Mobile notifications are alerts that reach the application whether the mobile screen is closed or the user is browsing other applications to alert him that something related to the application has happened. For example, when a new message arrives in the WhatsApp app, you receive an immediate notification of that. Likewise, the app of the Nida for parents receives many notifications. Immediate and automated ones, such as notices recording attendance and absence, reminders of the departure time, also custom written notifications and the timing of their sending, specifying the target group for them by the school’s employees.
Why is SMS not an ideal solution for schools?
Through a survey conducted by the Calltech team, schools suffer from the use of SMS text messages, and here we list the most important reasons:
1. The high cost
The cost of text messages consumes schools' operating budgets because most text message packages are expensive even though they do not achieve the desired value.
2. Not guaranteeing its access to parents
Many parents block promotional messages, so the school is charged to pay for them and deducted from their balance with the provider, even though they may not reach the guardian at all. Also, some parents do not block promotional messages but rather do not view the text messages completely or delete them as soon as they are filled with promotional messages from various quarters.
3. The need to add mobile numbers every time
The school needs to add mobile numbers every time and the balance is deducted based on the number of added numbers and not based on the number of parents. For example, the school has a parent who has 3 mobile numbers and the school added all of these numbers. The text messaging provider deducts the number of 3 paid messages from the school balance even though they will reach the same parent. 😧
4. Limited number of characters per message
One text message does not exceed 70 characters. If the school needs to increase the text, it will be deducted from its balance twice. For example, the school added 100 mobile numbers and needed to formulate a text message with only 72 characters, then 200 text messages will be deducted from its balance instead of 100 text messages 😔 despite the increase. There were only two letters in the text.
Why is WhatsApp not suitable for schools?
School employees being forced to share their mobile numbers with parents may cause them embarrassment, and they may receive some messages at times outside their working hours. When the school uses a new, private number and links it to WhatsApp, the school needs to pay a subscription bill to the telecommunications company, while allocating an employee to respond to messages that fill up quickly. parents expect an immediate response and may become upset if this response is delayed.
How has pager technology solved these challenges for schools?
Calltech launched the customization of mobile notifications to achieve this purpose and all the challenges that schools complained about. 😍
1. The number of characters in one notification
The number of characters available in one notification is up to 185 characters, which allows the school to formulate the text of the notification according to its needs instead of being limited by text messages.
2. The ability to add emojis
The school can add emojis, which give a nice character to the texts, especially those texts that are promotional or related to events, as the use of emojis may shorten the formulation of long phrases.
3. Ease of targeting the relevant group
The school benefits from the data originally included in the system without the need to add mobile numbers or create groups every time. With one click, it can target the group concerned with this message, such as notifying only the parents of students in the first grade and section 2, or 3 separate parents who are concerned with this message, or even all of them. parents at school and so on.
4. Ensure that the message has been received
The instant notification always arrives in the application, even if the guardian does not notice it outside the application, he will always find it inside with an alert to open and view it, in addition to that it cannot be deleted, whether accidentally or intentionally.
5. Cost saving
The calltech team was keen to provide several packages whose prices beat all the prices of SMS providers’ packages, in addition to the mechanism for calculating the cost and deducting the balance that does not depend on the number of mobile numbers or even on the number of devices through which the application was opened. For example: The school has a parent. He owns 3 mobile devices and uses the Nida app on all three devices simultaneously. The custom notification that he will receive on his three devices is counted as only one notification. 😍👏
In addition, if the school has a parent who refrains from using the Nida app or has not yet downloaded the application, he will not be included in the cost at all.