Text messaging
Text clients from one support number through Skyetel - set it up, have texts come back into ITFlow, text clients about their tickets, visits and invoices, and see who opted out and every text sent and received.
ITFlow texts through Skyetel, from one support number. Once it's set up:
- Agents answer a ticket by text with Text reply - see Working a ticket.
- A text from one of your contacts opens a ticket, and what they text next goes on it - see Text to ticket.
- Texts from anyone else, verification codes and spam wait in Texts - see Texts and verification codes.
- Contacts who agree to texts hear about their tickets, visits and invoices - see Texts to clients.
Before you start
You need, in Skyetel's portal:
- A number with SMS turned on. A number has to be in a good state before Skyetel lets you turn it on.
- For a US number, its SMS registration done. Carriers block texts from a US number that isn't registered. Canadian numbers don't need it.
- An API key - the gear at the top right, then API Keys. It gives you a SID and a Secret. The secret is shown once, so copy it then.
Set it up
- In Admin > Text Messaging, click Add Provider.
- Enter the Number texts go from, with its dial code (+1 412 555 0100), and the SID and Secret.
- Click Add. If anything is wrong, it says so beside the field, and nothing is saved until it's right.
- Copy the address in Texts come back to with the copy button.
- In Skyetel's portal, open the number, then its SMS tab. Send texts to a Callback URL, paste the address, and pick POST.
- On the provider's menu, click Send a test text and send one to your own mobile.
- Text the number back from your mobile. It shows in Texts > Unmatched on the agent side, as your mobile isn't a contact.
The address carries a key, so only Skyetel can post texts to it. If it gets out, use New inbound address on the provider's menu, then paste the new one into Skyetel's portal. The old one stops working at once.
The provider
The list shows the provider, whether it's on, its number, the address texts come back to, and when the last text came in. Above it are the texts sent, failed and received in the last 30 days.
From a provider's menu:
- Edit - its number, SID and secret. Leave the secret empty to keep the saved one.
- Send a test text - to any number, through Skyetel, for real.
- New inbound address - a new key for the address texts come back to.
- Turn off - nothing is texted, and texts to the number aren't taken in. Texts waiting to go wait until it's on again.
- Delete - nothing more is texted, and texts to the number stop reaching ITFlow. The texts already sent and received stay in the log and on their tickets.
Texts to clients
ITFlow can text your clients about their work, as it emails them. Nobody gets these texts until they agree - see Who gets them.
Choose what's texted in Admin > Settings > Notifications > Texts to clients:
| Setting | What's texted |
|---|---|
| Text them about their tickets | When a ticket is opened for them and when it's resolved - or those and each reply an agent emails them. Not for a ticket they opened by text, which already got its number. |
| Text them when a visit or call is booked | When a visit or remote work is booked on their ticket, and when it's cancelled. |
| Remind them of a visit or call | An hour, two hours, four hours or a day before. |
| Text invoices and payment reminders, with a link to pay | With the email, to the people it's emailed to who agreed to texts - when you send an invoice, when a recurring invoice sends itself, and with the payment reminders. |
Texts about a ticket go to the ticket's contact. Replying to one adds to the ticket, and replying to the resolved text opens the ticket again.
Texts ITFlow sends by itself that would land between 9pm and 8am, your time, wait for the morning. A reminder for an early visit goes when it's due. Texts an agent sends, like Text reply, go straight away.
Who gets them
A contact gets these texts once they've agreed, and has a mobile number. There are three ways:
- On their contact - on the Roles tab, turn on Texts, when they've told you they want them.
- Ask them by text - on the contact's page, next to Texts. They're texted asking whether texts are all right, and replying YES within a week turns them on.
- In the client portal - under Your account, they turn on Text me about my tickets, visits and invoices.
The contact's page shows when and how they agreed, as a record. If they replied STOP, it says so, and nothing is texted until they text START or turn texts on in the portal.
STOP, START and HELP
Carriers expect texts like these answered, and ITFlow answers them for you:
| They text | What happens |
|---|---|
| STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END or QUIT | They're told they won't get more texts. Nothing more is texted to the number until it texts START, and Text reply is greyed out on their tickets. |
| START or UNSTOP | They're told texts are back on. |
| HELP or INFO | They're told your company's phone number and email, and how to stop texts. |
Each is noted on the ticket they're texting on.
Opted out and blocked lists the numbers that replied STOP, and the ones an agent marked as spam. Opt back in is for someone who asked for texts again by phone, email or in person. Unblock lets a number's texts come in like any other.
Every text sent and received
Admin > Text Messages lists every text, newest first. Use the tabs for Waiting, Failed, Sent and Received, and search by number, words, contact, client or ticket.
Each text shows where it stands:
- Going out: Waiting, Sent, Failed with why, or Not sent because they replied STOP.
- Coming in: On a ticket (with a link to it), In Texts, Code, Spam or Keyword.
A text that failed can be retried, and one waiting can be cancelled. Tick several to do it to all of them.
A text that can't go is tried three times, a couple of minutes apart. Texts go one a second, as Skyetel allows. The Text Messages job in Maintenance > Cron sends the ones waiting.
Verification codes are masked here. Only Texts > Codes reveals them.
How long texts are kept
| Text | Kept |
|---|---|
| A verification code's words | A day. That a code came from that sender is kept. |
| Spam and dismissed texts | 30 days |
| Everything else | A year |
A text that went on a ticket stays on the ticket as a reply, however long the log keeps it.