How the Alabama Head Injury Foundation boosted support group retention rates to 88% using SMS

Scott Powell is the executive director of the Alabama Head Injury Foundation, located in Hoover, Alabama. He and his team organize a range of services for those affected by head injuries to help them heal and support a great quality of life.

To do that, Scott’s team needed a way to keep their clients connected even when in-person groups weren’t possible.

The Challenge: Keeping a community consistently updated during the pandemic

When the COVID pandemic started, the foundation switched all of its in-person support groups to Zoom and realized that they needed a way of communicating with all of their clients at once. 

Their main goal was to let clients know what events and classes were coming up, send them meeting links, and generally keep in touch with them in a way that wasn’t possible without meeting in person.

The Solution: Segmented lists for each client’s individual needs

Scott and his team put SimpleTexting’s segment feature to work to solve their communication dilemma. They created segments based on where clients were located geographically and which programs they were taking part in to make sure clients only receive messages that are relevant and helpful to them.

The Result: Higher meeting retention rates and effective reminders for clients

In terms of encouraging people to attend support groups, the foundation has seen an 88% retention rate. They can also reach out to clients at the start of the week and follow up with reminder text messages right before each meeting to make sure no one forgets to attend. 

I feel like what we’ve gotten from SimpleTexting in terms of the ability to stay connected to our clients, especially those who are geographically isolated, is wonderful. That’s because everyone has a phone and can receive a text message. It’s a great way of pushing our messages out to our clients and making sure they stay engaged.

Scott Powell

Executive Director