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The way customers choose to communicate has undergone a major transformation. Now that text is the preferred method of communication, businesses need to keep up with their customers' preferences. Initiatives such as toll-free text and aggregated solutions offered by Yappy are improving customer experience and helping all types of business to stay one step ahead of the communications curve.
If you’re unfamiliar with Yappy, it is an all-encompassing messaging platform designed to streamline all facets of consumer-to-business communication and interaction. Yappy integrates your SMS text, web chat, and Facebook messenger into an easy-to-use, business-focused channel.
Yappy for Business addresses communication challenges that organizations face on a day-to-day basis and improves overall operations. Any company looking to remain competitive and offer exceptional customer service will want to adopt an all-in-one solution due to its impact on your enterprise as a whole.
Originally started as a personal use communication tool, Yappy for Business allows users to send and receive SMS/MMS messages to and from multiple PCs, web browsers, and XMPP clients. The concept for Yappy was born out of a need to simplify engagement and ease communication in a market lacking a reliable SMS from PC option.
Before you ask whether or not your organization needs a unified business messaging solution, you may be asking yourself “What is it?”
Simply put, Yappy is a unified business messaging solution, combining real-time applications—instant messaging, Facebook Messenger, and SMS—with interactive data and desktop sharing with communication management services. Essentially, Yappy is a host of communication solutions working together to provide you and your customers with an enhanced experience across multiple platforms.
So, Whats the Problem?
Let’s face it—in today's digitally-obsessed culture, notifications and alerts are everywhere you look, and even in some places you don't. With the majority of our social interactions digitalized, it has become a full-time job to follow up with texts, chats, emails, and Facebook messages while also prioritizing where you spend your time.
It's no surprise that communication is one of the greatest obstacles to succeed in the business world today. To be successful, you need to reach out to potential customers, contact existing customers, and spread your brand's awareness, all simultaneously.
The key to reaching people is to utilize the best channels for your industry. You could spend several months and approximately $270,000 to develop an enterprise app, but the statistics tell us that 77% of users stop using an app within three days of downloading it. You could call each customer, but today's consumers don’t trust automated systems, and unrecognized phone numbers typically go straight to voicemail. With only 10% of emails ever being opened and spam filters detecting emails addressed to hundreds or thousands of people, your email blast efforts are essentially a waste of time.
Many organizations are taking advantage of unified business messaging technology to improve operations and enhance communications related to customer service, sales and marketing, operations, IT administration, and employee relations.
The YAPPY Solution
Yappy was built to withstand the unique issues of enterprise demands, yet be simplistic enough to integrate seamlessly into existing workflows; this solution allows you and your team to untether from all of the various methods of communication and work reliably with Yappy's business-focused features.
However, Yappy doesn’t just integrate all of your communication channels into one singular interface; the solution also provides the tools to efficiently manage and report on those connection channels. You are able to use the raw data of an incoming text, chat, or Facebook message to turn it into customer context that can be used to solve problems, sell products and services, and create customer sentiment and loyalty.
Imagine how much easier navigating a complex technical issue would be if the user could generate a custom response or use text to send pictures, diagrams, and/or written directions within the context of a voice conversation. Yappy alerts lead to significantly reduced talk time and an increase in the number of agent-to-customer engagements.
Yappy also allows users to operate in full-text mode where engagements begin and end with text. Unlike voice calls and their one-on-one nature of communication, agents can process several text conversations at the same time.
Additionally, the intuitive Yappy interface allows team members to intercept customer inquiries early on with custom features such as caller ID, CRM, and geographic tracking. Your agents will have the tools to manage, assign, transfer, and defer to a personalized response text message when high wait times might otherwise drive customers away.
Key Differentiators
With user experience becoming the new standard across all business platforms, customers continue to control how they prefer to communicate with who they do business with. Yappy provides a solution to deliver an excellent customer interaction whenever, wherever, and however your customer desires it.
Notifications:
Yappy can be used to automate bulk SMS notifications. Think of all the appointment reminders and "Thank you" courtesy messages to customers that use your services. One of the most beneficial aspects of notifications is their ability to be embedded within an existing business application. Used in conjunction with desktop messaging, any subsequent replies to text messages can be sent directly to live agents who can then offer specialized customer insight and real-time support.
Desktop and PC Messaging:
This solution enables SMS, MMS, and IM messaging using a desktop computer. Designed especially for customer service and sales agents, this solution gives busy employees access to multiple, simultaneous communication channels in one, easily managed place.
Most importantly, desktop messaging does not require any further contact center software. This allows Yappy to act as a standalone solution for companies that want to text-enable agents without the added expense of additional vendors and services. In other words, this service is a powerful solution for businesses that may want to add text processing at an affordable cost.
In order to run a more efficient company, it is important that you prevent your employees from spending hours struggling to properly communicate, or wasting time trying to get in touch with the right person to complete tasks. Unified business messaging solutions are loaded with features and benefits that enhance communication internally and externally, making it easier for employees to get in touch with colleagues and customers, saving both time and money.
Instant messaging integration:
Another key component of unified business messaging is the integration of IM. Yappy improves company collaboration by allowing you to integrate your preferred IM platform; this eases the process of sharing information quickly and means employees can complete tasks faster.
Examples by Industry
Today's businesses are faced with a more demanding customer base than ever. Customers expect to be able to get help, reschedule appointments, and get status updates via electronic channels.
Many industries, such as retail and food services, have already established channels for sending text message alerts and messages that improve their customer’s experience. Amazon, for example, offers text alerts for deliveries so you always know when your package is arriving. Restaurants like GrubHub send out text alerts when a restaurant receives your order and when the food is sent out for delivery. This SMS feature is ideal for any service industry use, keeping your customer up-to-date no matter where they are.
Most companies already use outbound MMS to establish a list of subscribers that make their engagement with customers and employees more compelling. MMS is the perfect carrier for sending promotional messages and delivering confirmation numbers, mobile tickets, boarding passes, banking alerts, store coupons and receipts, up and coming sales and promotions, and healthcare appointment reminders.
Many of these businesses are also creating equally valuable ways to use inbound MMS for a variety of operational use cases such as travel expenses as well as for insurance claims and prescription refills.
Any business that involves the delivery of content such as a ticket, purchase receipt, picture, or promotion, or coupon is an ideal candidate for MMS. Rather than have your employee or customer spend time describing an issue, mailing in a form, or finding a scanner to digitize and send in a document, simply allow them to use their phone to take a picture and text it in.
Inbound MMS
- Insurance companies allowing customers to file home and auto repair claims by sending in a picture of the damaged property
- Financial institutions allowing customers to make a deposit by sending in a photo of their check
- Pharmacies are permitting customers to refill a prescription by sending a picture of the order or simply replying to an automated text informing them that the prescription is due for a refill
- Retailers can send receipts, advertisements, promotions, offers, coupons, product notifications, and customer surveys
- Healthcare providers can send health and wellness tips as well as appointment reminders to patients
- Customer service agents can send customer service appointment reminders, order updates, shipping alerts, product or service updates, and bill reminders
- Airlines and travel agencies can send boarding passes, flight updates, and hotel check-in confirmations
- Restaurants can send out promos and coupons, special deal alerts, and customer satisfaction surveys
How Can YAPPY Help Your Business?
Unified messaging solutions can provide your business with fast and flexible communication options, which is something every business requires to remain competitive in today’s market.
Marketing and Promotions - With almost 100% of text messages open and read within minutes, there’s no better way to promote your business and increase sales.
Sales and Services - Focus on building a relationship, not playing phone tag. Use SMS to improve your customer's satisfaction as well as drive sales and opportunities with exclusive offers.
Staffing - Increase employee satisfaction and safety as well as lower operating costs. Use Yappy to manage your team's communications, company announcements, employee surveys, and emergency alerts.
Customer Feedback - Develop customer loyalty while also increasing sales. SMS allows you to get instant, valuable feedback, and giving your business substantial competitive leverage.
Major indicators that your business can't afford to ignore:
High Demand, but Short on Staff
If you’re short on staff, notably in the IT department, balancing multiple communication platforms can cause headaches for your employees and influence your ability to deliver expert assistance to your customers.
Moving or Expanding
Moving into a new office or adding employees can be a fresh start in many ways. Making the change to unified messaging can streamline inter-office communications, giving you one less thing to worry about as you get settled into your new office.
A Recent Merger or Acquisition
If your organization has undergone a merger or acquisition, this can put major stress on your communications infrastructure. Implementing unified business messaging solutions can eliminate any compatibility issues you may experience when merging multiple systems. In the case of an acquisition, the cost of maintaining multiple networks and any associated resources is reason enough to make the transition.
Downsizing
If your organization is downsizing, removing data and communication systems related to the reduced divisions is a daunting task, to say the least. While some companies are interested in cutting expenses, implementing Yappy is an ideal way to promote productivity, leading to a reduced workforce.
Outdated Technology
There are many incentives to replacing outdated equipment, compatibility and reliability concerns being just a couple of the most significant reasons. Replacing old services, solutions, and software with Yappy is an effective approach to improving communications across a multitude of platforms, averting any detrimental issues that may arise from using outdated technology.
Improving Call Center Productivity
As your business grows, so does the volume of calls you receive. Unfortunately, if you have an outdated communications solution, you may have a cap on the number of calls you can receive, which will undoubtedly impact your bottom line. Using Yappy to troubleshoot and address customers concerns via text or custom replies can significantly reduce your call volume.
Market Statistics
- 80% of consumers prefer to be contacted by a business via text vs. a more time-consuming phone call or an easily missed email.
- 42% of texters felt a communication overload with too many apps to check for messages on a daily basis.
- 90% of consumer text messages are read. Only 10% of emails are even opened.
- 70% of consumers say their perception of a company is significantly increased if they offer texting.
- Texting is the highest rated method of contact for customer satisfaction. It rated 90 out of 100 on the scale, while phone calls were just 77 and social media just 66.
- 52% of customers said they would prefer texting customer support over using whatever their current method is (phone, social media).
- 47% said texting would improve their overall satisfaction with customer support.
- Only 25% of marketers currently use text messaging, but 65% of those that do say it is highly effective.
- Texting at some point during the sales process after a strong connection has been established can lead to conversion gains of 100% or more.
- In the U.S. alone, there are around 150 million text messages sent to landlines daily — most of which, of course, are just disappearing into the ether because the landline owner doesn’t have any way of capturing them.
Google AdWords is testing a new extension for their ads. This add-on allows users to send an SMS or text message directly to the company that is advertising. Similar to the extension that allows users to call the company via the ad, this update furthers the mobile-first mentality that Google has demonstrated over the last several months.
It’s also proof that most people want as little interaction as possible with people they don’t know. According to Google, the first campaign to utilize this texting feature saw a 265% increase in click-through rate (CTR) over similar ads where a phone call was the option.
This new call-to-action (CTA) via texting is going to have a huge impact on advertising. If it continues to prove successful, this could be a significant shift from landlines and call centers to a much more mobile-centric office space. For a solid number of businesses, that shift is already happening. Over 40% of call centers already offer SMS, and by the end of 2016, over 60% will support it.
In Conclusion
With more than 320 million wireless subscribers in the United States, you're missing a lot of customers if you aren't using a unified business messaging solution.
With mobile devices in the hands of employees and customers who show a preference for messaging-based communications, companies have been taking advantage of unified business messaging solutions.
The ability to integrate messaging into significant revenue-generating and critical productivity processes will deliver organizational benefits while improving the customer experience and creating new relevancy for the IT organization.
Integrating Yappy into your business communication solution will streamline both company and customer organization, freeing up both money and time.
For more information on Yappy, you can visit their website by clicking here.
