Businesses are Using Textlocal to Send Crisis Comms and Go Digital During COVID-19

The outbreak of COVID-19 has created an urgent need for crisis communications, remote working, and rapid digitalization. We’ve been helping our customers – govt agencies, educational institutions, NGOs, hospitals, retailers, corporates, media, logistics/delivery companies, and financial firms – send effective communications and go digital. We will discuss a few of these solutions here. If you need any assistance in getting started with these, please reach out to your account manager or our support team (support@textlocal.in), and we’ll be happy to help.

Enable Online Education for Stay-at-home Students 
With staff and students at home and classrooms empty, online classes have become the new normal. Hundreds of schools, colleges, and software providers such as iGuru Services, Gait View Technophiles, and Udayat Solutions now support online tutoring, and use Textlocal to send classroom updates, course material (via attachments), OTPs, invitations, and reminders to join online classrooms.

Offline and Online Retailers share Critical Operational Updates 
A wide range of retailers – from Sid’s Farm to Subway – have been keeping their customers, employees, and vendors updated with changed operational hours, product stock alerts, and delivery availability via Textlocal. The humble SMS plays a key role in ensuring fulfillment and delivery of essentials such as groceries, vegetables, sanitizers, diapers, and medicines to end users. A few of these retailers even provide on-demand information when they receive SMS queries from customers e.g. A customer can get the local branch opening hours by simply texting in their pin-code.

Helping Hospitals with Remote Consultations
Many hospitals such as Yashoda Hospitals and Fernandez Hospitals have started offering online patient consultations (for limited categories) given the higher levels of risk with in-person consultations. Textlocal plays an integral role in the communication strategy here with timely appointment updates and reminders, online appointment links, COVID-19 related information, and detailed post-consultation surveys. Using eClinic, a product by Webex CPAAS Solution, hospitals and healthcare professionals can even offer instant one-to-one video consultations.

Financial Institutes send EMI Deferment Texts and Opt-in Borrowers
Following RBI advisory guidelines, financial firms used Textlocal for sending EMI deferment texts to borrowers and even opting them into the scheme. With Textlocal, banks and NBFCs can seamlessly send large-scale personalized campaigns and provide an easy opt-in mechanism with a missed call number or a virtual number (to receive SMS). Note that SMS has 5x the read-rates of other channels such as email, and is often the most effective way to reach out to customers and stay compliant. 

Publishers and Media Organizations go Digital  
Daily newspapers like the Deccan Chronicle use Textlocal SMS to share their e-paper weblink, and OTPs to authenticate the reader. With Textlocal shortlinks, publishers can track click rates of their newspapers along with information on who clicked the link and the click timestamp. Some media organizations have also run Textlocal SMS surveys to gauge public sentiment in the current crisis.

Employee, Staff, and Customer Communications
From SMBs to MNCs, restaurants to food delivery apps, schools and colleges to government offices, hospitals to banks, a wide range of businesses and organizations use SMS to keep their stakeholders updated with WFH options, safety precautions, and business continuity plans. E.g. Automobile and battery companies sent tips/information on maintenance during the lockdown period. With reduced support staff in many call centers, several businesses notified their customers of alternate support channels such as chat and mail. HR departments also used inbound SMS and missed call numbers to check in with employees on their health and remote work requirements.