Text Messaging as a source of communication

Alright, Gen Y experts, tell me if I am barking up the wrong tree on this one...

I want to use text messaging to communicate to staff and managers about upcoming promotions, thank yous, menu item refreshers, contest announcements, employee recognition, etc.

Tell me what you think the pros and cons are of this delivery method.

If you agree are there any easy ways to pull this off? Collecting numbers, services that can manage this monster, etc.

Any info anyone has about this would be appreciated. I know some Universities are using it as a means of communicating to the student body in case of emergency. Must be a way to use it in a positive way too!

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ashley Smith on August 20, 2008 at 10:49pm

I think it's a great idea and I don't think it will cause any cell phone use issues within the store. I check my cell regularly and it guarantees that I receive pertinent information that may get accidentally deleted in the email. I would recommend finding out if you can send messages via email otherwise if may get tedious trying to make sure the messages make it to all of the right people. It's a great way to give positive comments and you could also communicate with each manager. Sometimes communications get garbled once they have been passed on a few times!

Permalink Reply by Amanda Hite on August 21, 2008 at 3:36am

great point ashley!

Permalink Reply by Anthony Presley on August 26, 2008 at 6:55am

I'm a bit late to the party here, but as others have already said, text messaging is probably a good plan - and certainly the way to go looking forward. You will need to continue to enforce your "no phones on the floor" rules, because staff probably doesn't need messages while on the floor. I would assume you / another manager can simply walk over and tell them, or send messages several hours / days in advance.

Delivery is always going to be an issue. With many cell phone providers, they provide an email to text gateway (Sprint, Verizon, at&t, and others) -- and you can likely use this for low volume messaging (under 5,000 messages a day). However, when employees port numbers (eg, they signed up with Sprint then moved to Alltel), those email gateways don't always work so well. Without email gateways, you'll be paying for the sending, or will need to do it on your cell phone (a tedious job if you have many staff members).

Also, we've found that a number of employees are running on their parents plans (this depends on your staff demographic), and they don't have unlimited text messaging plans OR the parents / employees have blocked unknown numbers. This can again cause delivery issues and/or hopping mad employees. Check this first.

Our product (sorry, had to do that) provides messaging capabilities. However, a number of online products also do this for free (usually no guaranteed delivery), or at a cost (closer to guaranteed delivery). That way you can type the message, rather than worrying about keying it into a small keyboard.

Another alternative is that there are a number of text message marketing products (I know there are others, but I also know that Scott Shaw @ FishBowl has a decent product) .... if you already have one of these products, you can setup a group for your staff, and use the same marketing service with your staff that you do your guests. A two-fer!

Permalink Reply by Chip Becker on October 13, 2008 at 5:03pm

Andy...I think it's brilliant! I only recently joined the "text" revolution...and its an amazingly effective, efficient, and non-intrusive way to convey info! I know that I communicate through this format with my managers all the time, and it's much more effective than calling on the phone or email!

Permalink Reply by Jeff on December 30, 2008 at 2:53pm

excellent idea, brother.
just remember that text messaging is possibly the most informal way to communicate. the examples that you have given seem to me to be ideal for text. the truth is that this follows the same guidelines that you would use when deciding whether something should be done in public or private. praise in public, reprimand in private. anything that should be done privately still needs to be communicated in person, but group or even indevidual texts for reminders, upcoming promotions, and praise sent as a text seems ideal for those of us who use our phones that way anyway. as far as use while on the clock, unless you are sending a reminder for something happening during THIS shift, there is no reason to hurry up and check a message instead of attending guests. if you are looking far enough ahead to recognize texting as a viable means of communication, i doubt you are waiting untill the last minute to send a reminder.
j

Permalink Reply by Bharat Mansukhani on January 27, 2009 at 5:17am

I have been using text messaging as a form of communication with my managers and it has been very effective. Most of the times I use it with managers who are not on the shift. That way whenever any discussion takes place between the managers on a shift, the other managers are immediately informed.

Permalink Reply by Bill Ezell on April 19, 2009 at 12:08pm

Hello Andy,

I think we're actually connected - nice to see your message. I'm with FohBoh's advisory board and have assembled early stage programs that apply to your requirements. One such service use SMS text messaging and mobile media for advertising and communications. The other program I think solves the same problem for you but uses a private group format instead - email.

I'd like your feedback/interest to discuss these in greater detail and see if these will work or if we can customize them for your requirements.

Thanks,

Bill