Answer texts (SMS)

Texts to your number arrive as tickets, and your replies on those tickets go back as texts from the same number. Agents work them in the inbox like any other ticket.

Before you start#

• Growth Dept has to switch SMS on for your helpdesk. While it is off, the SMS page says so; you can still add lines.

• You need a number with no SMS line on it. A number can carry an SMS line and a voice line, so customers can call and text the same number. See Phone numbers.

• A US local number needs its carrier registration approved before it can text customers in the US. Toll-free numbers need toll-free verification. See Register your numbers for texting.

Add an SMS line#

1. Go to Settings > Channels > SMS and click Add SMS line.

2. Pick the number and give the line a name agents will recognise.

3. Click Add line.

The SMS lines list shows each line's number and its carrier registration. Rename changes the name; Delete stops texts to that number reaching the helpdesk, while its tickets stay.

How texts become tickets#

A text joins the customer's SMS ticket on the same line when that ticket is open or had a message in the last three days. Otherwise it starts a new ticket. The texter is matched to a customer by phone number, and a customer named by the number is created when nobody has it.

Customers can send photos. Images arrive on the ticket as attachments.

Reply by text#

Reply on the ticket as usual; the reply goes out as a text.

• Length. A text can be up to 1,600 characters. The counter under the reply shows how many characters you have used and how many SMS segments the text takes. Carriers bill per segment: 160 plain characters fit in one, and fewer when the text has emoji or other special characters.

• Images. Attach PNG, JPEG or GIF images, up to 1 MB in all per text. Other files cannot be sent by text.

• Delivery. A text the carrier could not deliver is marked as failed on the ticket, with the reason.

Macros and rules can reply by text too. Everything sent counts toward your usage; see Paying for calls and texts.

STOP, START and HELP#

Customers control whether you can text them, and the helpdesk enforces it:

• STOP (or UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END, QUIT, REVOKE, OPTOUT, STOPALL) opts the number out. Nothing is texted to it again from any of your numbers, whoever tries: an agent, a macro or a rule. The carrier sends the customer a confirmation.

• START (or UNSTOP) opts them back in.

• HELP (or INFO) gets an automatic reply naming your business and how to opt out.

The keyword message still appears on the ticket, so agents see what the customer wrote.

Numbers that opted out on the SMS page lists every opted-out number, newest first, with when and how. Search it by number. There is no way to take a number off the list by hand: only the customer can, by texting START.

Good practice#

• Text customers only about the conversation they started, or when they asked you to. Marketing texts belong in your SMS marketing tool, which keeps its own consent records.

• Keep texts short, and say who you are in the first message of a conversation.

• Never ask for card numbers or passwords by text.

Not built#

Texting numbers outside the US and Canada, WhatsApp, and replies to texts sent by SMS marketing tools are not available; marketing texts come from those tools' own numbers, so replies stay there.