We found reliable SMS messaging providers hard to come by, but Esendex delivered on all their promises and have been sending our messages reliably for over 18 months.
Simon Goldschmidt, Intrac Australia Pty Limited
| Customer: | Cengage Education |  |
|---|---|---|
| Services: | Web SMS | |
| Website: | www.cengage.edu.au |
Cengage Education have reduced workload for their Customer Service staff and improved communications with their 33,000 students since switching from telephone calls and email to using SMS as their main communication channel.
Cengage Education are a leading provider of learning solutions for students and teachers of Primary, Secondary and Higher Education markets in Australia and New Zealand. They have been the winners of numerous awards including the much coveted Primary Literacy award for the last three years running.
Cengage’s Customer Service department manages a huge amount of outbound and inbound calls on a daily basis – covering anything from exam results, student fee payments and general course information, to job placement opportunities and taking payments for teaching resources.
The ever-increasing time pressures on Customer Service staff when dealing with a large volume of calls and particularly at certain times – such as exam results week – prompted the company to look for additional ways to communicate with their students which would relieve the pressure on call centre staff. After some investigation, they got in touch with Esendex to see how SMS could be used as an alternative to making telephone calls and sending emails.
After trialling the service, Cengage could see how the Online SMS service was especially useful for high volume broadcast messages, (whereby a large number of people need to be sent the same message at the same time) at exam results time for example. As mobile phone penetration is near 100% for the Australian mobile market, and texting is most popular in the youth market, they decided that using SMS to communicate with students was the ideal solution for them. Manager of Payment Service, comments:
“Previously the Customer Service staff would call and email students. This was an inefficient use of time for staff and was costly in telephone charges. If the student didn’t answer the call, they would need to be called again, or sent follow up emails, which further increased our workload. SMS works really well with students, so we now have effectively replaced telephone calls, emails, and up-to-the-minute website postings with SMS instead.”
Cengage Education estimate that the Esendex Web SMS service has saved them 20 hours a week in outbound telephone calls alone with substantial savings made from the reduction in call costs. A list of contacts can be quickly uploaded to Web SMS and a message sent within minutes. SMS messages can also be scheduled for the future easily. Staff can also check that students have received their SMS as each message that is sent has a delivery receipt which offers both piece of mind and an audit trail.
Another indirect benefit has been that using SMS via the Web has reduced the strain on the company’s IT infrastructure. Previously the email server struggled to cope with large volumes of emails. Now the volume of emails has reduced, the email server is performing to requirements.
Get in Touch
We work regularly with Customer Services Departments across a wide range of industries, delivering SMS services which compliment their existing communication channels. To discuss what our Online SMS service can do for your business just give us a call on 1300-764-946 or email us at sales@esendex.com.au.
