Kaitlyn Orred
Unplanned emergencies due to severe weather, health incidents, travel disruptions, and other situations can occur at any time and any moment. Unfortunately, most people don't think about a communication plan for an emergency event until it's too late. Amid chaos and disaster, an emergency mass messaging solution can help you be more prepared on how to message your contacts around these unexpected events.
Call-Em-All works closely with thousands of businesses and organizations to ensure that they can communicate successfully during emergency scenarios. Below is a list of 7 tips to help you send effective emergency text and voice notifications:
1. Regularly train staff on how to issue alerts
Even though the Call-Em-All system is easy to use, employees will forget how to utilize all the features of our system fully. In the event of an emergency, having a knowledgeable and regularly trained staff can help save time when it matters most.
2. Choose the delivery method most appropriate for your audience
Texting is more convenient. It’s simple, it’s direct, and it’s instantaneous. It allows us to skip the small talk and get straight to the point.
While text messages are great, we’ve seen that during a crisis, people prefer phone calls. One of the main reasons is that you can deliver longer messages that require further explanation. At Call-Em-All, you can send up to a 2 minute recorded message or up to 320 characters in a text message. You can get a lot more into 2 minutes than you can 320 characters.
Maybe even more important is the personal nature of a phone call. It’s comforting to recognize a person’s voice and easier to understand the emotion behind a message
3. Create Personalized Text Templates
Instead of wasting time creating a new message when an emergency situation arises, you can save time by using a ready-to-go personalized text template. Research shows that text messages with personalization can yield a 4%-12% better response rate to your message.
When you personalize a message, you are inserting custom fields into your text that automatically fill in with a contact's info, such as first name. Templates allow you to create and share stored text messages so you can reuse a text message at any time.
4. Record clear, concise audible messages
To ensure that your message is approved and received well by the intended recipients, you'll need to record your message with concise, audible messages. Speak clearly and without a hurry, enunciating longer words. Be aware of your breathing and record in a quiet location. Most of the time, people are listening to messages on-the-go, so try to eliminate the potential of having them repeat the message over.
5. Be mindful of scheduled timing
Messages sent after-hours are considered urgent, so sending an emergency notification that could be handled during business hours is not a good idea.
6. Provide incremental alerts, as new and critical information is available
Sometimes unexpected emergency events can have lasting and lengthy impacts. While you don't want to over-communicate to your contacts, you do want to keep them up to date with any new or critical information that becomes available.
7. Don't Ignore Text Replies
Call-Em-All features a two-way text messaging feature called Conversations, which allows your contacts to reply to your text message if they need to. It's exactly how it sounds: a conversation between you and one of your contacts.
Studies show that people are more likely to respond to a text message. Always be clear about the action you want contacts to take. If you don't want a response, make sure your message is detailed enough to answer common questions - or don't ask a question when you don't intend to read the answer.
At Call-Em-All, we take pride in being able to provide a valuable service that helps so many people communicate during an emergency. Whether an organization needs to reach 10 or 10,000 people, using a fast and efficient system will help keep people safe, informed, and prepared for when situations take a turn for the worst.