MELBOURNE, March 25: Community engagement specialists Bang the Table and messaging provider MessageMedia have today announced a new way for federal and state governments as well as local councils, to engage and communicate with residents using two-way text messaging. The two Australian companies have partnered together to enhance how these governing bodies communicate and capture feedback from their residents and community stakeholders.
The partnership integrates MessageMedia’s SMS delivery service with Bang the Table’s software EngagementHQ to enable two-way SMS conversations between government authorities of all kinds, and their communities. This provides an easy way for residents to stay informed and offer input on community projects. For example, organisations can communicate upcoming consultations or can close the loop from past engagements with participants in a convenient two-way platform.
SMS has proved an effective channel for reaching busy audiences with open rates of ninety-eight per cent, significantly higher than email. Recent research from MessageMedia also shows that nearly three-quarters (73 per cent) of consumers agree that an SMS message from an organisation is more likely to get their attention than email or app notifications.
CEO of Bang the Table, Matthew Crozier said that SMS provides an opportunity for governing bodies to local city councils, to broaden their reach and communicate with less connected residents.
“SMS allows clients to easily expand the reach of their engagement and is a great way to get contributions from those who may not have easy access to the internet or who are too pushed for time to visit the site. It will increase contributions and allow targeting of specific groups by clients who have access to mobile phone numbers. This should make EngagementHQ more accessible to underrepresented groups” said Crozier.
CEO of MessageMedia, Paul Perrett said that the integration with Bang the Table will provide all levels of government organisations, including those with more community-focused intiatives, with the tools to interact with constituents in a more engaging way.
“Partnering with Bang the Table introduces to a new way for government clients to communicate with stakeholders as we embed EngagementHQ’s feedback tools directly in SMS communications. We’re excited to see the platform being used to drive this level of engagement” said Perrett.
“Now, more than ever, there is a vital need for robust and user-friendly communication channels between authorities and communities, and this aims to streamline that process,” he said.
For the public sector, feedback tools are embedded into text messages to capture data directly from a participant’s text reply to a group with all other participant responses to be analysed.
About Bang the Table
Bang the Table was born in Australia and founded on a deep passion for helping public leaders forge constructive relationships with their residents and stakeholders. Bang the Table’s online engagement platform, EngagementHQ, is being used by over 500 organizations around the world, empowering well over 10 million people with an easy and secure way to participate and inform key decision making, online.
About MessageMedia
MessageMedia is a global messaging provider that helps businesses of all sizes – from SMBs to enterprise-level – better connect with customers. With 90 per cent of messages read within 90 seconds and 50,000 customers worldwide, MessageMedia is Australia’s largest specialist messaging provider and drives business success by creating engaging mobile experiences that customers love. With offices across Australia, United States, United Kingdom, and New Zealand, MessageMedia enables businesses to engage their customers in a connected, mobile world in a personal yet scalable way.
-ENDS-
For further queries:
Keep Left
Ben Steel
bsteel@keepleft.com.au