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There are many cases where citizens tried to reach out to their local government to report issues or ask some necessary questions never heard back. Similarly, sometimes government representatives fail to send emergency announcements to their people because of the long delivery time (days to weeks).
These are some of the reasons that lead to this report:

As you can see, the percentage of satisfaction is continuously decreasing over time. And unbelievably, in December 2008, the percentage took a big dip at only 10%! This means that 90% of citizens were unsatisfied with their local government.
This is an alarming sign, isn’t it?!
Well, here’s the reason: current government communication relies on old methods and systems that often hamper effective communication and engagement with citizens. They need to find better alternatives to the methods they’re using to interact with their constituents. Otherwise, this downward trend will continue.
Here are 5 mistakes that current government communication systems make:
Mistake #1: Citizens' phone calls don't get answered or go to voicemail
Due to the high volume of incoming calls and the low availability of personnel, citizen phone calls often go to voicemail or are taken down hastily on notepads. This leads to disorganized record keeping, lost messages, and unanswered requests, which is a frustrating experience for their citizens.
Mistake #2: Clunky web forms that ask for too much information
Commonly, if we want to report something to the public office, we have to fill up a bunch of personal information on the government’s web page.
For many government websites, the reporting process usually takes a lot of steps and a lot of web loading time…
Have a look at this chart:

So when citizens have to wait a long time and see an extremely long-form, they will give up because of the complexity.
In other words, the situation will not be reported, and then no problem won’t be solved… plus the relationship between governments and citizens soon becomes worse. The result? They distrust state and local governments even more.
Mistake #3: Use a mobile app that people have to download
Again, it’s still a complex and multi-step problem.
Government apps are used widely in many states. Although applications can have many features and also department heads can take control more easily, not everyone is willing to download the app, and even if they manage to download it, they will abandon it afterwards.
Government apps require needless storage, take time to download, and also very few people check apps for notifications.
Mistake #4: Postal mail takes too long
We are not living in the 1950s where we have to rely on handwritten letters in the mail.
Although this method somehow seems more “formal” and “professional”, this is definitely NOT the best way to deliver emergency announcements.
Mistake #5: Email gets lost in high-volume inbox
Now that I have “criticized” the use of postal mail, you might be thinking about using emails.
However, this is still not a perfect choice…
Let’s look at the average Email open rate…

Only 22% of residents open your email. And assuming it’s an emergency email, would this be an alarming problem?! 78% of them won’t receive the news.
It is estimated that a person receives 126 emails each day. And of course, not everyone opens all of them and state and local government notifications will probably get lost and unseen.
Let’s be honest, state and local governments have lots of communication problems. But luckily, there is an app that can help you solve all of those issues:
Ascendant - Make every voice feel heard
Let me introduce to you Ascendant, a government texting service that helps to engage governments and citizens through real-time SMS.
- No more long-time-responses via voice messages
- No extremely long forms required
- No downloading apps
- No long-delivery postal mails
- No mass emails inboxes
Just SMS! It’s convenient. It’s fast. It’s easy to use.
How does it work?
We will provide you with a 10-digit number following strict guidelines via the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
So from now on, you can…
- Send direct messages to your citizens instantly
- Experience 2-way conversation QUICKLY and EASILY
- Have more than 200 million databases NO fee included.
- Engage with your citizens more easily and effectively.
Who are we working with?
We work with government leaders at varying levels…
- Congressional offices
- State legislators
- Cities across America
- Local counties
And more!
Why should governments use SMS for communications?
Of all the communication tools out there like government texting app, email, social media,… why should we use the old fashion SMS?
Just look at this report:

And look at the growth of SMS…

As you can see, the number of people using SMS is growing gradually each year, and it is expected to grow even more in the future.
This means government leaders like you need to keep up with the changes and take full advantage of SMS and government texting services!
Moreover, for brands and businesses, customers prefer SMS marketing to other platforms.

Just look at it…the percentage of SMS users literally DOUBLED Emails!
In addition, the response time is incredibly fast.

Comparing the average response time at 90 seconds for SMS and 90 minutes for Email, what platform would you choose?
Assuming state and local governments have emergency news and announcements that need to be delivered to citizens RIGHT AWAY, 90 seconds and 90 minutes can make a huge difference!
It’s time to decide!
So, do you want to get in touch with your citizens and build a developed and engaging community?
Book a demo of our app NOW to get further instructions!
It only takes you a few minutes to get started.
Slots are limited, so make sure to book immediately!
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