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User ManualNeed configuration, code or deployment details? In the Technical Manual: Omnichannel Messaging WorkspaceCrestApps SMS Omnichannel Automation (AI)

Text Your Contacts

Who it's for and what you get​

For managers setting up two-way texting with customers, and the agents and supervisors who answer.

When it is done:

  • customers who text your numbers land in a shared inbox, or with one agent, depending on the number;
  • agents claim conversations, reply, send pictures, transfer to a colleague or a queue, and close them;
  • agents start new conversations from their own texting number, and reuse canned responses;
  • supervisors send the same message to many customers as a broadcast, with each reply coming back as its own conversation;
  • customers who text STOP are opted out automatically.

Before you start​

You needWho sets it up
An SMS provider account (Twilio or Telnyx) with numbers that can textYour administrator, with IT
The features SMS Messaging Channel (it turns on the messaging workspace), Contact Center Inbound Entry Points, Omnichannel Management and Content Transfer (to import contacts). Omnichannel Messaging Routed Distribution if each conversation should go to one available agent.Your administrator, in Tools > Features
A manager role with Manage omnichannel addresses and Manage Contact Center queuesYour administrator
Use the messaging workspace for agents (the Agent role has it); Send group messages and Manage the messaging workspace for whoever sends broadcasts and writes templates (the Supervisor role has them)Your administrator; see Roles and permissions
Can't find it?

What you see depends on your role. If the menu, a button or a setting on this page is missing, ask your administrator to give you the permission listed above or to turn on the feature. Only administrators can turn features on and change site settings.

Steps​

  1. Connect the SMS provider. The administrator picks the default SMS provider and fills in its settings under Settings > Communication > SMS. See Phone and SMS setup.
  2. Import your contacts. Set up the contact type, then import your list under Content > Import. Contacts who should not get texts can be marked Do not SMS. See Contacts.
  3. Add your texting numbers. Add each number under Interaction Center > Management > Omnichannel Addresses with Text messages (SMS) ticked, pick its provider, and pick the Agents who text from this number. See Omnichannel addresses.
  4. Set the default number. The administrator picks the Default SMS number used by agents who are on no number's list, under Settings > Contact Center. See Contact Center settings.
  5. Create a queue for shared inboxes (optional). To share a number's texts across a team, create a queue for that team, such as Support. You send the number's texts to it in the next step. See Queues.
  6. Route incoming texts. Add a Text messages entry point for each number under Inbound entry points: send its texts to a queue or to one agent, choose shared-pool or routed distribution, and write the auto-reply and the closed auto-reply. See Inbound entry points and IVR menus.
  7. Write templates. Add canned responses agents insert into replies under Messaging > Templates. See Messaging workspace.
  8. Train agents on the inbox. Agents filter, claim, reply, transfer, close and reopen conversations, and start new ones, under Messaging > Inbox. See Messaging workspace.
  9. Send broadcasts. Supervisors send one message to many contacts under Messaging > Broadcasts. See Messaging workspace.

Check that it works​

  1. Text one of your numbers from a mobile phone. The conversation appears in Messaging > Inbox: under Unassigned for a shared queue, or in the agent's own conversations for a personal number. If the entry point has an auto-reply, your phone receives it.
  2. Claim the conversation, reply, and check that your phone receives the reply.
  3. Start a New conversation to your phone from an agent's number.
  4. Text STOP from your phone and check that you receive the confirmation. Text START to opt back in.

Tips​

  • A number with no enabled text entry point still receives texts. They land in the unassigned inbox.
  • A banner warns agents during the customer's quiet hours, outside the queue's business hours. It does not stop them sending.
  • With Routed distribution, agents turn on the Available switch in the inbox to receive conversations.
  • A broadcast cannot be cancelled once it is queued. Send a test to yourself first.
  • To have the AI answer texts first and hand over to a person, see Let the AI answer your customers. To nudge customers who stop replying, see Follow up automatically.
  • Use a workflow to text a customer automatically after a call, for example when nobody answered. See Contact Center workflows.