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VentureTel Launches VentureTel Messaging, a Business Texting App for Twin Falls, Magic Valley and Wood River Valley Businesses

Southern Idaho business VoIP provider brings affordable business texting, free for VentureTel customers, with a shared team inbox, picture messaging and missed-call text-back to local teams on the web, iPhone and iPad

TWIN FALLS, Idaho, — VentureTel, a Twin Falls business phone system and VoIP provider serving the Magic Valley and the Wood River Valley, today announced VentureTel Messaging from Tech Strategies, Inc., a business texting app, free for VentureTel customers, that lets local teams send and receive texts from their business number instead of personal cell phones. The app is available on the web at hey.venturetel.app and as a free download for iPhone and iPad on the Apple App Store.

Customers in Twin Falls, Jerome, Burley, Hailey, Ketchum and across southern Idaho increasingly expect to text the businesses they work with. VentureTel Messaging gives offices, contractors, clinics, shops and service teams one shared inbox for those conversations, so a text to the main business number doesn't get lost on one employee's phone. Businesses don't need to switch phone providers to use it: VentureTel can text-enable an existing business number while its voice service stays with the current carrier.

VentureTel Messaging shared inbox in a desktop web browser, with two business number inboxes, a list of open customer conversations, and a customer photo in an open text thread
The VentureTel Messaging shared inbox in a desktop web browser. Sample data from a fictional business.

"A lot of businesses here already text customers, but it's happening on someone's personal phone, and when that person is out, the conversation goes with them," said Joel Eskelsen, founder of VentureTel. "VentureTel Messaging keeps those texts on your business number, where the whole team can see them and answer them. And like everything we do, it comes with a local team you can call when you need help."

Key features of VentureTel Messaging include:

  • Shared team inbox for business texting (SMS and MMS). Several business numbers in one workspace, with new messages appearing live.
  • Assignment and internal notes. Teams can assign conversations to one or more people, leave internal notes customers never see, and @mention a coworker to bring them in.
  • Missed-call text-back. When a call to a business number goes unanswered, the system can automatically text the caller. It works with VentureTel phone service and with other phone systems that can send a missed-call notification (a webhook). Calls that reach voicemail count as answered and don't trigger a text. The text goes out from the business texting number, and replies land in the shared inbox.
  • Picture messaging. Send and receive photos and files, including drag-and-drop on desktop and Photos, Camera or Files on iPhone and iPad.
  • Shared contacts, search and filters. Save a customer's name once for the whole team and search full message history.
  • Alerts so texts don't sit unanswered. Browser and mobile push notifications, plus optional email alerts when a text has gone unread for a set time.
  • Built-in opt-out handling and spam protection. STOP and START keywords are handled automatically, texts to opted-out numbers are blocked, and teams can mark spam and block senders.
  • Admin controls. Company admins can invite teammates, set roles and choose which business numbers each person can see and send from.
A VentureTel Messaging conversation assigned to two teammates, with yellow internal notes and an @mention above the reply sent to the customer
Assignment, internal notes and @mentions. Sample data from a fictional business.
A VentureTel Messaging conversation showing an automatic Sorry we missed your call text with Reply STOP to opt out, followed by the caller's reply by text
Missed-call text-back: the automatic text and the caller's reply in the shared inbox. Sample data from a fictional business.
VentureTel Messaging Tenant Admin Members tab listing an admin, two agents and a pending invite with each person's role and inbox access
Admin controls: invite teammates, set roles and choose inbox access. Sample data from a fictional business.
VentureTel Messaging web app on a phone's browser showing the Open, Mine and Unassigned tabs and a list of customer conversations
The VentureTel Messaging web app on a phone's browser (mobile web). Sample data from a fictional business.

VentureTel Messaging is a cloud-based business texting platform, so there's no hardware to install and nothing to maintain. Texts live in a shared team inbox that staff can reach from a web browser or the iPhone app, and each business has its own separate, invite-only workspace. For small businesses comparing business text messaging services or a business SMS app, it keeps customer texting on the company's own business phone number instead of scattered across employees' personal cell phones.

While VentureTel's roots are in southern Idaho, VentureTel Messaging is available to businesses nationwide. Every account is backed by real human support from VentureTel's team based in southern Idaho, so when a business calls for help, it reaches someone who knows its setup.

Availability

VentureTel Messaging is available now to businesses in southern Idaho and nationwide, whether they use VentureTel for phone service or keep voice service with another provider. The web app is at https://hey.venturetel.app, and the iPhone and iPad app is a free download on the Apple App Store (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/venturetel-messaging/id6760530639). An active VentureTel Messaging account is required, and VentureTel sets up each business's workspace and text-enables its numbers. Business texting is free for VentureTel customers, and it's a very affordable, low-cost way for any small business to start texting customers from its business number. Learn more at https://venturetel.net/business-texting-app/.

About VentureTel

VentureTel is a managed business phone service from Twin Falls, Idaho. Its southern Idaho team provides hosted PBX, business VoIP and business texting for small and midsize businesses in Twin Falls and the Magic Valley, Hailey, Ketchum and the Wood River Valley, Boise, and nationwide, with guided setup, number porting and support. VentureTel is the business phone and messaging brand of Tech Strategies, Inc., serving businesses since 2006, with service areas in Twin Falls, Boise and Hailey, Idaho. Learn more at venturetel.net or follow @venture_tel on X.

Media contact

Joel Eskelsen
Founder
VentureTel (Tech Strategies, Inc.)
Phone/text: 208-735-8999
Email: info@venturetel.net
Web: https://venturetel.net

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