It's Time For Your Help Line To Offer A Live Chat And Text Messaging Service by:Neil McKechnie

Keeping up with the times

Keeping up with the times

For years, most non-profit help lines considered their service to be synonymous with the telephone, and for good reason. In developed countries it is ubiquitous, reliable and low cost. So providing information and emotional support by telephone has been an effective way to connect with anyone in the general public needing these services.

But just in the past year, electronic channels like live chat and text messaging (SMS) surpassed the levels of use seen by voice phone calls. If you're a non-profit help line that only thinks about serving people by voice telephone calls, it's time to think again.

The facts:

- Since 2008, more adults have mobile phones than regular telephone lines (89% vs 81% - Harris Interactive).

- Of those mobile phone subscribers conduct more text messaging conversations than actual voice conversations (Nielson Mobile Media), sending over 75 billion such messages every month and growing exponentially.

- Even when people aren't on a mobile phone, they increasingly turn to non-voice modes of communication like instant messaging (IM).

- Four in ten online Americans now use IM regularly (Pew Internet & American Life).

Why? To optimize your influence and keep business rolling

Just as telephone-based help lines seemed revolutionary to the pioneers who started them 40+ years ago, it may seem revolutionary to consider offering service through these electronic channels. But we maintain that your services should not be restricted to one particular technology - the telephone. Instead you should use whatever modes of communication are in wide use by the public in order to optimize your influence with your services. Clearly, channels like text messaging, instant messaging and email are pervasive in our society.

In fact, your clients, board and funders should soon start demanding service through these channels, and if your agency doesn't offer it, they'll shift to other providers that do.

But the prospect of figuring out how to offer these channels- finding reliable and cost effective service providers, training your people on new tools, tracking and reporting on these interactions - is daunting and can add up to an expensive and time consuming endeavor.

But it doesn't have to be difficult.

What if your help line management software integrated these channels in an elegant manner? What if offering instant messaging or texting was as simple as clicking a few buttons?

With iCarol Messaging, it's as easy as that. We've built the systems to make it easy for your clients to reach you by any of these electronic channels. Your staff and volunteers get access to a wide range of tools familiar to them so they can provide great service and collect data on their interactions. You get a comprehensive view of your help line's operations that comprehends all your service delivery channels.

About the author

iCarol is a web based help line software application designed for non profit contact centers to automate the entire call service delivery process. To find out more, please visit www.iCarol.com/messaging, or contact us directly at info@iCarol.com or 1-888-4iCarol.

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