Commio is pleased to announce that Scott Navratil, VP of Customer Retention, will be presenting as part of an expert panel at Contact.io in Denver, CO next week:
How Does SMS Compliance + Industry Best Practices
= Opportunity for your Organization?
Thursday, September 1, 3:15PM MT
Main Hall
Session panelists will discuss recent regulatory changes and the value of creating and maintaining a transparent ecosystem, as well as outline the importance of prioritizing industry best practices and taking a proactive stance on compliance so that you can adapt quickly. Read the full session overview in the event schedule.
In addition to Scott, panelists include Drips CEO Ac Evans; Troutman Firm Founder Eric Troutman; Liner Connections Founder Joey Liner; and Ryan Hemker, Sr. Media Director of Operational Economics at Liberty Mutual.
If messaging is or could potentially be an important part of your communications portfolio, don’t miss this session!
Meet with Scott One-on-One
Attendees who’d like to discuss specific questions about their company’s messaging, as well as voice communications in the cloud, are invited to schedule a private consultation with Scott. You can access his calendar here.
Some Pre-Conference Q&A
We took a few minutes to talk to Scott about the use of text messaging at companies and what they need to know for successful messaging campaigns.
How important is texting as part of the ways we communicate with our customers?
Scott: To anyone working in a call or contact center – or hopefully any company – it’s no surprise that customers today expect clear, timely communication about every aspect of their transaction or service. It’s a prerequisite for positive customer experiences.
While phone calls may be considered the gold standard by many, text messaging has several distinct advantages – including the fact that 98% of recipients open a message within a few minutes of receipt! Other pluses include timeliness and consistency of message, an electronic communications trail, and overall cost.
Why are some companies reluctant to create messaging campaigns right now?
Scott: The short answer is the difficulties around ensuring compliance with the messaging industry requirements; more precisely, it’s the ongoing changes and updates to those requirements, including the cost of the messaging fees. It’s hard to keep up, and we’re seeing a fair number of campaign rejections upstream.
Spam – i.e., unwanted communications – and downright fraudulent communications have been around longer than any of us, and people are tired of it. The postal service has rules around junk snail mail, and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) legislates email and calling, most recently with STIR/SHAKEN requirements for the cloud. Messaging is the latest channel. We’ve seen a huge increase in fraudulent texts, and the industry is working with the FCC in getting it under control. Unfortunately, each carrier has their own set of rules and fees, particularly around long code / 10DLC, and they continue to evolve.
What are providers doing to support the carriers and minimize fraudulent and unwanted messaging?
Scott: We have extensive mechanisms in place at Commio to ensure that the messages we send are compliant, and I’m sure that other legitimate providers do, as well. We have an extensive vetting process before we even accept business from a prospect, to ensure that their messaging is above board. We also have an assortment of manual and automated review processes to catch any suspect messages, and any sender that doesn’t adhere to our standards is removed. Fraudulent messaging isn’t just bad for our business and our brand; it’s bad for our legitimate customers, as well.
Conversely, what are providers doing to support messaging customers?
Scott: It’s a nonstop effort! As soon as The Campaign Registry was launched, Commio and a number of other providers created APIs so that you can register directly within our platforms. Commio has had numerous update webinars, as well as blogs, handouts, emails, and a messaging ebook. We did a how-to video, and we’re looking at holding training sessions. We maintain an up-to-date chart of the various fees. We’re open to doing whatever works best for our customers.
Ultimately, everything we do to prevent fraud supports our legitimate customers, as well. They need to be able to communicate with their own customers and no one wants that 98% open rate to go down because people are receiving too much spam. And remember that texting rules require senders to use opt-in lists – people are saying they want to receive these communications! Text messaging is unparalleled in its advantages and we all have a stake in keeping it that way.
How is compliance being handled for voice in the cloud?
Scott: The FCC legislates voice compliance, as I mentioned, most recently with STIR/SHAKEN requirements, and so that adds a little more consistency and clout.
STIR/SHAKEN requires voice providers to tag every call with a certification of authenticity – aka, “attestation.” The goal of these certifications is to basically say who the provider is, that they know something about the caller, the number is really theirs, and carriers can trust them; it’s okay to send their call on through. There are several levels of attestation based on how well your provider knows you. At Commio, we try to get to know our customers pretty well so that we can give them an “A” attestation in most cases.
It’s an imperfect system that depends on the integrity of each provider; also, STIR/SHAKEN isn’t fully implemented as yet. There are still a lot of spam calls out there, so carriers are attempting to add additional layers of protection. We address a lot of this in our new Voice eBook.
Is voice or messaging the better option for businesses overall?
Scott: That really depends on the products and/or service and the recipient. If the information is relatively short and straight-forward, messaging is ideal. If there are open questions, a call might be better. If a medical office needs to reschedule an appointment they should probably call; a text message is great for confirming the appointment. Some people have a distinct preference about how they’d like to receive information.
Ideally, you’d offer omnichannel communication, so that the user or campaign manager can have a frictionless customer service experience. And in a perfect world, you can find a provider who supports all of your omnichannel requirements.
What would you like Contact.io attendees to know about Commio’s voice offerings?
Scott: Commio Voice is an excellent option for contact centers that need to optimize their call quality and deliverability. Just a few of our differentiators include 40+ carriers, with call transparency and control, and intelligent call routing. These features are critical for the best call audio and disaster recovery. Both our voice and our messaging can be added to any platform within minutes with our APIs.
You can learn more on our website or I’d be happy to meet with anyone at Contact.io about voice as well as messaging; just book a meeting on my calendar. I look forward to seeing everyone there!
