Improving Customer Service with Technology

Don't lose your CalFresh:
Clients now get a text reminder and can
complete and send their SAR7 online.

by Veronica Alvarez and Dennis Tivey

While caseloads continue to grow, the need to communicate with our clients remains a fundamental part of our job. But how do we communicate effectively with the increased demands of our jobs and the increase in the number of families we serve? One answer: technology...specifically, text communication. Text messages can automatically remind clients of important to-do's or looming deadlines, preventing unintended loss of benefits and time-wasting churn.

Read on to learn more about our hugely successful SAR7 text message campaign, how you can help texting succeed, and where we go from here!

Pilot Project 

The department started a small pilot of SAR7 text message reminders in Santa Maria District Office units in May 2019. The pilot sent a reminder text to families with a CalFresh SAR7 due.

The last 3 numbers of the case ID are provided in parentheses,
preventing mobile carriers from mistakenly flagging the message as spam.

The message, sent at the beginning of the month, included a self-service hyperlink to a new SAR7 portal from Code for America's GetCalFresh service, where the client could quickly and easily complete and submit their SAR7 online.

The portal makes it easy to submit a SAR7 and
verifications online, even from a cell phone.

In addition to the text, an eCommunication case comment was automatically entered in the case in CalWIN.

An automatic case comment documents that the text was sent.

Success and Expansion

The pilot project was a success, and the same process has since been expanded to all district offices and the BSC. We are now sending approximately 2,500 CalFresh SAR7 reminder texts per month, and an average of 45% of the clients receiving a text are clicking to provide their CalFresh SAR7!

Benefits

• By providing a reminder, we increase the number of SAR7s completed and returned by clients.
• We enhance customer service by making the process fast and easy: just click the link, complete a few items, and click to Submit.
• We remove the need for a worker to call the client in order to provide the reminder.
• When there's an economic disruption, such as the pandemic, we tend to get an influx of people who are new to CalFresh. The text reminders, and the on-site live chat help offered at the GetCalFresh site, help them navigate the unfamiliar process of maintaining their benefits.

All this adds up to one key goal: to reduce unintentional loss or interruption of benefits! By doing this, we improve stability and food security for clients, reduce staff work associated with "churn" (people cycling on and off benefits), and benefit our local economy by giving clients more spending power at local merchants.

How you can help

The client can't receive our text message unless CalWIN has their cell phone number in the correct field, and shows that we have permission to text them. Click to enlarge the screen grabs below to see where to enter the cell phone number and where to indicate that permission was given.

Here's where to enter the client's cell phone and email info.

Here's where to show we have permission to send texts and/or emails.

Next steps

The CalFresh Utilization Steering Committee has established a "Leveraging Technology" workgroup that is studying ways to use technology to improve the number of clients who get and keep the CalFresh benefits they need. The workgroup is looking at strategies including increased use of texting and email, and improved community resources on our website. Stay tuned for updates as our work progresses!