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Vivial offers marketing solutions for local businesses. Their wide range of customer engagement tools help businesses enhance the way they connect with customers, build loyalty, manage content and track results. Below is our interview with Laura Cole, Vice President of Marketing at Vivial:
Q: You’ve recently launched Vivial Connect, could you tell us something more?
A: Creating customer engagement is a challenge most businesses face, regardless of their size. Finding the right communication vehicles can be difficult. But research shows that an estimated 97 percent of text messages are opened by consumers in less than 15 minutes, making texting an effective way to get in front of customers. We created Vivial Connect because we saw the need for an efficient, scalable messaging solution that could be easily integrated into an app or product.
The Vivial Connect API is built for developers that are seeking an omni-channel approach to their solution. It puts companies in a better position to reach and engage with their customers, ultimately providing an enhanced customer experience and strengthening the relationship between customer and business.
Q: What are the main benefits of the Vivial Connect API?
A: The Vivial Connect API in an effective, scalable technology solution designed to meet the needs of developers and product managers. Simply put it’s an SMS and MMS API to exchange text, two-way communications, images or video messages without the need for custom development. In addition, Vivial Connect offers the following benefits:
o Utilize a single API call to send a higher volume of messages with the Connectors feature so mission critical messaging is delivered quickly into the hands of your audience
o Create a local presence while delivering personalized communication with ten-digit numbers to create a consistent and branded experience and a free look up tool to reduce undelivered messages
o Complete message management capabilities, including opt-out, status tracking and more, to continuously monitor activity
o Comprehensive Developer Resources, including API documentation, client libraries and sample code for quick implementation so developers can easily and effectively utilize the API
Q: What are the numerous opportunities for companies to utilize the benefits of texting? Could you give us a few examples?
A: There are lots of opportunities for companies to benefit from texting, from marketing tactics like lead generation, coupons and special offers to enhancing the customer experience with appointment alerts and reminders, payment confirmation, two-factor authentication and event details.
Here are 3 examples:
1. Deals and Alerts – Retailers are able to use Vivial Connect to deliver timely and relevant coupons and offers to customers. An independent retailer who makes and sells gourmet cookies may find texting a useful tool for their business, especially during the upcoming holiday season. The retailer can send coupons to customers to stay top of mind as they do their holiday shopping. They can also target consumers with last minute deals to lighten the holiday baking frenzy.
2. Alerts and reminders – The immediacy of SMS and MMS makes it a powerful medium to deliver time-sensitive communications in an instant. Healthcare professionals can use texting to remind patients of upcoming appointments and confirm their arrival. It’s not uncommon to receive a text message from a healthcare provider a few days prior to an appointment and then again, the morning of the appointment. These reminders save thousands of labor hours, increase revenue and decrease patient no-shows.
3. Two-factor authentication – Online fraud is an increasing issue that should not be taken lightly. Two-factor authentication via SMS leverages the ubiquity of mobiles phone and provides a secure solution for delivering codes and one-time passwords to users. For example, a new online order is received for a large ticket item. Before processing the charge, the retailer sends the buyer an SMS message with a unique code to confirm the purchase. Entering the unique code into the retailers’ website, confirms their identity and allows the sale to go through. Both the buyer and the seller have taken precautions to ensure a secure transaction.
Q: Could you give us more insights into your other services?
A: When working with Vivial, companies have access to a simple, but powerful Marketing Platform designed to manage their online presence. The Vivial Platform enables customers to create, publish and distribute content that will positively impact their search engine ranking. They can also review, manage and take actions, like monitoring Google Ranking or managing all social media, right from a simple and effective dashboard. The customer is also supported by a dedicated Account Coordinator who regularly speaks with each client to review performance, identify next steps and adjust the strategy as needed.
Vivial helps businesses of all types increase their visibility, allowing its customers to get back to running their businesses while they work behind the scenes to get them results.
Q: What are your plans for the future?
A: Vivial prides itself on staying on the leading edge of technology. The company plans for continued investment and expansion in its Marketing Platform as well as mobile technologies like Vivial Connect.
