SMS notifications simplify workflows and optimize processes

The initial situation

Due to the rapid digital development, work processes are now subject to constant change. During the acute phase in the Corona pandemic about two years ago, the Code Piraten team was looking for an alternative communication solution for the covidoo software. Guest verification at events also required new software updates at guestoo due to the tense pandemic situation.

The aim of the system optimization was to enable event organizers to communicate directly with their guests, or corona test centers to reliably transmit results to their customers. Previously, communication had only been possible via e-mail. The developers were looking for a reliable alternative to optimize the communication channels in the SaaS tools.

The e-mails were often blocked by the respective provider.

Although companies are not on an email provider’s blacklist, emails sent still sometimes don’t get through.

“At the test centers, we faced the problem that result transmissions via e-mail often ended up in the spam folder. Sometimes, test results or registration confirmations did not arrive at all, even though it was not spam, the mail server had a good reputation, and the e-mail structure complied with all specifications. As a result, test centers were bombarded with inquiring customer calls.

In order to stop wasting valuable administration time, we looked for an alternative way to transmit test results. We also asked ourselves what we could still optimize in the communication between the organizer and their guests before, during and after an event for our guest management guestoo,” Stefan Wirtz, one of the two managing directors of Code Piraten, describes the initial situation at the time.

The website of the test software covidoo, click to enlarge.

The use case

 We were looking for a guaranteed way to reach and inform guests and customers.

“We wanted to offer our customers an additional feature so that they can, for example, point out a special program item during an event and to make it easier for the health department to follow up on infections by contacting guests via SMS afterwards,” Stefan Wirtz explains example situations from his customers’ everyday work.

Solutions and improvements

The Kiel-based business messaging company seven.io was ultimately convincing in comparison with other providers: “Our contact Christian Leo made a charming and likeable impression right away during support, the company had good ratings, was priced the same as other messaging service providers, and everything worked well right away during the test run,” Stefan Wirtz recounts of his initial contact with seven.io.

The data protection and the possibility for our customers to create their own account clearly sets seven.io apart from the competition.  

“What appealed to us most about seven.io’s solution was the easy integration into our SaaS systems and the nice and reliable support. If something ever goes wrong when sending large amounts of SMS, it’s important to have a guaranteed contact person. Data protection and performance also spoke in favor for seven.io.

During peak times, for example, statistics can be viewed directly and our customers can independently create an account at seven.io. The launch happened within a week, as we had hoped,” says Stefan Wirtz, listing the services that particularly convinced him of seven.io.

Since then, Code Piraten’s customers have also been using SMS notifications to send test results, invitations to events and news about events, depending on the tool www.guestoo.de or www.covidoo.de.

Conclusion

“The cooperation with seven.io is very good. As we are also a young and dynamic team that implements its ideas professionally, we feel like we are talking to like-minded people.”

The alternative option of sending SMS messages has saved a lot of nerves and time for the organizers and staff of the test centers. Before using SMS messaging, they were contacted very frequently by customers because they had not received confirmation of their visit or their test results.

“Since then, complaints have dropped significantly and the sending of almost five million SMS messages by our customers speaks for itself. In principle, SMS are now used everywhere where fast and reliable delivery of notifications is important to our customers,” Stefan Wirtz tells us.

“We can guarantee a more reliable delivery with SMS than with e-mails, if desired. However, we also notice that the use of SMS sometimes still seems too advanced and too private for invitations, especially in the event sector. Many people still tend to shy away from it. Invitations by mail are still the most common model,” smiles Stefan Wirtz.

Another look into the future: The Code Piraten are also considering using SMS for notifications in their personnel planning tool persoo. The integration would be such that the staff can be contacted via SMS and, for example, automatically receive a reminder SMS for an upcoming work assignment or when something new happens in the workflow.

“For communication in our tools, SMS messages are very beneficial because they get more attention than emails. E-mails are looked at once a day if necessary, but SMS messages are seen immediately,” Stefan Wirtz concludes, summarizing the advantages of SMS over e-mails.