Medical Supply Company AMSR Recognizes $2 Million in Recovered Revenue After Adding SMS

The Oxygen Concentrator Store from American Medical Sales and Rentals (AMSR) is one of the oldest and most experienced oxygen concentrator retailers in North America. With more than 23 years of experience, AMSR offers trained oxygen specialists to help their customers find the perfect equipment to meet their medical and lifestyle needs so they can breathe easier.

The challenge

AMSR has a large sales and operations team with a robust data-driven process to monitor prospect and customer communication. The data revealed that after several months of record revenue, there was a steady decline in the number of website visitors they could reach for meaningful sales discussions.

Through further analysis, AMSR recognized two groups of target customers who either couldn’t or didn’t want to pick up the phone:

1. Those with medical-related issues that interfered with phone conversations.

“With a vast majority of our customer demographic being over the age of 60 and experiencing minor to severe hearing loss, texting is a preferred method to clearly connect and communicate with those valued customers.” – Cindy George, President, AMSR

2. A younger demographic who avoided speaking on the phone altogether.

“We have observed that the younger demographics, particularly ages 40 and below, tend to avoid actively answering phone calls so texting has proven to be a much more beneficial form of contact to reach a desired result for both parties.” – Cindy George, President, AMSR

Without reaching people on the phone and with most emails ignored, the team needed a more effective way to connect.

The solution

AMSR suspected that texting was the solution to increase communication with prospects and customers. After researching alternatives, the team selected Sinch MessageMedia as their technology partner.

After a short implementation, the sales team began texting customers they couldn’t reach on the phone before.

“We chose Sinch MessageMedia because we needed a solution well integrated with NetSuite. We also appreciated the company’s long history in SMS and their commitment to customer support. The last thing we wanted to do is waste our time with a solution that wouldn’t work for us.”

Cindy George, President, AMSR

The result

AMSR achieved significant results after adding SMS messaging to its communication efforts, including:

Increased engagement. With Sinch MessageMedia, AMSR received a response rate of 21% to its outbound text messages, totaling about 17,000 messages. These are customers who responded by text to have a conversation they would otherwise have missed.

Resounding customer satisfaction. Among the 17,000 messages AMSR received from customers, there was an overwhelmingly positive response. For customers with hearing difficulties or discouraged from talking on the phone, texting helped them to respond on their own time without having a phone conversation.

Additional revenue. Most importantly, the addition of SMS has generated about $2 million in recovered revenue for the company by closing sales that began in a text message conversation.

“With this valuable addition to our sales process, we’ve added two million dollars in revenue, which is a significant increase, from customers who otherwise, we might not have gotten in contact with just from calling alone.”

Cindy George, President, AMSR

Consistent visibility. By integrating through NetSuite, AMSR can see all customer-related SMS and e-mail communications in a single inbox for better visibility and insight.

Cleaner data and lead prioritization. Another advantage of using SMS is the ability to consolidate customer contact information.

“We’ve got people who respond with ‘wrong person’ or ‘bought elsewhere,’ which allows us to focus the energy of our sales team on real leads and customers,” says Corey Dyben, Marketing and Sales Operations Manager at AMSR.

Employee endorsement. In addition to happier customers, AMSR has also pleased its sales team with the new texting communication channel.

“Our salespeople love texting. They’re excited and think it’s awesome.”

Corey Dyben, Marketing and Sales Operations Manager, AMSR

The benefits of SMS messaging are clear, and AMSR has big plans to expand its use in the future. Potential opportunities they have identified are marketing and advertising campaigns, re-engagement of sales leads, maintaining contact, and shipping confirmations.

AMSR is looking forward to seeing where they can take SMS in the future.

“Sinch MessageMedia is fantastic! They are extremely responsive and have always been helpful on the development side. We don’t have a NetSuite develop in our facility and although we do have a NetSuite consultant, they aren’t privy to our entire business, so having the support from Sinch MessageMedia is absolutely game-changing for our industry.”

Cindy George, President, AMSR