SMS

Quick links in this article:

1 Verification process | 2 Purchasing a number | 3 After adding your account | 4 Use Cases & Examples

This article will explore the use of SMS (text messages) in Gnatta and the features that are available to you. We support inbound and outbound SMS messaging.

This channel incurs additional usage charges, above your Gnatta license cost. This includes a small monthly number hire fee, and a per message/per minute fee. Before proceeding, be sure to check our current telephony and SMS rates: https://gnatta.com/terms-and-conditions/telephony-sms-rates/

Verification process

Before you can begin using SMS in Gnatta, you must submit a verification bundle for a Mobile number (not Local or Toll Free). Bundles are generally approved by our telephony partner within 3 working days - although often much quicker, so check back often!

Bundles must be submitted for each telephone number. If you have multiple numbers, you’ll need to submit a bundle multiple times, even if the information is the same. You can find out more on how, and why, right here: https://gnatta.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/HELP/pages/2826960900

Select ‘Phone' from the standard channels list to submit a ‘mobile’ bundle

Purchasing a number

Once your bundle has been approved, you’ll be able to purchase a number and start setting up an SMS account. From the Bundles overview, select ‘Phone’ under Advanced channels on the left to get to the Advanced settings.

Click + Add to get started, selecting the bundle you’ve had approved. This should be a ‘Mobile’ bundle.

Select a ‘Mobile' compliance bundle

Once you’ve selected the compliance bundle, you’ll be able to choose a new number from the list. Click ‘Confirm’ when you’re ready to proceed.

Check our current telephony and SMS rates here: https://gnatta.com/terms-and-conditions/telephony-sms-rates/

Once you’ve confirmed, the number will appear in your list of phone accounts. You’ll be able to see SMS is enabled, and the relevant inbound and outbound streams under the account details.

Finally, don’t forget to map a team to the account by switching to the Teams tab. It’s critical you select a Team, because this is how Gnatta determines:

Who is allowed to respond - for security purposes, only users who are in a team mapped to the account can respond to those interactions, regardless of whether they’re assigned on their radar.
What availability there is - based on the opening hours schedule of the team(s) associated to the account. If an interaction is received after hours, you can create workflows to handle it differently

After adding your account

Once you’ve added your account, you’ll be able to move forward with connecting inbound messages from this account to a queue. More on next steps here:

https://gnatta.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/HELP/pages/2421948466

Use Cases & Examples

SMS is often underused in contact centres - but it has a wide range of applications, even when it’s not used as an inbound channel in its own right. Here are some of our favourites:

Automated CSAT Surveys - send a CSAT survey to customers via SMS after a phone call has ended
Missed Call Follow-up - acknowledge a missed call, and offer SMS as a channel to resolve
Automated Reminders - send SMS reminders to customers during a process, to keep things moving - such as uploading documents to complete a quote!
Active Call Follow-up - use SMS to send information the operator is discussing with the caller, such as an order number, website URL or email address.
Loyalty Programs - if the call has gone well, trigger an SMS containing special discounts & offers