You might be wondering what to do now that ZipWhip is ending its services after this year. Some of you may be long time customers who are shocked and saddened by the news, many of you may be confused about what to do next that your business texting provider is now retiring. While change can be uncomfortable, let this be an opportunity to explore potential prospects and discover new business texting providers. Some providers may even improve your service delivery. If you’re wondering what your next steps as a business will look like, keep on reading.
The End of ZipWhip
For those who are unaware, in 2021, Twilio, a cloud communications company acquired ZipWhip. While many thought this was to better its platform, that changed a few months later. Later in 2021, ZipWhip announced to its customers that it would end its business texting services at the end of 2022. As such, customers can no longer renew their services at the end of the year.
ZipWhip Customers
Given that ZipWhip services are ending by 2022, many ZipWhip customers are looking for alternatives. Thankfully, there are a ton of business texting providers in the market. While most companies will offer the standard services as ZipWhip does, each provider has something unique to offer.
How to Implement a Solid Transition Plan
Before your contract ends with ZipWhip, it’s best to give yourself at least 2 months in advance to find another texting provider. Whether you run a small or large company, familiarizing yourself with what’s available in the market is key to a smooth transition. Below is a step-by-step plan to help you figure out your next steps.
- Do Your Research
The research aspect may be the most boring part, but it’s also the most vital part of any transition piece. Take a look around at various business texting solutions and write them down. You don’t have to do extensive research on each company – simply take a look at the features and their website and keep tabs on the ones that stick out to you. If you’re looking to learn more, make some phone calls and emails to prospective business texting providers.
During this time, it’s a great opportunity to consider how your business texting needs may have changed. With this in mind, you can find the products and plans that match your needs. - Take Advantage of Free Trials
Any good business texting company will offer a free trial or demo account so you can try out the product. Once you’ve narrowed down your options, give every product a try with a free trial. Does it have all the features you need? How easy is it to navigate the platform? Can you envision a smooth transition for your team?
Give every product the necessary time to assess all its features. Every business texting company offers its unique qualities so consider if it makes a difference to your business. - Make the Purchase
Once you’ve settled on a product and a business texting company, go ahead and make the big purchase. Keep in mind that it can take a good chunk of time to set up the product, implement it across your company and train your employees. As a good measure, keep a workflow chart to organize the implementation of your new software. Additionally, get familiar with the product yourself before you train your employees and the rest of the company. Keep in constant contact with the customer support at the business texting company so that you understand the ins and outs. - Team Training
Properly training your team will make or break the implementation. It’s not enough to provide surface-level training to your staff when it comes to new software. While many business texting products may resemble ZipWhip’s platform, it’s important to adequately train your staff on the new product. This ensures that everyone is on the same page and knows how to operate the system.
Ideally, you want to spend a few weeks on the training portion of implementation. You can use videos, FAQs and more aids to teach about the new business texting software. As our little recommendation, we suggest hosting group and one-on-one training to optimize the effectiveness. - Inform Customers
Your customers may not be aware of the changes and the ins and outs with changes to the ZipWhip closure – and they don’t have to. However, it’s important to inform your customers that you’re changing services to keep up with the transparency. Additionally, since you’ll most likely be using a new number under a different software, it helps avoid confusion. You can also use this as a time to introduce new features and new aspects of your business texting.
Keep in mind that during this stage you and your team should be fairly comfortable with the new software. Trying out scenarios and running tests with the new software should be a common activity in the office. - Transfer Client Numbers
The last and most important step before the final rollout of the software is to transfer the existing numbers over to your new provider. Make sure to do this in the late evening or early morning when interactions with your customers are limited.
Why Text My Main Number is the Perfect Alternative
At Text My Main Number we offer similar business texting services as ZipWhips with incredible and noteworthy features. A few features our clients love are:
• Office and Off-hours Reply: If you’re out of the office or you’re on a vacation, automated text messages keep your clients informed and up-to-date. Rather than leaving your clients in the dark, automated messages reassure your clients of a time they can receive your response.
• Long messages: Many carriers offer the standard 160 characters messages. However, we know that sometimes businesses have much more to say. That’s why we offer packages that allow you to send well over the 160 character limit.
• MMS: Rather than text messages, spice it up a bit from time to time and incorporate images or emojis. For example, if you’re running a challenge over text messages, you can have the rules outlined in an image to add greater appeal.
Given the support and features we have in place, we’ll ensure you’ll have a smooth and seamless transition within the company. Once you have all your existing client numbers transferred to our software, you can finally resume your business texting again. To learn more about our services or to give our platform a try, contact our team!
0 Comment