Feature: ⚡️Intro Messages

One of the most crucial aspects of winning shipments on CitizenShipper is reaching out to customers with a good intro message. Successful transporters keep a pre-written, battle-tested template they send to all prospects. However, this is highly repetitive work: Find a shipment, open messages, copy the template, paste, go back, rinse and repeat. On a mobile, it's even more of a drag.

That's why we are excited to announce a new feature called ⚡️Intro. It allows you to save your template message and send it to prospects with just a single click, right from the feed or shipment page. This feature becomes active as soon as you win your first shipment and get background verified. 

Feel your productivity go up already? Follow along, there’s more!

How quick messages win more customers

Did you know that 56% of all shipments that are booked receive an intro message from the driver within the first hour of the shipment being listed?

This is huge.

Sending an intro message even trumps sending a bid by itself.

Why?

Because when customers list their shipment, they have a problem that they need to solve. So if you engage with them quickly, you're helping them solve this problem.

Remember, many customers are also looking at other sources to find drivers for their move. If you approach them a few hours too late, chances are they’re already speaking to multiple drivers elsewhere.

More importantly, if you only place a bid (without sending a message), they’ll be comparing you with others solely based on the price – and you don’t want that. You want them to consider your experience, communication style, trustworthiness, and other unique skills.

Not only that, but many customers need to connect with, and develop trust with their potential transportation provider, which is why a message is much more powerful than just sending a bid by itself.

Get personal with a dynamic customer name tag

A simple, yet effective trick to get more responses from customers is to use their name in your opening. There’s a cool way to do just that right with your intro message! Here’s how it works:

In the text input, press @ and a menu will show up. Select "first name" from it. When you do so, it will add “@first_name” to your text. Just leave it like that. The magic happens when you send the intro message - it will convert the tag into the customer’s name. Check it out:

How do I edit my Intro message?

In the top right corner, click the Settings icon and select Intro from the drop-down menu.

On the Intro screen, you’ll see the form to compose your message. Make sure to enter at least 200 characters, but we suggest at least several sentences. Don’t forget to hit Save when you’re done.

Sending Intro messages

There are two places from which you can fire off your intro message to a potential customer.

The first is in the Recommended shipments feed, where you see the summaries of the shipments listed:

Just clicking the Send Intro button will send off your message.

Need more details on a shipment before introducing yourself? You can also send off the intro message on the shipment page:

Again, just click the Send Intro button to fire off your message to the customer.

Bids + Intro combo

If you bid on a shipment without messaging the customer first, we send the intro message automatically. Of course, you could also send a message first and then bid later, but if you want to do both at the same time, this is a handy shortcut.

Sometimes, you’ll want to tailor the message specifically to a shipment. In these cases, use the standard Message button to compose it.

Note: The intro will be sent only once! You can update, retract and place a bid multiple times on a single shipment, but the message will only go out the first time.

Best intros are both art and science

Crafting a good intro message takes time and experience. To help you make the best of it, we composed a guide on Writing intros that sell. Once you’re ready, head on over to the Intro page and set up your intro message.

If you have any additional questions, you can always contact us directly at support@citizenshipper.com.

What to read next

For more communication advice, see our articles on talking to customers (2-min read), writing intros that sell (5-min read), and the benefits of staying on-site (1-min read).

For more on our recent updates and releases, see the Help Center's Announcement section.