How JRNI creates face-to-face remote services for enterprises amid COVID-19 with Twilio programmable video

JRNI is a cloud-based appointment scheduling platform that provides advanced booking and queuing capabilities for service businesses, including real-time SMS reminders and confirmations.

Forward-thinking executives from companies like U.S. Bank, ANZ Bank, and LEGO Group rely on JRNI to help them deliver unique, personalized experiences at scale. Already a Twilio Programmable Messaging customer, JRNI enlisted Twilio Programmable Video to power its remote appointments and remote event features in the midst of COVID-19.

Expanding channels to evolve the experience

JRNI’s multichannel platform enables businesses to provide personalized services to customers online to offline, face-to-face to remote. Following a booking, JRNI sends an SMS or email confirmation to a customer from which they can change, cancel or confirm an appointment. An SMS message is also sent as a reminder the day of the event.

Not only does this help eliminate no-shows, it functions as a timesaving tool by reducing administrative work that was previously done by hand. It also allows businesses to gather feedback, thus increasing customer service and loyalty.

It only took five days for JRNI’s developers to add the SMS system to JRNI’s infrastructure. And as a result of switching to Twilio from their previous SMS provider, JRNI realized a savings of 80 percent.

“Twilio is a good value for us, and therefore, it’s a good value for our customers,” said VP of Marketing Nancy Liberman.

Adapting to a new business as usual

As a provider of customer-facing solutions, JRNI saw the onset of COVID-19 as an accelerant to its evolution.

For JRNI’s customers, “COVID-19 changed the face of business as usual, and businesses have to change along with it,” Liberman said. And that’s literal, since JRNI’s customers typically serve their clients face-to-face, in-person.

Based on its positive results previously partnering with Twilio, JRNI chose Twilio Programmable Video to power its video appointments and virtual events that run natively from the JRNI scheduling platform. Eliminating the need for third party solutions, complex integrations, additional security vetting, or downtime, JRNI was able to build its remote appointments solution in a matter of days and was made available in less than a week.

JRNI debuted its remote appointments feature as part of a product suite, called JRNI Forward, with a collection of features that help businesses reopen safely while maintaining social distancing best practices.

“The technology that you bring us is the differentiator, with everyone doing remote appointments that require clicking out of an app into a separate out-of-the-box video chat app,” says Liberman.

Using the Twilio Programmable Video API means JRNI’s customers can conduct seamless video appointments without the need for downloading specialized video apps. Customers can schedule an appointment with a business online, receive an email confirmation of the appointment, powered by Twilio SendGrid, then receive an SMS appointment reminder, from which customers can confirm, cancel, or reschedule the appointment.

On the morning of the appointment, they receive a reminder with a link to the video appointment so that in one click, a customer can join their video session in their browser without having to download an app. After the session, customers receive a follow-up SMS message that includes the option to schedule a follow-up appointment.

“It’s more critical than ever that our customers can do business on the channel they want to create a personal connection however they want to have it,” says Liberman.

A future beyond COVID-19

As JRNI sees it, remote appointments are already the new reality of business post-COVID-19—not just for one-to-one interactions, but also one-to-many virtual events. “It’s a natural extension of receiving a service in-person, you are still looking someone in the eye and talking about things in a safe environment.”

Looking ahead, JRNI is already exploring the possibility of enhancing its video solution with interactive ecommerce capabilities to enable customers to drive revenue from every remote appointment. “Imagine you work for a makeup company and while you’re demonstrating how to use the products on your face, all those products are made available for purchase on the side of the video interface,” Liberman continued.

Knowing that Twilio also offers solutions specific to the retail industry, Liberman says, “We definitely see Twilio as a partner that will grow along with us.”