Flashing: The Missing Secret Sauce (aka Missed Call/Beep) Increase your response rates by leveraging this common behavior used by billions worldwide.
Consider these problems that your NGO may face in traditional SMS or Voice campaigns: • You want new mothers in a low-income community to call a number and listen to important maternal health messages. But the women can’t afford to make the call. • You have a 12-week lesson plan that you want to disseminate to farmers via SMS to help them increase their yield. But you don't have their phone numbers. • You need to conduct a yes/no SMS vote about a pressing political issue. But you can’t get a toll-free number in time and know that the cost requirement of sending an SMS will disenfranchise the poor.
“Flashing" (aka Missed Call/Beeping) solves all of these problems (and more). A Flash is a phone call where the caller dials a number, lets the phone ring briefly, and then hangs up, costing them nothing. The recipient sees that she received a call and knows it’s a signal: to call the person back, meet somewhere, etc.
Problems solved: • Inform the new mothers that making a free missed call will trigger an automatic call back to their phone with an important, pre-recorded message about maternal health. • Post an advertisement telling farmers that making a free missed call will immediately enroll them in the 12-week lesson plan. • Advertise on the radio that flashing one phone number means a yes vote and flashing another phone number means a no vote.
Learn how important and easy it is to incorporate this powerful behavior into your social change programs that leverage SMS and Voice Calls & IVR technologies.
