Duarte, CA-based HumanGood has turned to texting to improve communication with prospective residents and their families as they navigate the senior living selection process. And it’s in a way that complies with privacy regulations, increases staff efficiency and reduces risk to the organization.
Texting quickly became an invaluable tool for the company, which serves more than 15,000 residents across more than 125 continuing care retirement / life plan communities and affordable senior housing communities, to support prospective resident families as they looked for a senior living community and gathered paperwork to coordinate move-ins. And it laid the groundwork for ongoing communication.
But employees were sending and receiving texts on their personal devices, potentially exposing the organization to regulatory penalties for inadvertent text messages. Texting on personal devices also was difficult to track, requiring sales team members to manually log details, pulling them away from personal interactions with families. And if a salesperson left the organization, then the exchanges that individual participated in were lost.
“The question became ‘How can we develop systems and use technology so our sales professionals can put all their time, energy and effort into the families?’” HumanGood Director of Data Analytics Joe Castro said. “Because nothing happens if they’re not there with the families in person, getting to know what they need and helping them decide whether we’re a good fit for them.”
Ultimately, HumanGood chose mobile text messaging platform TrueDialog to build a compliant SMS program. Once the platform was up and running, Castro said, the impact was “immediately visible.”
Castro gave an example of a woman caring for her mother and exploring memory care options. But each time the woman tried to tour a community or even speak with HumanGood by phone, her mother became distressed.
Using the texting platform, the community director was able to communicate directly with the prospective resident’s daughter, answer questions and even share paperwork.
“TrueDialog allows us to meet families where they need to be met,” Castro said. “It has helped us help families who are in particularly difficult circumstances.”
Today, the texting platform is an essential part of HumanGoods’ business operations, Castro said. What began with eight 10-digit codes for two-way messaging and customer service has expanded to 68 codes. The organization also increased its monthly message volume from 4,000 messages to residents and families at its communities to about 25,000, a more than 500% increase.
In addition to communication achievements, the platform also improved the sales teams’ experience by eliminating the need for them to manage multiple conversations on their personal devices or transcribe every SMS conversation. Because the platform integrates with the organization’s customer relationship management platform, the sales team can text contacts directly from the CRM and the system automatically captures and saves conversation details.
“This allows our salespeople to focus on their role as counselors and to spend their time and energy getting to know families and understanding their needs,” Castro said. “At HumanGood, we’re committed to caring, compassion and empathy, and TrueDialog has enabled us to empathize and connect more easily with the families we serve so they can find the right community.”
HumanGood now plans to expand the texting program to its marketing and business development teams. Castro said he also is planning to integrate video messaging into its use of the texting platform in the future.
“For families on the move, we have a packet for everything,” Castro said. “I’d like a digital packet for move-ins, including adult children and any family members involved.”
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