ACPC is a pregnancy clinic that provides women with support, education, and counseling. Our job is to empower our clients by being available whenever they need us. At first we would call our clients to confirm their counseling and medical appointments, but we always ended up going to voicemail. It was clear talking over the phone was stressful for our clients, and they wanted to communicate with us in the simple and familiar way text messaging offers. It’s the language they’re used to speaking.
We use Text Request for everything from first point of contact, to medical follow ups, and appointment confirmations. It’s also been a great way to send medical notifications, so clients don’t have to worry about calling or coming back in for test results. We’ve also used it a couple of times to connect with donors by sending out Mass Texts to our entire contact list, and the SMS Chat has been a great way for clients to reach out to us directly from our website.
It’s a method of communication that our staff are used to, and the dashboard is simple to use. We can always identify which clients have been helped, and we know our appointment reminders scheduled in advance will reach them even when we’re not in the office.
A lot of other pregnancy centers use scripted autoresponses for everything, and that’s it. But Texting Request lets us have that, plus the personal, one-on-one touch that clients want during a crisis. We use Text Request’s autoresponses, so clients know their message has been seen and that someone will get back to them as soon as possible. But we also schedule and confirm times to talk to them in person. It's a professional and personable platform that’s been great for opening the door with clients who have a hard time speaking over the phone.
Before we used Text Request, we had a 16% appointment show rate. Now we’re closer to 60%. Our goal is to make things as easy as possible for women who are going through a traumatic time, and Text Request helps us do that.
