How Swoop uses targeted OpenPhone numbers to support its two-sided marketplace

About Swoop

Industry:

Logistics

Founded:

2018

HQ:

Los Angeles, California

Previous provider:

Aircall, an in-house solution

Back in 2018, Swoop CEO Amir Ghorbani was working as a consultant for Deloitte when he decided to help his parents with their small transportation company on the side. While working with them, he noticed that nothing in their business was automated: from dispatching to customer management, every process was managed manually.

And so the idea for Swoop was born.

Swoop is an all-in-one transportation solution that helps individuals and companies organize everything from commuter shuttling to event and executive VIP transportation. As a two-sided marketplace, Swoop services both the companies and individuals requesting private shuttles as well as the independent transport companies that provide those rides.

OpenPhone integrations used:

The challenge

Even Swoop's internal solution wasn’t working for them

Swoop needed a phone system that would allow them to interface with ride operators, provide support to customers, and run onboarding and operations smoothly. Swoop first tried using Aircall and several other alternatives, but they couldn’t find a provider that met their diverse needs. In fact, the providers were so far off the mark that Swoop created their own internal solution.

While Swoop’s solution worked better than alternatives like Google Voice or Aircall, it had its own limitations. Users were able to set their business hours on Swoop’s phone system (a definite plus), but calls could only be directed to a single user. If that user didn’t answer the call, then it was denied, rather than passed on to a coworker — which wasn’t the best client experience.

"It’s just a no-brainer to use OpenPhone."

Amir Ghorbani

CEO at Swoop

The solution

OpenPhone promised to do what they needed and more

Fortunately, Amir discovered OpenPhone as an alternative. “It was almost hilarious when I did the product demo,” he says. “I was like, ‘Wait a sec, did you guys steal my product vision? Did you go into my internal workflows?’ It was obvious that this was exactly for us.”

For Swoop, OpenPhone offered multiple phone numbers that could be used for distinct types of client requests. Employees could share those numbers with OpenPhone's round-robin call distribution feature, so if one employee declined the call, it would simply get passed on to another employee in the group.

The impact

Switching to OpenPhone gave Swoop the flexibility it needed

The switch to OpenPhone allowed Swoop the flexibility it needed to serve both end customers and ride operators in a fast-paced industry. With OpenPhone, Amir’s teams were able to set up multiple business numbers that could be used to address distinct issues — from onboarding to operations to support.

‍“We really can enhance the customer experience by having targeted phone lines that are based on if there’s a ride today or a ride in the future,” says Amir. “We’re then able to delegate and have more tailored and targeted lines of communication for our end customers and our marketplace business.”

Now that Swoop teammates can share phone numbers, customers never have to wait long to reach an employee. Teammates can also use internal comments — attached to text messages or call logs — to resolve any issues or make client notes. These comments, along with all text messages and recorded calls, are saved in conversation threads within OpenPhone, ensuring that any Swoop employee can pick up an existing conversation with a customer without missing a beat.

Read the full customer story here ->

Read the full customer story here ->

How Swoop uses targeted OpenPhone numbers to support its two-sided marketplace

Back in 2018, Swoop CEO Amir Ghorbani was working as a consultant for Deloitte when he decided to help his parents with their small transportation company on the side. While working with them, he noticed that nothing in their business was automated: from dispatching to customer management, every process was managed manually.

And so the idea for Swoop was born.

Swoop is an all-in-one transportation solution that helps individuals and companies organize everything from commuter shuttling to event and executive VIP transportation. As a two-sided marketplace, Swoop services both the companies and individuals requesting private shuttles as well as the independent transport companies that provide those rides.

Industry
Logistics
Use Cases
Operations
Customer support
Founded
2018
HQ
Los Angeles, California
Previously using
Aircall, an in-house solution

"It’s just a no-brainer to use OpenPhone."

Amir Ghorbani

CEO at Swoop

Even Swoop's internal solution wasn’t working for them

Swoop needed a phone system that would allow them to interface with ride operators, provide support to customers, and run onboarding and operations smoothly. Swoop first tried using Aircall and several other alternatives, but they couldn’t find a provider that met their diverse needs. In fact, the providers were so far off the mark that Swoop created their own internal solution.

While Swoop’s solution worked better than alternatives like Google Voice or Aircall, it had its own limitations. Users were able to set their business hours on Swoop’s phone system (a definite plus), but calls could only be directed to a single user. If that user didn’t answer the call, then it was denied, rather than passed on to a coworker — which wasn’t the best client experience.

"We were just frustrated with what was out there. The quality of service and the experience through their product was not tailored to our needs."

Amir Ghorbani

Amir Ghorbani

CEO at Swoop
A speech bubble icon

While Swoop’s solution worked better than alternatives like Google Voice or Aircall, it had its own limitations. Users were able to set their business hours on Swoop’s phone system (a definite plus), but calls could only be directed to a single user. If that user didn’t answer the call, then it was denied, rather than passed on to a coworker — which wasn’t the best client experience.

Fortunately, Amir discovered OpenPhone as an alternative.

“It was almost hilarious when I did the product demo,” he says. “I was like, ‘Wait a sec, did you guys steal my product vision? Did you go into my internal workflows?’ It was obvious that this was exactly for us.”

"If you have a team that has to answer phone calls all day, transparency and communication between teams becomes impossible without having some sort of automated lines of communication for your business phone."

OpenPhone promised to do what they needed and more

Fortunately, Amir discovered OpenPhone as an alternative. “It was almost hilarious when I did the product demo,” he says. “I was like, ‘Wait a sec, did you guys steal my product vision? Did you go into my internal workflows?’ It was obvious that this was exactly for us.”

For Swoop, OpenPhone offered multiple phone numbers that could be used for distinct types of client requests. Employees could share those numbers with OpenPhone's round-robin call distribution feature, so if one employee declined the call, it would simply get passed on to another employee in the group.

Switching to OpenPhone gave Swoop the flexibility it needed

The switch to OpenPhone allowed Swoop the flexibility it needed to serve both end customers and ride operators in a fast-paced industry. With OpenPhone, Amir’s teams were able to set up multiple business numbers that could be used to address distinct issues — from onboarding to operations to support.

‍“We really can enhance the customer experience by having targeted phone lines that are based on if there’s a ride today or a ride in the future,” says Amir. “We’re then able to delegate and have more tailored and targeted lines of communication for our end customers and our marketplace business.”

Now that Swoop teammates can share phone numbers, customers never have to wait long to reach an employee. Teammates can also use internal comments — attached to text messages or call logs — to resolve any issues or make client notes. These comments, along with all text messages and recorded calls, are saved in conversation threads within OpenPhone, ensuring that any Swoop employee can pick up an existing conversation with a customer without missing a beat.

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