With COVID-19 in full force, local businesses are finding it harder to run “business as usual.” Aiming to assist local businesses’ recovery from the pandemic, Podium, the leading customer messaging platform for local businesses, released Podium Starter, a free suite of tools designed to enable local businesses to adapt to the new normal by texting their customers. After seeing success with its text-to-takeout program that acted as a trial run locally in Utah, the company rolled out the offering nationwide in late April.

Designed for local businesses, companies can set up Podium Starter and begin messaging customers in under five minutes through a simple self-service portal. After that, businesses will instantly have the tools to start customer messaging, contact-free mobile payments, and webchat using texting and messaging channels that customers use and trust.

“The need for local business isn’t going anywhere, and we understand the immense challenge that these entrepreneurs are facing right now,” said Eric Rea, co-founder and CEO at Podium. “By offering a free introductory version for the first time, we’re aiming to make it possible for every local business to message their customers at a time when they need it most.”

Podium Starter’s essential tools help local businesses get a start on building and maintaining contact with their customers and operating via text, including:

• Staying open despite low foot traffic: Companies can utilize text to do business — sending pictures, answering questions, coordinating, and more — without opening their doors.
• Accepting safe, no-contact payments: Customers can pay without handing a card over, touching a credit card reader, or using a pen to sign a receipt.
• Enabling texts right away: Podium Starter is easy to use and free, and businesses can begin texting customers within minutes of signing up.

Since 2014, the Podium platform has been used by half of all smartphone owners in the United States to interact with a local business. Podium has 55,000 businesses utilizing the platform across the United States, Canada and Australia, ranging from single-location SMBs to large enterprise companies with thousands of physical locations. Learn more at podium.com.