treated as an opportunity to better understand your client as a person.

Adaptable: Two-way communication can be a missed opportunity if the content of the messages do not match the information the client shares. In a relationship, it is important to remember that the client's perspective is personal and that people are dynamic and can change their minds. Using their personal responses to send tailored content to them lets them know that they are being heard. Adaptability allows for messages to be based on client feedback and to change over time as needed.

Giving the Client Control: SMS marketing campaigns decide what clients will talk about and what time they will talk about it, instead of letting the client decide. In a relationship, it is important to have opportunities where each side can decide the content of their conversations.

Individualized: Many agencies and organizations see the value of text messaging as an opportunity for mass communication. While text messaging is a good tool for that purpose, if the goal is to build relationships, it is necessary to take a much more individualized approach. In a good relationship, each participant responds to comments and specific questions of one another in a personalized way.

And it's these relationships that we encourage and support through our highly effective, efficient and customizable two-way text messaging platform. Engage, educate and empower individuals in your community through the medium your clients use every day.

Embrace two-way texting today!