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Tag: Emergency Management

May 06, 2025 - 4 min read

Use SMS alerts to warn of major risks

Fast assistance
Emergency management
Operation
Image by Elsa Paparone
Elsa Paparone

Elsa Paparone

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SUMMARY

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.

Discover SMS Alert

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©
Download for free

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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SMS alerts as a communication tool

Wall Street English, a training center renowned for its language teaching, has chosen to use SMS to inform its students of changes to their courses. Students are instantly alerted in the event of teacher absence, schedule changes or homework assignments. An approach appreciated by students.

wall street english communication SMS

SUMMARY

Wall Street English

Wall Street English is a training center specializing in language teaching, with an interactive and dynamic approach to helping students improve their language skills. Present in several countries, the institute offers courses in face-to-face, online and via autonomous learning modules. Thanks to its proven teaching methods and network of qualified teachers, Wall Street English supports its students in achieving their language goals.

Wall Street English's use of SMS

To adapt to the needs of its students, Wall Street English uses to disseminate urgent and relevant relevant course information. When teachers are absent, courses have to be moved or important dates need to be reminded, an SMS is sent to students. This system keeps communication flowing, even in times of disruption, and ensures that students stay informed in real time.

SMS alerts: why are they useful?

SMS alerts offer several advantages, particularly in the education sector:
  • Immediate responsiveness: SMS is an instantaneous channel for disseminating urgent information in real time. Wall Street English quickly notifies students of any changes or disruptions to their courses.
  • Accessibility: SMS is a direct and universal means of communication. Unlike notifications, which require a dedicated app and configuration, and emails, which can be ignored, SMS has extremely high open rates, ensuring that information reaches all recipients quickly.
  • Efficiency: Sending SMS automates the distribution of alerts, reducing the administrative burden.
  • Satisfaction and loyalty: By enabling students to receive instant notifications of teacher absences or program changes, Wall Street English boosts student confidence and satisfaction. This shows that the institute cares about their time and learning experience.

WHITE PAPER

The SMS website through 9 action sheets

Our free white paper will help you discover the possibilities of notifying and informing your contacts on their mobiles.

TL;DR: Le SMS & Wall Street English

The case of Wall Street English illustrates how integrating SMS alerts can optimize communication, ensuring that essential information reaches the right people quickly.
In the education sectorSMS is particularly well suited to managing emergencies and critical information, such as last-minute changes or reminders of important events. In addition to course alerts, SMS can be used to inform students of online payment deadlines, submission dates, assignments or registration notifications, improving administrative efficiency and the customer experience.

May 28, 2024 - 5 min read

The SMS alert, an indispensable tool in a crisis

SMS
Crisis
Notification
Image by Elsa Paparone
Elsa Paparone

Elsa Paparone

crisis communication message

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SUMMARY

Introduction

Whether it's a service outage, a weather forecast, an epidemic or a data breach, SMS enables companies to rapidly implement their crisis communications. Every company needs to be prepared for the possibility of a crisis, and to prepare its information plan in advance.

With mobile messaging, you can reach your recipients anywhere, anytime. SMS , an indispensable tool for your emergency communication strategies. We explain why!

Features of SMS

The SMS alert system is designed to broadcast and notify stakeholders in a crisis situation of urgent information, in real time and possibly automatically. Accessible in all circumstances, and a genuine support for your emergency communications strategy, content broadcast on cell phones is an essential tool. You certainly remember the media communication plan (but not only), the SMS campaigns sent by the Government to the entire French population, on the rules of confinement and travel restrictions in order to manage the health crisis:

[SenderID]

Alert - covid 19

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has announced strict rules that you must follow to fight the spread of the virus and save lives. Outings are authorized with a certificate and only for your work, if you can't telecommute, your health or your essential shopping.

More information at www.gouvernement.fr

A simple, cost-effective and extremely efficient solution, SMS enables your company to communicate quickly, instantly and reliably on your recipients' smartphones. It enables you to inform and transmit alerts to stakeholders without delay in situations of crisis, emergency, etc. Whether it's to inform a single person or an extended contact base, mobile communication of your alerts remains the most effective means, whether from the point of view of instantaneous dispatch and reception of content, or its read rate. By way of comparison, while the media can reach the masses, SMS is personal and direct.

Don't wait any longer, set up your own mobile alert system, adaptable to your organization and its needs.

The benefits of using SMS to manage crisis situations

Performance

With a read rate approaching 95% (and an average reading time of 3 minutes), SMS dominates its competitors, e-mail and social networks. It is currently the most popular communication tool for companies.

The e-mail is read up to 20% / 30%, but beware, it may remain unopened for hours or even days in a mailbox.

Publications on social networks have varying rates of visibility, depending mainly on two criteria: the social network's algorithm and the time of publication. Between 10% and 30% of subscribers, whether on LinkedIn or Instagram, will be "reached" by your post. Needless to say, this is the channel of last resort for crisis communications.

The ability to generate rapid responses is crucial to the delivery of your emergency communications. And SMS boasts a response rate of 45%, compared with 6% for e-mails. Interaction on social networks depends on the audience's engagement with the brand and the relevance of the content shared. Direct response rates can vary widely, but are generally lower than those for short messages.

SMS is not only the most effective means of communication, but also the most economical.

Cost

Taking into account the unit cost of the message, the package and set-up, SMS is the most economical exchange tool on the market. The cost of a mobile message campaign is particularly competitive. It allows you to maximize your visibility without burdening your internal budgets.

Universality

The strength of SMS also lies in the universality of the cell phone. In fact, 99% of French people now own a cell phone. Whatever your recipients' phone model, whatever their Internet connection conditions, SMS ensures that your crisis communication information is received.

Speed and immediacy

Contact your recipients anywhere, anytime, to meet your every need. SMS can be received and read almost instantaneously, making it the ideal tool for crisis management communications.

Automation

Our services enable you to set up scenarios to be triggered in the event of a crisis. A way to manage your alert strategy with peace of mind.

STUDY
SMS trends and key performances under the microscope

Find out more about our major study based on 745 million mailings SMS.

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SMS notification trends in 2024

Examples of crisis communication messages

Whether your company/institution is impacted by a minor disruption or a total unavailability of service (both internal and external), an effective communication plan must be put in place upstream to enable you to react instantly to these threats, and avoid a second crisis. Tailor your content to your needs and organization, so as to warn your recipients and customers. Here are a few examples of SMS to include in your stakeholder communications plan in the event of a crisis:

Internal company information for your employees

[SenderID]

France COVID-19

To all smsmode©We would like to inform you of the introduction of teleworking starting tomorrow, Tuesday March 16. Please remain at home until further notice.

Works information - building closure

[SenderID]

[Company] - WORK

Please be advised that the main building of the Pôle Média Belle de Mai is closed until further notice.

Those who have not collected their belongings will be able to pick them up in the reception area within the next 24 hours.

Please make your arrangements until further notice.

[SenderID]

[Company] - MAINTENANCE

An intervention to restore power to rue Guibal will take place this afternoon (between 3pm and 6pm).

Please make your own arrangements. Teleworking is highly recommended. Your HR remains available to answer your questions.

Notifying your customers/patients

[36037]

REPORT

Marie Perrin, your consultation with Maître Martin on 20/03 had to be cancelled due to the latest measures taken by the government.

The latter can be used to reschedule appointments or to set up a videoconference. 

Reply REPORT or VISIO to SMS. 

Event cancellation/postponement

[Sender ID]

CANCELLATION

Dear customers, the Philharmonic Orchestra concert scheduled for 20/03 in your city of Amiens has been cancelled.

Please visit our website: www.francephilarmonie.fr to benefit from reimbursements.

Weather alert

[Sender ID]

The Bouches du Rhône department has been classified as a red zone for the next three days.

We advise you to keep travel to a minimum. All the information in the "My City" section on www.alertesmeteofrance.fr

Safety alert

[Sender ID]

[Company] - Security alert

A data breach has been detected on your account. To secure your account, use the OTP code Next to reset your password: 34587.

If you are not the cause of this action, please contact our support team immediately.

Mobile subscription alert

Bouygtel

Dear customer, you have reached 80% of your monthly package.

To avoid additional costs, we recommend that you monitor your consumption.

For more options, visit our website or contact our customer service department.

GOING FURTHER
Improve your customer relations with 60 examples of SMS notification

Discover our selection of examples to inspire your first messages.

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examples sms notification

smsmode© supports you in your crisis communication strategy

A SaaS platform for sending SMS , accessible via the Internet and equipped with all the professional features needed to send messages immediately and autonomously: address book management, saving of message templates, receipt reports, consultation and management of replies received, online payment, triggering of predefined actions, etc.

Find out more about the platform SMS

The SMS voice alerts are more effective thanks to the ringing of the mobile, which is more persistent when a voice message is received than when a classic SMS is received. You receive a listening report for each SMS voice message.

Find out more at SMS

Thanks to the rental of a virtual cell phone number (NVM), the reception service enables you to set up a registration service for the free alert system by registering at SMS. It also enables you to receive replies from your recipients and set up advanced two-way mobile communication scenarios.

More about the reception SMS

A REST and MAIL API: thanks to our REST & Mail APIs, you can integrate the automated sending of SMS alerts directly from an email inbox or in your external application (CRM, e-commerce site, mobile application, etc.). The sending of SMS campaigns will be integrated directly into your application, and can be triggered by pre-defined events.

Find out more about API SMS

Create your free account

Try out our SMS platform and benefit from 20 free test credits, with no obligation.

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We look forward to hearing from you.
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Simplify HR management with SMS .

What is Skello’s primary mission? To help HR teams manage their day-to-day work with digital tools. Sending text messages became essential to facilitate exchanges between managers and employees.

+10 000

SKELLO CUSTOMERS USE SMS EVERY DAY

96%

OF MESSAGES ARE READ WITHIN 4 MINUTES

ABOUT

A fast-growing French scale-up and member of the FT120, Skello is a SaaS HR management solution.
They support companies with complex schedules (catering, hotels, retail, healthcare, convenience stores, hospitals, etc.) in their personnel management and HR administrative procedures (generation of contracts, transmission of variable payroll elements, validation, etc.).

SECTOR OF BUSINESS Human Resources

COMPANY SIZE

300 employees

CREATION DATE 2016

LOCATION

France
Belgium
Switzerland

CHANNELS

- SMS

INTEGRATION - API

USE CASES

- notification SMS
- absence alerts
- authentication

Download the Skello 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.

direct and life communication

SMS, an effective tool for HR team communication

Since its creation in 2016, Skello has integrated the SMS channel into its service to provide its customers with information directly. It is implemented in all countries where the solution operates: France, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Portugal, etc.

Sent to their customers’ employees, these SMS notifications make it possible to:

  • send weekly schedules to each member of staff with a button click,
  • facilitate real-time absence management, with a message sent to the manager in case of an employee’s being late,
  • transmit (initially or when reset) the unique, , confidential and personal OTP code to the Skello mobile application and badge reader.

Digitizing HR exchanges makes life easier for employees and managers alike, by simplifying the repetitive and time-consuming tasks of managing and optimizing complex schedules.

SMS for the customer experience SMS for the customer experience SMS para la experiencia del cliente SMS für das Kundenerlebnis SMS per l'esperienza del cliente

reinvent and simplify schedule management

Instant message between employee and manager

The digitalization of SMS communications also has the great advantage of contributing to the widespread availability of information: for example, having received his or her schedule directly by SMS — whether or not in addition to the mobile app — the employee will always have it with him or her, at hand, even if he or she is mobile or on the move!

But above all, the challenge of SMS communication lies in its immediacy and responsiveness.

Time is of the essence in many sectors. Notifications via SMS respond to this time objective and enable real-time communications.

Fabien Andraud, head of sales smsmode©

For all the sectors in which Skello offers its service (catering in particular),reactivity and proactivity are the key values. This real-time communication also boasts a very high deliverability rate: a real asset in facilitating the manager’s work.

In the range of channels available, SMS proved to be the most relevant for the same reasons, particularly comparing to push notifications, which were considered but not retained due to the problems of deactivation and therefore much lower deliverability.

meeting growth challenges

A technical architecture at the service of product innovation

On the technical side, the Skello stack developed by the in-house tech team comprises, on the front end, a mobile app and a tablet app, and, on the back end a connected application with various microservices. One of these micro-services is dedicated to communications SMS, email and push notifications.

Equipped with 2 input queues (priority messages and non-priority messages), this architecture was designed to meet the needs for functionalities specific to mobile messaging, prioritization of channels and different message types, failover management (on the channel and service provider sides) and... scalability of the hyper-growth platform.

The use of SMS is simple enough in itself. Using an SMS API meets all the needs and challenges of an organization like ours

Olivier Cauvin, CTO at Skello

While Skello doesn’t currently provide feedback on MOs (SMS responses) or DLRs, these features would nonetheless enable actions to be triggered directly on their platform, adding, for example, more conversational features (exchange via mobile messaging between an employee and his manager, etc.).

An innovation that directly echoes the tech & product challenges of the tech team, who are developing the Skello platform towards more and more intelligence based on the digitization and HR processes automation... and on data.

Reduce service requests by 83% with assistance SMS

Plug’Heur is a white-label service for lending portable smartphone batteries.
Stands are available at their partners’ supermarkets, shopping centres and sports halls. The loan process is facilitated by SMS.

+1,5M

USES IN 2 YEARS

-83%

OF AFTER-SALES REQUESTS

ABOUT

A French start-up created in 2021, Plug'Heur offers its 150 BtoB customers white-label smartphone charging stations. Their solution has been installed in top retailers in France and Spain.

SECTOR OF ACTIVITY  Business Services

COMPANY SIZE

11 employees

CREATION DATE

2019

LOCATION

France
Spain

CHANNELS

- SMS

INTEGRATION

- API

USE CASES

- information messages
- alerts

Download the Plug'Heur 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.

offer a seamless customer experience

Switch from email to SMS

Plug’Heur designed the whole battery loan experience around digital technology. After scanning the qrcode that redirects to a web page with the partner brand and activating the battery release via an OTP, the user is then informed and reassured at each stage of the loan process via SMS.

A combination of SMS information is sent as end-of-loan alerts (4 hours before, 1 hour before, at time T and based on 12 hours after its expiry) but also, and above all, at the end of the rental period. The whole process is automatically implemented in their back office and connected via API to the smsmode routing service©.

People needed reassurance, particularly when it came time to drop off the battery. SMS proved to be the most effective way of communicating this information.

Benjamin Berteau, Marketing and Communications Manager at Plug’Heur

SMS was not adopted when Plug’Heur was launched. With the initial product, this information was sent by email. However, as emails were not widely read, the Plug’Heur team reviewed its notification strategy and switched to another channel. This is part of a wider effort to remove all the disincentives from user experience. Alongside with the abandonment of the mobile application and the bank guarantee, substituting email gave them a simple and much more considered means of eliminating all points of friction and thus making the loan experience smoother.

SMS order tracking SMS order tracking Seguimiento de pedidos por SMS Tracciabilità dell'ordine via SMS` SMS zur Nachverfolgung von Bestellungen
HIGHLIGHT OF SMS
  • more read than an email
WEAKNESSES OF SMS
  • weak network inside certain shopping malls

extend the time spent at the physical point of sale

Cell phones can do a lot of things...

Plug’Heur’s objective in replacing email with SMS is twofold. On the one hand, SMS is an important means of communication, particularly at the crucial moment of battery return. Plug’Heur used to receive a lot of messages “did the battery return work?". Since the introduction of SMS, customer support requests have simply been r reduced by 83%.

SMS and mobile phones can be used to bring digital into the physical shopping experience and make it an integral part of it.

Émile Granveau, founding partner of Plug’Heur

SMS is also part of the enhanced service experience that Plug’Heur stands offer retailers (with the ultimate aim of increasing sales). According to several studies, 18% of French who run out of mobile phone batteries leave the shop without finishing their purchase, whereas customers who use a phone recharging service can stay 29% longer and spend 40% more than those who don’t use it. This is a real response to the challenges of retention, loyalty, growth and post-Covid re-enchantment of the in-store experience (with shopping centres at the top of the list).

Proof that the use of mobile phones and mobile messaging have an eminent place in the customer journey in the phygital era. It even represents growth potential for retailers, which Plug’Heur is keen to exploit through its solution and new projects. To be continued...