Autoresponders are a great way to give your customers a timely response even when you’re not in the office. When active, the autoresponder automatically sends a reply to all inbound messages.
Autoresponder is flexible and can be used for a variety of reasons. We recommend using it when your team isn’t able to manually respond to messages quickly, such as after business hours, on weekends, and during staff meetings.
All Autoresponders have a cooldown period of 20 minutes.
Note: A response from the Autoresponder does not resolve the conversation, even with the Resolve on Send setting on. Any conversation receiving an auto response remains unresolved until a user responds to the message or manually resolves it.
Scheduled Autoresponders
This type of Autoresponder runs on a schedule, turning itself on and off based on the time slots you’ve set up. This is great for regular intervals, such as if your team leaves the office every day at 5 pm. Scheduled Autoresponders follow the same time zone as the device used to create them or most recently edit them.
To create a scheduled Autoresponder:
1. Go to the Autoresponder section under your Settings menu.
2. Select + NEW AUTORESPONDER.
3. Enter a name for your Autoresponder. Recipients will not see this name.
4. Type your message. Try to keep it under 160 characters because each autoresponse contributes to your usage.
5. Select Scheduled.
6. Select the + button next to the day you want to schedule.
7. Set the time slot you want the Autoresponder to work.
8. Click Save.
9. Click Add Autoresponder.
Note: If multiple autoresponders are active at the same time, only the autoresponder with the highest priority (closest to the top of the list) will go to contacts.
Multiple Time Slots
If you need the Autoresponder active for more than one time period a day, you’ll need to add multiple time slots. For example, this is useful if you want anyone texting in to receive a response informing them that the office is currently closed but you’ll get back to them first thing tomorrow.
To set up multiple time slots:
1. Select the + button for the day you want to set up an Autoresponder.
2. Set the time for the Autoresponder to be working. For this example, we’ll choose 12 am to 8:59 am.
3. Click the Save button.
4. Select the + button next to the new time slot.
5. Set the second time for the Autoresponder to be working. For this example, we’ll choose 5:01 pm to 11:59 pm.
6. Click the Save button.
Following the above example, the Autoresponder would respond to messages all hours of the day except between 9 am and 5 pm. You can add as many time slots to a day as you need.
Manual Autoresponders
This type of Autoresponder will send 24/7 if the response is active. This is great for specific events, like staff meetings where you need to step away for an hour, or when the person who normally monitors texts is out sick.
To create a manual Autoresponder:
1. Go to the Autoresponder section under your Settings menu.
2. Select + NEW AUTORESPONDER.
3. Enter a name for your Autoresponder. Recipients will not see this name.
4. Type your message. Try to keep it under 160 characters because each autoresponse contributes to your usage.
5. Select Manual. This should already be done for you.
6. Click Add Autoresponder.
Deleting or Editing an Autoresponder
Whether you want to make a quick change or delete an entire Autoresponder, the process is simple.
To delete an Autoresponder:
1. Find the Autoresponder you want to delete in your Autoresponder list.
2. Select the trash can icon.
3. Click YES, DELETE to confirm the deletion.
To edit an Autoresponder:
1. Find the Autoresponder you want to edit in your Autoresponder list.
2. Select the pencil icon.
3. Make changes to the name, message, or anything else.
4. Click Save to confirm your edits.