We currently support sending SMS messages to phone numbers from Ireland and UK. If you have a requirement to send message to other countries, please get in touch.
There are two types of SMS messages supported by Bot Bureau:
Notifications that are sent to you
This happens whenever you receive a call to your AI phone assistant.
This can be useful for people who are on the move and who don't check their emails or their Call History page throughout the day.
SMS messages that your assistant sends to your caller
This allows your assistant to send callers links to booking forms, payment pages, contact forms, feedback or survey forms, or to your website homepage.
We have found that this is a really good way to make sure that your caller is able to follow up with the actions discussed on the call like paying a deposit to complete a booking. We think of this as 'reducing friction' (i.e. reducing the chance of your caller not taking action).
You can also simply use it to say thanks for calling, and even share a discount code.
Both types of message are turned off by default when your account is created, so you won't accidentally send SMS messages and incur costs without turning it on.
SMS messages are an optional extra which isn't included in your monthly subscription. We have a generous free allowance of SMS messages for all account holders, after which you only pay per SMS sent - there is no need to buy bundles or credits to use these.
How do I enable SMS messages ?
From your Dashboard, locate the link to SMS, Phone & Email Settings. From this page there are two relevant sections:
Receiving Notifications after calls
Sending SMS messages to your callers
Click the Edit button in these sections and change the value to Enabled in order to start sending or receiving SMS messages.
If you opt to receive call notifications via SMS you can decide whether to include or exclude calls classified as Caller Abandoned in order to manage the cost.
After enabling inbound SMS messages, how do I start receiving SMS call notifications?
For receiving notifications via SMS, there is nothing else needed at this stage. The next time you receive a Production call (not a test call) you will receive a text message.
After enabling outbound SMS messages, how do I start sending SMS messages to my callers?
For sending SMS messages to your callers, once you have enabled it above, there are two further steps: