How to Use SMS to Improve Communication in a Town Hall?

SMS is today a key communication tool for many businesses on the market. Fast, effective and cost-efficient, it is ideal for sending messages to a large number of recipients, so much so that more and more municipal institutions are showing interest in using it to communicate with their residents and fellow citizens. Want to spread the word about your cultural events, send information about roadworks to your residents, or alert them in the event of a major road accident? SMS addresses every communication need your town hall may have.

SMS: A Tool with Endless Possibilities

Mobile phones are everywhere and prove to be the most convenient means of communication for sharing information: on average, a user will read a received message within 4 minutes! The perfect opportunity to ensure effective communication with your residents and fellow citizens. Here are a few possible uses of SMS within your town:

– In an emergency, SMS guarantees instant delivery of your message and will allow you to send an SMS alert as quickly as possible to your residents. Whether it’s an accident on one of your municipality’s main roads, a school strike, or severe weather conditions, keep your residents informed!

– Does your town hall want to liven up the city and keep its citizens informed? Perfect! In 160 characters, you can inform the residents of your town about the major events taking place there: fairs, markets, flea markets, concerts or open-air cinema — every occasion is a good reason to engage your fellow citizens.

– Keeping your residents informed of key moments, events, disruptions and alerts affecting your town via SMS will help strengthen their involvement in the collective life of your city.

– You can also inform the public about an upcoming electoral period from your town hall and remind everyone of the importance of going out to vote! Thesms politique Political SMS is also another way for parties to promote their programme and motivation through a text that has a 95% chance of being read!

How to Set Up SMS Sending for Your Town Hall?

The following steps will help you understand the key elements of building an SMS campaign.

1. To begin setting up your SMS sends, start by building a phone number database of your residents. It is also important to obtain consent from the inhabitants of your town if you wish to send them SMS messages and communicate information related to the municipality’s key events. If your database is not sufficiently populated, you have the option to rent a contact database.

2. Planning a sending schedule for predictable messages will give you better visibility into the relevance of your communications. Since SMS messages can sometimes be perceived as intrusive if sent in very large numbers, space out your sends as much as possible. With automation solutions like Zapier, you save time by scheduling your messages in advance according to your own calendar.

3. Carefully choose the ideal moment to send your SMS. If you wish to share information with your citizens about a major town event, target a time that will guarantee a high read rate (during the lunch break or in the evening, once residents are home from work). Also determine the most suitable day for sending: ideally, choose a date between one week and a few days before the event you are communicating about. This will help you maximise the open rate of your SMS messages and therefore the quality of information delivered to your citizens and residents.

A Few Technical Details to Keep in Mind

When running SMS campaigns targeting your residents, we recommend incorporating the following points:

– Obtain consent from your residents before sending them an SMS message;
– Opt for Premium SMS for your major campaigns (this will allow you to customise the sender name);
– Please note: for informational messages, including an SMS opt-out is not mandatory.

If you would like to learn more about using SMS in a local authority, feel free to download the White Paper: Town Halls and Local Authorities.