HeyWire Highlights LiveText Business Messenger Customer Momentum and New Features as Business Texting Becomes a Key Channel in the Customer Experience Economy

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 22, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- HeyWire^®, the leading enterprise mobile messaging service that's reinventing texting for businesses that care about customer experience, has released new enhancements to its popular HeyWire LiveText^™ Business Messenger app as diverse businesses adopt texting for two-way customer conversations – going beyond shortcode-based marketing – to improve their customer experience. This growing demand for business texting as the preferred customer communication channel is happening across a wide range of industries spanning retail, financial services, travel and hospitality, broadcasting, staffing and recruiting, and higher education, among others; all fueled by today's mobile-first world. 

"Customers want to engage the companies they do business with through private, two-way messaging – with no special apps or confusing shortcodes required, and without the need to broadcast themselves on social media. They no longer want to call companies. Our growing base of customers demonstrates that once companies companies realize this can be accomplished through use of a new category of open mobile messaging services that embraces texting, they want it," said Meredith Flynn-Ripley, CEO of HeyWire. "Given the similar sales and support challenges these companies face across industries, we know business texting will soon become even more critical as companies look for competitive advantages in the customer experience economy."

Available now for iOS and Android devices, and with Web browser, Mac and Windows apps, HeyWire LiveText Business Messenger enables a business's existing, main phone number for two-way texting and provides an easy-to-use mobile messaging app for employees to send and receive customer texts. HeyWire's Business Messenger provides powerful messaging features for business users like synchronized mobile, Web and desktop access, CRM integration, message archiving, secure logins and auto-reply features. Plus, it works with standard text messages so customers don't need to download any special apps to text business numbers. It is being used in both field and office settings for customer engagement, sales enablement, service and support, field communications and other customer-facing activities across a variety of industries. Some recent customer examples include: 

• Acadia Broadcasting – Canadian-based commercial broadcasting company operating 13 stations in various formats across three provinces. With listeners wanting to text its stations, it reviewed various solutions and went with Business Messenger since listeners could text to the same phone number they already know to suggest songs, provide news tips or interact with the hosts. According to Acadia station manager, Brent Preston, "Listeners love it. The morning we launched it, we received more than 200 texts, and we think it gives us a competitive advantage since we can have two-way conversations with listeners via text versus other stations that simply use short codes."
• Mike's Cigars – One of the top distributors of cigars and cigar accessories in the world that sells through retail, wholesale, mail order and online channels. The company's customer service team was having trouble keeping up with inbound customer call volume. After reviewing WhatsApp and other options, Mike's Cigars chose HeyWire LiveText Business Messenger for its customer service reps because it works for both U.S. and international markets, and it did not require customers to download an additional app or require a special phone system or training for the customer service agents. According to the company's social media manager, Lenin Euceda, "Customers like the convenience of texting us and appreciate having that option versus calling. More importantly, the ability to engage with customers via text has enabled our customer service team to field more customer inquiries than they could just using the phone."
• First Courier – A professional delivery service operating in the Bay Area of Northern California. The company was looking for a more efficient way to communicate with its 40 drivers in the field after some issues with the instant messaging service they were using. After reviewing options from Google and others, the main office is using HeyWire LiveText Business Messenger as a centralized dispatch communications solution for notifying drivers about customer pickup and drop-off locations. According to the owner, Eric Hill, "It's fast, easy, has virtually no message limits, and our drivers can use a phone number they already know to text rather than a short code that keeps changing – so they stay focused on our number one priority: customer service."

HeyWire has continued to enhance HeyWire LiveText Business Messenger with additional business-centered features, including:

• Full Conversation History – When customers text in to a business, Business Messenger displays any previous conversations with that customer so the business has the full context of earlier interactions and is better prepared to address their inquiry every time.
• Intelligent Auto-Reply – In addition to providing auto-notification messages with a customizable response ("Thanks for your inquiry, we'll be right with you", or "Our office is currently closed"), businesses and professionals now have the flexibility to screen important incoming texts and respond after hours or when otherwise not available for regular service.
• Improved Contact Management – HeyWire LiveText Business Messenger can automatically import mobile device contacts and also lets businesses add or edit names from texting conversations in both the device and Web apps to capture new contact information as customers text them.

The latest version of HeyWire LiveText Business Messenger is available for no-cost trial via the iTunes and Google Play app stores.

About HeyWire

HeyWire is reinventing business communications for companies that care about customer experience through its leading mobile messaging cloud that easily connects customers to businesses using two-way, conversational texting. The company is a pioneer in bringing enterprise-class messaging to toll-free numbers and office phone numbers; provides award-winning messaging apps spanning customer service agent consoles, mobile devices and the desktop. HeyWire partners with leading providers of customer service solutions, CRM and telephony products and delivers over half a billion messages per month through its business texting network. HeyWire has been recognized with CTIA's 2014 Mobile Cloud Emerging Technology Award, the AlwaysOn Mobile 100, OnCloud Top 100 and Global 100 to Watch Awards, as well as the PwC Promise Award. For more information, please visit http://www.HeyWire.com

HeyWire Media Contact: 
Mariah Torpey 
Davies Murphy Group 
[email protected] 
781-418-2404  (call or text) 

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