We have reviewed and researched this question and have found 5 reasons for giving priority to text over email and voice calls:
- Parents at work, traveling or in a meeting will view a text before answering a call, checking voicemail or email.
- 80% of Americans text regularly. In fact, Americans text twice as much as they call, on average. (Nielsen)
- Home phones are being abandoned in favor of cell only (and during the day people are rarely home).
- If there is a true emergency and parents get an automated “Robo” call, the first thing they will do is call your school for more information. A text allows you to give much more detail and assuage fears.
- A calling service, even if it is paired with text, requires a staff member with knowledge of the system to login and communicate the message to be disseminated. Text messages can be quickly modified and distributed instantly.
To send a text using email use the mobile number followed by the carrier email suffix. Every mobile phone already has its own email using this format:
- Alltel: phonenumber@message.alltel.com
- AT&T: phonenumber@txt.att.net
- T-Mobile: phonenumber@tmomail.net
- Virgin Mobile: phonenumber@vmobl.com
- Sprint: phonenumber@messaging.sprintpcs.com
- Verizon: phonenumber@vtext.com
- Nextel: phonenumber@messaging.nextel.com
- US Cellular: phonenumber@mms.uscc.net