Frequently Asked Questions
What is BKeTouch®?
BKeTouch is OTB’s powerful prospect and client communications Add-on that is totally integrated into BKexpress. There is no additional hardware or software necessary for you to purchase.
What does it do?
BKeTouch sends out messages (emails and/or texts) to your prospects and clients without any intervention by you or your staff. No more having to manually send the regular emails that you should be sending every day. Instead, as you use BKexpress® in your office BKeTouch monitors the by-product of your use, sending dozens or hundreds of emails based on events or conditions that exist in your BKexpress data.
What types of emails are sent?
There are 6 primary categories of BKeTouch emails:
- Appointment Confirmation – while you should still be making appointment confirming calls, BKeTouch will send an email out every day before your ICs, Retaining appointments, BBAs, Signing appointments, and Misc appointments. It also sends out a reminder one and three days before the 341 Meeting. Emails are also sent the second an IC is set.
- Call Center – most importantly, follow-up emails are sent periodically to prospects that no-showed (No-Shows), or showed but indicated they weren’t ready to retain your firm (Hire Laters). The pattern can be adjusted for each firm, but by default about 10 emails are sent out over a period of a year in an effort to get the prospect to come back in to retain the firm. If you make outgoing calls from leads you receive from your own website, or from a third-party lead provider, BKeTouch can send out up to 6 emails over a 7 day period in an attempt to convert that lead to an IC.
- Campaigns – emails are sent to clients:
- When their case is opened (Welcome Email);
- When their petition is filed and the 341 Meeting is docketed (341 Email);
- When their case is discharged (Discharge Email); and
- Every year around the first of January providing discharged clients with credit rating information and other marketing information.
- Next Step Progress – an email is sent when a Case goes from Waiting Payment to Document Collection, seeking the documents you need. Other emails can be added to the system for any other “Next Step” progression.
- Billing – emails are sent every day to clients whose accounts receivable aging status (based on the date of the last payment) changes. If a client has been 30 days past due and the 60th day comes and goes, they get a new 60 day AR email.
- Tips & Hints – BKeTouch can be configured to send out regularly scheduled emails to your prospects and/or clients with tips and hints about credit, bankruptcy, or just life. These can be sent out at a period selected by you, and can be sent to prospects and/or clients. They are a great way to “soft market” to prospects so that when they reach the “tipping point” and become ready to file, you will be on their mind. They are also designed to improve the attorney-client relationship so that they have a better customer experience and will be more likely to refer others to you.
Can recipients respond back to the email generated through BKeTouch?
Email recipients can respond back to the email. You will designate the “Reply To” email address to which you want reply emails to go. Text message recipients will not be able to text back.
Are the emails sent through our firm’s server?
The BKeTouch email server was developed by OTB Consulting, and resides and works on the Microsoft SQL Server that works with Time Matters. Emails from the BKeTouch server are required to be routed through an account with the leading bulk email server provider under OTB’s control so that we can provide you with email metrics (email counts, and delivery and open rates); can be sure that your delivery rates are maximized; and can protect your firm’s domain from being inadvertently tagged for spamming.
Do you need BKexpress SE to get the Call Center features?
No, you do not need BKexpress SE. BKeTouch works with all BKexpress editions. However, because the SE edition collects more data, BKeTouch has more email trigger points and data states from which BKeTouch creates emails.
What cell phone providers have been confirmed with the text to email capability?
Text messages are sent as emails. This is a function that all cell phone providers support. Once you have determined your prospect or client’s cellular provider, using Google it is easy to locate the email format that needs to be used to email a text to a cell number.
Is there a limit on the number of different emails/texts that can be created?
No. You may have as many emails/texts as wanted or needed, but there may be additional costs. The initial BKeTouch offering includes a core set of emails. Anything above what is provided may require additional coding which may require additional fees. Check with us as and we would be happy to talk with you in more detail.
Can BKeTouch be used to auto-generate snail mail word docs?
No. At this time we are sending emails only since this is an email server that we are offering.
Does BKeTouch have any reports?
BKeTouch provides two types of reports:
- Email Type Reports – these reports show you the counts of the different types of emails that have been sent for specified date ranges.
- Email Result Reports – these reports show your delivery, bounce and open rates, as well as your “email reputation.” This enables you to see the effectiveness of your communications.
Is there anything else like this on the market?
The closest thing we have seen to BKeTouch is InfusionSoft, a web-based sales and marketing software built for small businesses. Our system is priced in a very similar fashion, but we have a huge advantage over InfusionSoft – BKeTouch is built directly into BKexpress. That means that you only have to work with one product … there is no need to import and export data, or develop a data bridge between the two products. More importantly, because BKeTouch is built directly into BKexpress, it can recognize events and conditions for which an email should be sent far better than InfusionSoft.
What is the Return on Investment (ROI)?
There are a number of ways to calculate your return on investment:
- Land new clients. Using the appointment confirmation emails, or the No-Show and Hire Later follow-up emails, if you land just one Chapter 13 client, your investment for the entire year is recouped, and from that point on you are making money. Honestly, if you don’t think the system can land you more than one or two clients per year you should stop reading … BKeTouch isn’t for you.
- Get paid faster. The Billing emails that are sent out automatically as soon as a client moves from one receivable category to another (e.g., from 30 day to 60 day overdue) will improve your cash flow. It’s funny how the payments slow down as soon as your clients realize that they aren’t getting creditor calls any more. Getting AR emails reminding them to make a payment will get the payments made sooner. This also means that you are going to get your cases filed more quickly. This is especially important in a Chapter 13 where you need to get filed as quickly as you can to get your payments from the plan.
- Increase referrals and client satisfaction. Every time we look at reports with our clients, one thing always stands out – client referrals are without a doubt the best way to get new clients. Prospects that are referred by an existing client almost always set an appointment, they are far more likely to show for their appointment, and they retain at a higher rate. But, getting more client referrals relies on having satisfied clients. What better way to build a base of happy clients than to make sure you are constantly in contact with them – client touches is what we call them – without having to manually do anything? From the minute they contact you as a prospective client, through to discharge, and then even after discharge for as long as you want.
- Better communication and fewer phone calls. The Campaigns and Next Step emails ensure that your clients are promptly and timely kept up to date as to where their case is at each significant stage of the case. This results in fewer calls from clients because they are being automatically communicated with. If you are doing this now, you will save significant staff time. If you aren’t, then these are the types of emails that drive client satisfaction and all the positives that come with that.
How long does installation take?
There is very little required on your part to get BKeTouch installed in terms of time and effort. Once all paperwork and documents are returned and the actual process is started, you can expect your firm to be up and running within 2 weeks (typically sooner).
What does it cost?
The monthly firm fee is $250 billed through ACH. If, at any time you decide you don’t need BKeTouch, let us know and we will turn it off. There’s no long-term contract involved.
What is my next step?
If you are ready to get started, give us a call. We will send you all the paperwork and documents to get the process started. If you need more information, please do not hesitate to contact us at 919.677.1415. We’d be glad to answer all the questions you have.
