May 06, 2025 - 4 min read

Use SMS alerts to warn of major risks

Introduction

Transport organizations, town halls, electricity and gas suppliers, etc.: many institutions need to communicate in critical times. Using the right communications medium is therefore an integral part of their mission. With over 100% of the population owning a cell phone, the SMS alert is the ideal channel for fast, reliable information!

The different applications of SMS alert

In case of exceptional weather phenomena

Heatwaves, thunderstorms, floods, blizzards, etc. - sending weather alerts by SMS in the event of exceptional weather phenomena enables users to anticipate these climatic changes, be vigilant and take the necessary precautions. Town halls, regional or departmental councils and meteorological organizations can easily provide information by SMS. Whether it's salting roads during snowy periods, issuing flood warnings in the event of high water, or broadcasting alerts when your heatwave plan is activated, SMS stands out as the messaging channel that can reach the entire population effectively.

CityInfo

FLOOD ALERT: the commune has been placed under red alert until 02/06/2016. For more information click on googl.com/RDF4

To inform about traffic disturbances

Many transport organizations are already doing this (SNCF or RATP for example), you can do it too. Send your users information by SMS about disruptions on metro lines, buses, roads... detour, major worksites, delays and so on. In this case, SMS alerts are an extremely well accepted medium; you'll optimize your communication by alerting your users' mobiles to disruptions in real time!

CityInfo

TRAFFIC ALERT: Disruption on metro line 2, a relay bus is available to help you get around. More info on https://sms.bo/1TZgJPx

Power outages, chemical hazards, terrorist threats, etc.

So many situations that require alerting a population! Equipping yourself with an alert service SMS is essential for any institution wishing to improve its communication with customers!

CityInfo

POWER OUTAGE ALERT: Parts of the city are affected by a power outage. Our teams are currently working to restore the power.

SMS alerts, a turnkey solution

An alert distribution service SMS in just a few clicks

Regardless of the number of recipients, sending an SMS alert takes just a few clicks! All you have to do is set up your senderselect your recipients and your message is ready to send in record time!

The option of registering contacts via SMS reception

Thanks to the Virtual Mobile Number (or Time2Chat in France), you can send responses to your customer area or applications via GET requests. Sorted by keyword(s), you can send alert messages to contacts who have chosen to be alerted on a particular subject.

GOING FURTHER

Virtual Mobile Number & smsmode reception solution presentation^©

Sending immediate messages

Our SMS services services are available 24/7, so you can send your messages immediately to inform your recipients as quickly as possible.

An acknowledgement service

Each message sent is acknowledged by a receipt that can be consulted directly in your customer area. So you can quickly check whether the recipients of your SMS alert have received your message!

Would you like to communicate during critical periods using SMS alerts?
Contact our team to help you set up your SMS campaign!

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Adopt SMS for responsive and effective rental management communication

The Société Immobilière Grand Hainaut and Habitat de la Vienne have invested in SMS communication for various exchanges with their tenants, using the ERP Prem’Habitat d’Aareon. A winning strategy that they use on a daily basis to notify, alert or follow-up.

in partnership with Aareon & ERP Prem’Habitat

(more...)

Simplify rental with a 100% guided tour SMS

With an innovative car opt-in process that no longer uses the physical key (and the rental counter), Virtuo offers a 100% mobile and contactless rental service.
The mobile phone becomes the digital key, and the associated “mobile only” strategy puts the emphasis on SMS notifications.

+150 000

USERS

6 000

OWNER-DRIVEN CARS

100%

MESSAGES ARE DELIVERED

ABOUT

Virtuo offers a redesigned premium car rental experience in 6 European countries (France, Spain, UK, Germany, Italy and Portugal). A 100% digital and 100% mobile (via an application) customer experience that allows you to manage every stage of the rental process on a smartphone, from creating a customer account and opening/closing the opening/closing the vehicle remotely.

SECTOR OF ACTIVITY

Mobility

COMPANY SIZE

180 employees

CREATION DATE

2016

LOCATION

France Spain & Portugal United Kingdom Germany Italy

CHANNELS

- SMS

- OTP SMS

INTEGRATION

- API

USE CASES

- authentication
- notification

Download the Virtuo success story

You may also, for legitimate reasons, object to the processing of your personal data. If you wish to exercise these rights, please send an e-mail to dpo(at)smsmode.com.

create a new rental experience

A key channel in the customer journey

Virtuo’s transactional SMS have many uses: account creation message including an OTP code — One Time Password — to check the validity of the mobile number, information on the start of the reservation or related to the delivery of a car to the airport terminal, instructions on how to return a car, account security verification proces , etc. The entire user journey is punctuated by these valuable notifications.

SMS messages are generally quite long and are intended to detail all the useful informations for the smooth running of the rental. For example, some informations is indicated at the start of the reservation, such as the location of the car park, the exact location of the vehicle, the number plate of the car, possibly the unlocking code, etc.

One of the major internal challenges: arbitrating between the desire of Virtuo advisers to provide as much information as possible, (and to use bullet points and other formatting characters) and the impact, particularly in terms of pricing, that this entails...

Mensaje SMS en una estrategia sólo para móviles

meet the challenges of message deliverability and security

Mobile messaging means trust

Virtuo relies on a multi-channel strategy that allows the company to and stay in touch continously with its users. Emails, in-app chat, voice calls, push notifications and SMS. This panel of channels is integrated intrinsically into the architecture of the mobile application. They are activated together or individually during the user journey, depending on the strengths and specificities of each channel. In this multi-channel strategy, SMS plays an essential role and is favoured — particularly over push notifications — to limit friction time at critical points.

Push notifications and SMS: we do both. Messages that are considered to be less important are sent as push notifications. The most critical ones are sent as SMS.

Olivier Martin, CTO at Virtuo

In the “push notification vs. SMS” battle (if there is one!), push is distinguished by its low cost and its multimedia possibilities (images, links, sounds, etc.), while SMS is simply perfect to deliver critical messages. This is an undeniable advantage, especially in a context where mobile users, sometimes drowned by push notifications, prefer to disable this functionality.

Another point where the SMS cannot be replaced: OTP authentication when an account is created. The SMS OTP sent by, Virtuo ensures both the identity of the client... and that he or she has a mobile phone, which is a prerequisite to use their exclusively application-based service!

proven project approach

The technical issues behind this mobile messaging strategy

The first technical point is adaptability to the market. For Virtuo, the product (and SMS notifications) are 95% identical for all countries. Only certain messages and functionalities are customised to take into account the specificities — such as specific regulations — of each implementation: for example, the completion of the AVL in the United Kingdom, the remote transmission of invoices in certain countries, etc.

Similarly, the technology layer is essential for a business based on a reinvented, 100% application-based experience. The product tension is materialised, on the messaging side, by the automation of notification scenarios. For this, the Virtuo technological infrastructure interfaces SMS routing via the implementation of APIs, carried out quickly and easily by a team of internal developers.
The challenge for Virtuo was not so much the interconnection, but rather the initial design of a technical architecture that had to be designed to work with multiple providers. This is a successful example of agility, scalability, robustness... and the implementation of backup solutions!

A multi-provider approach ensures that a company is agile enough to respond and cope with digital challenges and developments.

Fabien Andraud, head of sales smsmode^©

A technological approach serves as an innovative user experience, in which the SMS channel plays a
central role for notification.