The virtual format at ACA International’s 2020 Convention and Expo allowed ACA to bring attendees more education than ever before through the flexibility of the online platform. In addition to 28 sessions, ACA also offered eight recorded on-demand sessions to view at your convenience, in addition to the personal chats attendees could have with presenters as they were speaking.

Here are some highlights from yesterday’s sessions:

Small Fish in a Big Pond: Building a World-Class Business That Swims Circles Around Competitors

In a breakout session Thursday morning, Jeff Mains, CEO of Intelligent Contacts, presented insights on connecting innovation and marketing.

“There is a missing element between innovation and marketing, which is collaboration, and that is how you take your business to a higher level.”

Mains shared key principles on seeking out clients, including committing to one market and gaining a deep understanding of your ideal client.

“Innovation is wrapped around an ideal client’s specific need,” Mains said.

When working with clients, start small and:

• Focus on one thing and emotionally connect with a client
• Communicate with clarity about your services
• Exceed expectations

Answers to All Your Burning Questions 

What’s the safest way to email a validation notice? That was the question presenters Issa Moe, general counsel and vice president of legal at ACA International, David Kaminski, partner at Carlson & Messer LLP and Dennis Barton, owner and managing attorney at The Barton Law Group LLC, tackled at this session addressing attendees’ compliance concerns. 

Presenters cited the decisions in both Lavallee v. Med-1 Solutions Inc. and Greene v. TrueAccord as helping to provide direction on how to handle this issue. The takeaway from those decisions is that you should be able to send a validation notice via email, but you have to put the entire content of that validation notice in body of email—it can’t be delivered through a link or only after the consumer completes multiple steps. “Don’t play games,” Kaminski said.  

Presenters also encouraged companies to use analytics to verify that the consumer both received and opened the email. 

Go Digital or Go Home: Harnessing Digital Engagement and the Power of Data

Let’s say you’re ready to make some changes in your business and invest in data-driven technology, but you’re not sure where to start. Presenters Josh Allen, CEO of Revenly, Greg Allen, founder and CEO of Pairity, and Tim Collins, chief compliance officer at TrueAccord Corp., encouraged companies to first identify a problem you’re having and then do your homework on how technology could help solve that problem.

“Maybe you’re having a problem communicating with consumers,” Greg Allen said. “The problem isn’t that you aren’t sending text messages, it’s that consumers aren’t answering the phone. You’ll want to evaluate your data to help you decide the best way to communicate with consumers. Once you have a plan of attack you can identify the solution to make your problem disappear.”

Where will that that data come from? Any number of sources you probably already have access to. You could start by having agents ask consumers: How would you prefer us to send you this receipt? You could also look closely at your website data. A free tool like Google Analytics can tell you how many consumers are visiting your website and whether they are on a mobile device. 

If you missed any of the Convention sessions or would like to revisit them, most of the session were recorded and will be available on the Convention platform for registered attendees until Sept. 30.

Thank you to all our speakers, sponsors and exhibitors for helping make the 2020 Virtual Convention & Expo a huge success!