If you have Admin permissions in ActiveCampaign, you can view and respond to incoming SMS messages from the SMS inbox. Incoming SMS messages include replies sent from your customers to automated SMS messages and SMS broadcast campaigns.
This real-time, two-way messaging capability enables you to converse with customers naturally, answering questions, providing additional support, or resolving issues via text message. Additionally, all interactions are stored in the inbox and can be accessed for later reference.
Take note
- Two-way text messaging is available for customers who have a dedicated, registered phone number in the United States, United Kingdom, or Australia
- Only Admin group users can access the SMS inbox and reply to text messages
- Each outbound SMS message (160 characters) consumes credits
- If you delete a contact and then restore it, the SMS conversation history will be lost
- You can enable Active Intelligence (AI) to help with drafting replies and providing conversation summaries
Using the SMS Inbox
When a customer replies to your text message, it is routed to the SMS inbox. The number of unread messages appears on the SMS Inbox icon located on the left menu. Clicking this icon opens the SMS Inbox page.
Replies (both read and unread) appear on the left side of the Inbox page.
Clicking on a message opens the conversation in the middle of your screen. Here you can see:
- Type of message the customer responded to - SMS campaign or Automated SMS
- The time your message was sent
- Your customer’s response text
- The time the customer’s response was sent
If your conversations become long, or if you want to let other inbox users on your team get caught up quickly, you can have AI display conversation summaries every tenth message. You must enable this function under “Inbox settings” to use it.
To reply to an incoming message, type it in the message composer or click the “Draft reply” button. The “Draft reply” button asks AI to draft a response for you that you can edit and send. You must enable this option under “Inbox settings” to use it.
To help you understand the character count of a message and how many messages it takes to send a reply, we’ve provided two counters for your reference. They are located at the bottom of the composer:
- Character count - The number of characters you’ve used in a single message
- Message count - The number of messages it took to send your reply if you go over the 160-character limit
The right pane displays a truncated version of the contact’s record, accompanied by a link to open their full profile. From this right pane, you can also:
- Add tags to the contact
- Add the contact to an account (feature availability depends on your plan)
- View and add the contact to SMS opt-in lists
- Add the contact to an automation
- View and create deals for the contact (feature availability depends on your plan)
Use Active Intelligence (AI) with your SMS inbox
Inbox Settings allows you to use AI functionalities with your SMS inbox. This includes:
- “Draft reply” - uses information pulled from resources you give it to craft a response in real time that you can edit before you send
- “Conversation summary” - Short conversation summary appears every 10th message.
To enable any option:
- Click Inbox on the left menu to navigate to the SMS Inbox.
- Click the “Inbox settings” button located on the top right of your screen.
- Click the toggles for each AI function you want to use.
- Follow the remaining steps, if any. (See below for more information)
- Click the “Save” button.
Draft reply instructions
Once you get to step four above, you’ll need to supply AI with information so it can draft replies for you. It will ask you for the following:
- Acknowledgment box - Acknowledge that you understand that AI can make mistakes and that you are responsible for viewing all replies generated before sending them
- Brand kit - If applicable. This helps AI understand your overall company’s brand
- Choose a role - select a tone of voice that the AI should use. Note that these roles are preset and cannot be changed
- Base it off content - Provide up to three URLs that AI can use to gather information to create the draft. Note that AI can only refer to content on that page
- Customer FAQs - provide a list of common questions and answers you get from customers
Once set up, you can use the “Draft reply” button anytime you want AI to help you with a response.