Day: August 13, 2021

We’ve just completed our latest customer satisfaction survey and are gratified to see the results. 

Customers seem to LOVE Hyper-Reach. 94% of respondents gave us their highest rating. That’s 3.9 on a 4 point scale!

And their reasons for satisfaction were just as gratifying: ease of use, excellent customer support, powerful features and value.  Comments included quotes like these: “It is so much easier (than our previous system.)”, “Customer support is phenomenal and very responsive”, “all features are very effective”,  “you seem to have all the features we need” and “pricing [is] excellent”.

Many customers have switched from our competitors, with more than 40% of those answering the survey using a different company (e.g. Everbridge, CodeRed aka “Onsolve”, Nixle or WENS) in the past. Almost 90% of those who switched indicated that they were very happy with the switch to Hyper-Reach.

Ease of use is a big factor among our customers.  More than half described the system as “very easy” to use, with the rest describing its ease of use as “moderate.”  Everyone who made a comparison described Hyper-Reach as easier to use than other systems they’ve used or seen. Our new smartphone app seems to be especially easy.  As one customer said, “All of my supervisors have it on their phone…and they all said ‘that’s pretty easy!’”

And while some customers noted that Hyper-Reach is less expensive than the competition, no one mentioned missing competitor features they cared about. If anything, some customers felt that they got more power from Hyper-Reach. For example: “We wanted [our previous supplier] to work with us on tornado warnings being sent to our entire county instead of just the polygon and they would not help us with doing that. Once we talked to Hyper-Reach… we were sold.”  Or, as another customer put it: “Hyper-Reach is powerful!!!!!”

We also asked customers about their recent use of the system and if Hyper-Reach helped them accomplish their goals. Over 80% reported a recent use of the system and all of those were happy with the system’s performance. 75% described the system’s performance as “excellent”, with the rest describing it as “good”.  Everyone who responded to the question agreed that the system helped them achieve their goals. As one customer told us “each time we have had to use it, our goal is always accomplished.”

Finally, we asked customers about customer service and support. Again, more than 94% said they were very satisfied with our customer service staff and some compared us very favorably with their other vendors, such as their phone or ACD company. 

Of course, no system is perfect, and we did get some suggestions for new features and changes to improve the system. And we’re listening! Many of these suggestions will soon be scheduled for later releases. Because we want our customers to continue to say things like this customer did: “they just continue to improve and make their already great product, greater!”

If you responded to our survey, we thank you, whether you gave us high marks or not.  And if you didn’t get a chance to answer our survey, we’d love to hear from you. You can find it here: https://forms.gle/ZuH39AEPCkf9rQ2i7.

And thanks again for comments like these: 

“We have to [compare multiple vendors] every year. [Reasons we chose Hyper-Reach:] Value and Cost, Capability of the System, and Customer Service.”

“A GREAT NOTIFICATION SYSTEM WITH GOOD SUPPORT”

“If you aren’t using Hyper-Reach, you’re paying too much.“

NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center is saying there’s a 60% probability of another above-normal Atlantic hurricane season, and many other forecasters making similar estimates. With 6 named storms so far (twice the long-term average for this time of year), a likely range of 13 to 20 named storms, of which 6 to 10 could become hurricanes (winds of 74 mph or higher), and 3 to 5 major hurricanes (winds of 111 mph or higher) is expected.  Although one organization (Colorado State University) has reduced its estimate a bit, higher-than average storm counts are still predicted. The Atlantic hurricane season extends from June 1 through November 30. 

Preparation and anticipation of what to expect in a hurricane event is one of the smartest things you can do.

Here are some preparation steps that you can take to help ensure the safety of your community:

1. Start preparing your community before the hurricane hits. Summer is a great time for festivals, fairs and many local outdoor events. Take advantage of it and educate your community on how to get prepared for the hurricane season. You may organize a workshop or participate with a booth and provide useful safety tips on how to prepare for a hurricane, how to stay safe during the storm, and how to deal with the aftermath once the storm has passed. Engage your audience to participate in discussion and do not forget to post updates on social media and your website to reach even more people. 

It’s also a great opportunity to remind people to sign up with your current Emergency Notification System if they yet haven’t done that and highlighting that they would have a better chance of receiving alerts and updates from you if they register. 

These resources will help you to stay in the loop:

• NOAA official site: https://www.noaa.gov/
• National Hurricane Center: https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/
• ReadyGov site: https://www.ready.gov/hurricanes/
• FEMA site: https://www.fema.gov/disasters/
• Preparing For a Hurricane: Before, During, and After the Storm tips: https://www.directenergy.com/learning-center/preparing-for-hurricane-before-during-after/

2. Create an emergency plan for your staff. Identify who is responsible for what task and what role they will play. Arrange a staff meeting and share the plan. A detailed preparation plan will help you to eliminate confusion and react faster during a storm. Do you have a tool for efficient internal communications? It’s critical to successfully coordinate the staff and share the important information fast during a hurricane. With the Emergency Notification System you can not only send messages to the public but also use it for internal communication. Hype-Reach has a dynamic list function that lets you create separate lists for different departments, skills and responsibilities to send the message to the right people in just seconds.

3. Use as many communication channels as possible. Do not rely primarily on one or two communication methods. People tend to consume content differently depending on their age, sex, income, interests etc. For instance, the older population tends to rely more on older technology, such as landline phones, while a younger audience uses social media frequently. An emergency notification system, such as Hyper-Reach, is a unified communication platform that lets you send the message out in so many ways: text message, phone call, social media post, push notification, RSS, and even more.

And Hyper-Reach has made it possible to send alerts via smart speakers such as Amazon Alexa, too. While great for lots of other people, Alexa can help those who are blind or visually impaired and who have other physical disabilities.  As a result, Alexa is already popular with the blind and physically-impaired who use it for tasks such as texting, phone calls, checking the calendar, “reading the news”, etc.  And now – with Hyper-Reach – you can send emergency alerts to these special populations. 

People who are physically impaired are especially vulnerable and might require special assistance during an evacuation. With Hyper-Reach Alexa notifications, your message has a much better chance to be delivered to them – and quickly – in case of emergency. 

Want to know more about Hyper-Reach Alexa notifications? Book our demo.

4. Use emergency message templates. They will help you to save time, avoid ambiguity and go through different possible scenarios ahead. Keep your templates simple and remember about the character limit. For instance, Twitter messages can be up to 280 characters, IPAWS WEA messages, up to 360 characters, and SMS messages should not exceed 918 characters. 

You’ll probably need these three message types at your disposal:

• Pre-storm templates – the purpose of this type of templates is to prepare your community for the hurricane. Send them updates of the hurricane status, provide advice on shelter in place and evacuation options etc.
• Hurricane alert templates in the wake of the storm – just before a hurricane hits, you’ll need to send out the hurricane alert with an approximate time and area affected in the description.
• Post-storm templates communicate on the recovery process. You may need to send out a “boil your water” or “blackout” alert as a consequence of the storm or inform people when they are safe to return to their home, etc.

Feel free to use these emergency templates we’ve designed specifically for hurricane season.

Preparation is very important. As with every hurricane season regardless of forecast, knowing the essentials and preparing for the worst scenario could truly protect people’s lives and minimize damages. 

We hope you will find the information above useful. And let us know what your must-do hurricane preparation steps are in the comments below. We’ll be glad to share your best practices on our blog and social media.

Summer and early autumn are a popular time for vacations and various outdoor events: fairs, festivals, carnivals, cultural and sports events. And with many people vaccinated against COVID-19, we’re gradually returning to normal life. Half of the US population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the White House said last Friday. After an 18-month hiatus, concerts, festivals, sports, and other big events are slowly recovering.

Have you taken all needed precautions and are you ready to communicate with your community during these summer-autumn events effectively?

Below we have highlighted some great tips to help you keep your community safe and get maximum benefit from your notification system during the summer-autumn seasons. (If you don’t have a mass notification system in place, you might want to consider getting one:)

1. Remind people about COVID precautions and any restrictions they need to take during events and holidays. CDC guidelines encourage event organizers to follow state and local regulations on gatherings (updates on Covid-19 restrictions in all 50 states can be found here). Meeting planners should continually monitor the outbreak and make adjustments to the event plan as needed. 

“Event planners should work with state and local health officials to implement this guidance, adjusting to meet the unique needs and circumstances of the local community,” reads the document. According to the CDC, “this guidance is meant to supplement — not replace — any state, local, territorial, or tribal health and safety laws, rules, and regulations with which gatherings must comply.” More about risk factors to consider can be found here.

2. Warn residents about extreme heat.  Although we all love summer for its holidays, relaxation and fun, it also can be very dangerous during heat waves, especially for the elderly and children. And the prevalence of extreme heat events is also rising. One study of 13,000 cities estimates that people’s exposure to extreme heat more than doubled between 1983 and 2016. Cities across the world fight extreme heat by developing “cool corridors” and “cool roofs”, educating their people about extreme heat and how to behave during heat waves. For instance, the Indian city of Ahmedabad, after a devastating heatwave in 2010, developed an action plan with these three elements: 

1. 1. raising awareness about how people can protect themselves from extreme heat; 
   2. creating an early warning system for heatwave forecasts; 
   3. training medical staff to better recognize and treat people suffering from extreme heat.

One estimate suggests that the program has saved 1,190 lives a year, and a similar approach has been rolled out for more than a dozen other cities across India. Now that US cities are experiencing triple-digit heat waves, there are lessons for us here. Use your notification system to remind people to protect themselves from the extreme heat and raise their awareness. Here’s some useful information you can share with your folks on how they can protect themselves and the people they love: 

• https://www.ready.gov/heat
• https://www.cdc.gov/disasters/extremeheat/heattips.html – tips for preventing heat-related illness
• https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/features/extremeheat/index.html – keep your cool in hot weather.

3. Use weather alerts to help people prepare for, change and even cancel their travel plans. Beyond heat, the summer-to-autumn months are the high season for hurricanes, floods, and wildfires in many US states. Many of your residents will welcome updates on extreme weather. And because many people are travelling during summer holidays, it’s important to get the message out to summer visitors in addition to the residents who are registered for alerts. Hyper-Reach (or another mass notification system) can help you do this in two ways. For the most extreme events that threaten life or properly, you can use IPAWS WEA alerts. Or use our event alert feature to create an easy “register-by-text” code that visitors can sign up for when they visit your area. 

4. Let people know about unexpected emergencies. Public events can present all kinds of issues: a missing child, a traffic hazard, even an active shooter. You need to be ready to get the word out to minimize the crowd panic, get people’s cooperation, and get the situation under control as soon as possible. We found some useful guidelines on preparing for, and responding to a missing person situation here.

5. Prepare for traffic issues.  During summer holidays and events many communities experience big increases in traffic.  You may need to send updates on traffic problems, road closures, etc. so folks can avoid travelling near bad situations or at peak periods. 

6. Prepare for staffing issues. Summertime can be a much slower time of year for many organizations including public safety agencies. Employees may go on vacation, meaning you might face staffing shortages during emergencies. A mass notification system can not only help you send the word out to the public quickly – and with minimal effort – but also coordinate with available staff effectively and get shifts covered fast. 

7. Remind folks about back-to-school.  August is back-to-school month. Children heading back to school means more children on the streets, and more safety precautions to be taken. It’s time to remind parents, children and drivers to be vigilant of the increased movement of school-aged children. Mass notification software gives you the capability to send unified messaging across multiple channels, helping children, teachers and the community stay safe and informed.

8. Get the message right. To make the communication process faster and smarter, use message templates, which allow you to use a “fill-in-the-blank” approach to writing mass notification messages. They will help you create high quality, consistent messages quickly and make sure that you’ve included all needed information. Feel free to use and modify these weather templates we’ve highlighted for you previously or create your own.

9. Use events to get more people registered.  Local events are a good occasion to remind people to register for emergency alerts and more. You may attend with a booth or organize a safety workshop at a fair or other local event.