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1,880 Points
Posted 3 years ago
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434 Points
Our previous provider could not approach RC in terms of features, flexibility or reliability, but they did have one feature that our text-intensive industry really used - SMS auto-response messages (we used it exclusively for Out Of Office messages when we were closed).
So, after reading and researching, I called RC Support about this today, just trying to pin down a timeline for implementation of this feature.
The answer was "if enough people express an interest, our Network Engineers will make it happen" and "vote for and follow the issue, and tell all your friends to vote for it and follow it".
Not a very reasonable answer, as "all my friends" are not RC Customers, and I don't have any other resources to try to get his feature implemented, beyond what I've already done.
My request to talk to a Product Manager or anyone similar was denied, which was kind of disappointing.
So, my next question to the community is: "Has anyone successfully used Zapier to make this work?"
I've tried, but I need to use a Custom Field to get the outgoing SMS to reply to the texting number, as opposed to a number from a pull-down list, and I haven't quite figured that out yet.
Seems like if someone had already conquered that hurdle, and shared with with the rest of the RC Community, they'd be somewhat of a hero.
Breathlessly awaiting a response from the RC Community....
-Glenn
(and as a personal aside - rather than argue the merits of auto-response to SMS messages, proposing other solutions, or lecturing the world on the value of work/life balance, it's probably reasonable to just admit that some people want this feature, and then help make it happen. Just my two cents...)
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702 Points
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434 Points
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194 Points
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122 Points
Saadet, Employee
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67,790 Points
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140 Points
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516 Points
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400 Points
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154 Points
An auto text responder is a key feature missing form your platform. People text into the main line and get no response, makes us look bad. Texting is a common way to reach out, would be so useful to have a quick auto-text reply to let them know message was received and what comes next.
Please fix this. This thread makes you look bad. After several years of clamoring for something, I would think you would have already acted.
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496 Points
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390 Points
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658 Points
Thank you for a succinct and accurate summary of the issue, Nick.
Ring Central, are you listening?
Do you care about keeping customers?
If so, what are you doing to resolve this issue?
-Glenn from The Coin Trading Company
Mike, Official Rep
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94,188 Points
The best thing that everyone can do here is leave a good use case scenario highlighting how this feature would benefit or positively impact your business, employees, etc.
Mike
Cecile Glassy, Champion
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21,860 Points
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154 Points
Customers contacting businesses are increasingly using texting to communicate and a good response is now expected. For me, its hard to respond to texts to our main line, I have been tempted to just turn it off, but that isn't much of a solution either.
Brandon, Champion
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24,750 Points
First, to be clear, I absolutely agree RingCentral should address this, but in the mean time-
Text messages sent to your main number will go to the operator account. Navigate to auto-receptionist in the admin portal to see what extension this is if you are not sure.
Then you can use a desktop or mobile app to login to that account to receive and send text messages to and from your main number. In addition, you can have any inbound text messages copied to an email address (individual or group) to make sure they are seen by whomever needs to see them.
In addition, it may be possible to use a Zapier integration with minimal effort to create a fully automated response. I played around with this many months ago and was able to make it work, but I do think a RingCentral update to their API broke it recently. I will have to look into it again when time permits.
So, I just want to make sure that for some people who this is really important for at least know they have an option to see and respond to text messages sent to their main number and they don't just go into a "black hole"
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516 Points
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658 Points
People keep pointing to Zapier, but has anyone been able to implement a successful response with them?
And why should we have to pay them for a feature that should be in Ring Central??
-Glenn
kevin royalty, Champion
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798 Points
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516 Points
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902 Points
Cecile Glassy, Champion
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21,860 Points
2018-02-28 Our Community Moderators Mike and Saadet do their best to combine message-threads very often when the topic is the same.
I'd like to suggest while TXT and SMS messaging are popular among many users, they are not usually considered core communication methods by larger (Enterprise) organizations.
This could have something to do with development priorities on the engineering side. VOIP, Meetings, Conferencing and Glip integration of functionalities seem to be the higher priorities at RingCentral.
The company is growing at breakneck speed and their engineering teams work at full-tilt. As smaller companies join RingCentral's customer base sometimes it is sometimes difficult to see how they fit into the larger scope of business at RingCentral.
This is where communicating directly and often with your Customer Success Manager can help to advocate for your needs through additional channels than this IDEA channel in the RingCentral Community. It really does work and it does help. Please give these ideas some thought as an alternative way to get your message across.
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516 Points
Cecile Glassy, Champion
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21,860 Points
2018-07-20 You can have your customer service manager block all TXT messaging if you do not have access to ROLES in your account tier level.
Do this by opening a case and they can shut it off. It may take a day or two to get the feature disabled depending on their incoming support workload.
If you do have access to ROLES in your account level you can create a Custom ROLE, nae it something such as "staff" or whatever alternative name you choose and disable text messaging by unchecking the box of permissions for that item.
Then create a template to move all users to that ROLE from Standard International (which is the default role when you setup USA-based users)
kevin royalty, Champion
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798 Points
my original idea thread was merged into this thread a year or two ago and In case it got lost here it is again:
Customers will text any number, expecting a response. we would like an autoreply to let them know they are 1) after hours/holiday/etc and to give our normal hours, or 2) if emergency to please call, not text or email. we also want to say we don't respond to texts on the office numbers but we will email or call back if a response is warranted.
as a RC reseller, we are also getting similar requests from our clients that we've sold RC to, or have taken over as partner of record for an existing RC client that we are the front line support. we are hearing the same requests from them - they want autoresponders. one is a medical related, so HIPAA requirements kick in - they want an autoresponse like "if this is an emergency, please call 911, if not please call our office to speak to someone during business hours, otherwise call and leave a message in the general mailbox and someone will get back to you the next business day".
similar for financial industry (under SoX compliance) with autoresponder for "trades cannot be executed by texting you must call our office. normal business hours are blah blah".
that's just the ones I recall off the top of our head.
in all honesty, if RC can't implement this with a target date announced, then for some of our clients we will be looking at other solutions that do have this feature. to them, it is very important.
Kevin
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658 Points
Mike,
Thanks for jumping in with a response, and for letting us
know some of the other issues and factors that have kept Ring Central from
responding to this request before now. I appreciate your role and all your hard
work to ensure that Ring Central remains responsive to the needs of your
Community.
However, I must say that, with all due respect, Ring Central
has been telling your customers this same (tired) line for years, and not
responding with tangible results. It's very difficult for me to understand why this
is not a higher priority to Ring Central.
I need to ask:
- How much priority does a feature need to have (and how many
customers need to move away from Ring Central?) before you believe that a
feature is necessary and valuable?
- How many Use Cases need to be spelled out before you
believe that a feature that your competitors provide is valuable to your
customers?
But I'll certainly oblige, and provide a Use Case Scenario,
in the hope that it’s helpful..
Business background - The Coin Trading Company is
a proprietary trading firm that provides Over-The-Counter (OTC)
cryptocurrency services to individuals and institutions.
Business Use - The majority of our communication with
trading partners (customers) is via text message. We routinely text message
trading partners at a minimum of ten times as often as we talk to them on voice
calls. This only increases the focus on reliable and responsive text
messaging.
Additionally, in this internet-enabled, always-on day and
age, many customers have an expectation of near-immediate response at any time
of the day or night. We are all familiar with text threads where a gap of even
a minute or two results in the dreaded and cryptic (and sometimes exasperating)
response of “?” “?”
During business hours, we strive to meet these
demanding expectations, and are generally very successful.
However, during evenings, weekends, and (for our business)
bank holidays, messages from trading partners either go unanswered until the
next business day, or employees must watch their phone or other device, and
respond with a message telling the trading partner that our office is closed.
The implementation of SMS Auto-Replies (as we had with our
last provider!) would bring the following benefits:
- SMS auto-response allows trading partners (customers) to
get an immediate reply when our trading desk is closed, advising them that
we're not open for business, giving our hours, and reassuring them that they'll
hear back the next business day. The outcome is that customers feel more
cared-for, and experience a higher level of satisfaction with our services.
-SMS auto-response allows employees to stop monitoring their
phone s and mobile devices evenings and weekends, and know that customers are
being responded to. This increases the ability to "unplug" and
enhances work/life balance.
- SMS auto-response allows the company to provide a response
to customers during bank holidays, unexpected times when services are impacted,
and in the case of a company-wide meeting or retreat.
I sincerely hope that this information is helpful, and that
it helps bolster the realization that there is a demand for this feature, and
that it hastens the implementation of SMS auto-response.
Sincerely,
-Glenn from The Coin Trading Company team
Glenn C. Hay-Roe
503-354-1039
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658 Points
Feature Request - add SMS auto-reply feature, so that we can set an automatic reply to SMS messages when we are out of the office, closed, etc.
- Account type (U.S., Canada, UK, AT&T, Telus, BT) - U.S.
- A brief description of the business - Cryptocurrency Trading.
- A high level description of the product or feature being requested - SMS Auto-Reply
- A typical use case scenario explaining how your business would use the feature - Full detailed message below, simple answer is that it would let us respond to customers when we're otherwise unavailable.
- Benefit of such feature - Full detailed message below, short answer - Customer retention, Customer Satisfaction, Employee Satisfaction, Increased Work/Life Balance.
- Include any related case number if applicable - 06780288
- Number of Users and/or Digital Lines - 4 digital lines
Business background - The Coin Trading Company is a proprietary trading firm that provides Over-The-Counter (OTC) cryptocurrency services to individuals and institutions.
Business Use - The majority of our communication with trading partners (customers) is via text message. We routinely text message trading partners at a minimum of ten times as often as we talk to them on voice calls. This only increases the focus on reliable and responsive text messaging.
Additionally, in this internet-enabled, always-on day and age, many customers have an expectation of near-immediate response at any time of the day or night. We are all familiar with text threads where a gap of even a minute or two results in the dreaded and cryptic (and sometimes exasperating) response of “?” “?”
During business hours, we strive to meet these demanding expectations, and are generally very successful.
However, during evenings, weekends, and (for our business) bank holidays, messages from trading partners either go unanswered until the next business day, or employees must watch their phone or other device, and respond with a message telling the trading partner that our office is closed.
The implementation of SMS Auto-Replies (as we had with our last provider!) would bring the following benefits:
- SMS auto-response allows trading partners (customers) to get an immediate reply when our trading desk is closed, advising them that we're not open for business, giving our hours, and reassuring them that they'll hear back the next business day. The outcome is that customers feel more cared-for, and experience a higher level of satisfaction with our services.
-SMS auto-response allows employees to stop monitoring their phone s and mobile devices evenings and weekends, and know that customers are being responded to. This increases the ability to "unplug" and enhances work/life balance.
- SMS auto-response allows the company to provide a response to customers during bank holidays, unexpected times when services are impacted, and in the case of a company-wide meeting or retreat.
I sincerely hope that this information is helpful, and that it helps bolster the realization that there is a demand for this feature, and that it hastens the implementation of SMS auto-response.
Sincerely,
-Glenn from The Coin Trading Company team
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82 Points
Please get this useful and beneficial feature added ASAP
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2,840 Points
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82 Points
Please add feature to get notification regarding text message not delivered. Similar like email notification when its a bad email address.
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150 Points
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192 Points
I recently called a business with odd hours and got their answering machine... I did what most people do and hung up. I immediately received a text from them stating who they were and stated their business hours, informed me of assistance through text and e-mail for scheduling and reinforced that they were happy to have my business. This prevented me from calling their competition and I was able to send my schedule request through e-mail... I also called back when they were open. The business said it was a mobile app on their cell phone that sent the message.
Ring Central should add this feature to help recover missed clients when you can't get to the phone or are not open... Especially when they don't leave a message.
Basically I want a customized text to immediately be sent to a caller when I miss their call.
- 60 Points
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112 Points
- Account type (U.S., Canada, UK, AT&T, Telus, BT): US
- A brief description of the business: Small holistic wellness center
- A high level description of the product or feature being requested: A automated reply stating that this number does not receive SMS
- A typical use case scenario explaining how your business would use the feature: A customer sends an SMS message to this number. We are not signed up for SMS. RC would autoreply stating that this company number does not receive SMS.
- Benefit of such feature: Both the company and customer knows that the message was not received.
- Include any related case number if applicable: N/A
- Number of Users and/or Digital Lines: 5
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174 Points
Is it possible and when if you can set up this one feature! When people leave a voice mail, they will automatically will get a standard auto reply via TEXT, so they know and understand that we care and will get back with them as soon as one of our team member becomes available.
VB, Employee
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162 Points
You need to use 2 APIs
1. SMS API
2. Subscription API
Steps:
1. You could write a logic to listen to the list of calls/caller IDs for incoming calls you want to, using subscription API
2. When the calls are rejected or sent to voicemails or missed , subscription kicks SMS API endpoint to respond back to the caller with the automatic reply.
Well, more things you can do -
1. You can customize the lists of callers into different lists
2. Customize the messages for each list
3. Customize messages based on time of the incoming call
This could be a great project for any companies or freelancers out there to build this app using our APIs. You get to host your app in the Developer Platform app gallery as well.
Anyone wants to build this app can reach me out and I can guide you through it. I might sometime soon write an SMS autoresponder demo app.
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90 Points
-Andrew
Call/Text
503-395-8365
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434 Points
I'd be very interested in learning more about a simple "auto-reply to SMS message" functionality, which could be turned off and on, either manually or based on time of day, and which could be configured with a user-definable message advising customers that we're closed, etc.
The auto-response to a missed call feature would be cool as well, but I'd be happy with a simple auto-reply to SMS to start.
If you create this, or see any traction on it, please either post to this thread or reach out to me directly by phone or text.
Thank you, and best regards,
-Glenn
(503) 354-1039
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122 Points
Please provide a feature where if SMS senders attaches an image, contact, or any attachement to their SMS, it would send back an SMS to them that we support SMS text as of now so that they would be notified that the system supports only SMS text..
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198 Points
SMS feature when disabled sender will get a notification or reply that the service is disabled from where they sent the message to
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162 Points
Auto response to a text not available whereas other provider has it. Example, auto reply to a text that is received outside business hours or a vacation response. This is currently missing. Group texting also missing whereas other providers give this service.
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400 Points
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2,710 Points
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658 Points
Interested to know what you find, considering a change of providers ourselves for just this reason.
Best of luck!
-Glenn
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2,710 Points
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112 Points
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162 Points
J.B. Ferguson, Champion
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37,222 Points
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112 Points
- Prior Express Written Consent. Prior to October 16, 2013, you could text based on having an established business relationship with a customer. This is no longer the case. The TCPA rule no longer allows the “established business relationship” clause to circumvent written authorization. This means businesses must attain “prior express written consent” before telemarketing, advertising or texting from an auto-dialer (ATDS), prerecorded device or software solution. Cell phones are considered auto-dialers. Written consent must be clear and conspicuous and must specify that consent is a condition of purchasing any goods or services. Written consent can be attained with a written signature, through email, by checking a box on a website form, or by a voice recording. You may not, however, send an ATDS text message requesting a person to opt-in.
- Text automation without consent will quickly get you into trouble. Good background here http://www.instituteforlegalreform.com/uploads/sites/1/Final_TCPA_White_Paper-1.pdf
stories here http://www.autonews.com/article/20111219/RETAIL07/312199993/lithia-faces-$2.5-million-tab-for-textin...
https://www.smarsh.com/blog/regulatory-updates-finra-fines-suspensions-unauthorized-text-communicati...
My solution meets TCPA rules and all the requests in this thread, records two way texting in central database, does not use personal device phone numbers, supports image and video, and enables you to get securely paid from a text.
Ring Central or RC partner developers may contact me for API 954-942-0483. cspeedy AT cenposreseller.com. It can also be used standalone without integration - end users needing a solution may also contact me.
Christine Speedy
CenPOS Global Sales
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112 Points
Some say non-
commercial text messages from a business to an individual specific to an agreed upon
relationship (for example a customer in the auto service drive) where a mobile number is provided
do not require written consent. Although minimal, there is some risk in cases where a text
message does not only concern services that were already purchased. For example, when a
customer brings a car in to get windshield wipers replaced, but then gets a text the customer needs new tires for $200. Some plaintiffs’ attorneys could argue that these are sales or marketing messages.
Do you want texting limited to automated responder like "I'll call you back later"? How will you enforce no other types of texts can be sent?
Cecile Glassy, Champion
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21,522 Points
2018-07-20 I would get some technical facts straight before calling an alarm about getting fined for using auto-responders. Auto-Responders work differently - they do not randomly SEND --- they work in REPLY mode.
The RingCentral Community Forum is not a place to give unsolicited legal advice, let us return to the technical discussion about the original question / suggestion:::
Hello! An Auto Text Responder would be a huge benefit to Ring Central. I'm a US customer and am a Realtor. There are auto Text responses that would help me greatly to be able to tell clients I'll get back to them shortly-whether I'm with my family, in another meeting, etc. I can see this use being helpful in many other industries as well and really think this should be an immediate addition to your services. When all people need immediate responses these days, this would be priceless!! Thanks for any help you can offer!
I am not concerned about our communications being in violation of any rules of TXT Messaging consent or whatever in California, we have some of the strictest telecommunications rules outside of the EU anywhere.
We routinely use AutoResponse tools in our organization for many reasons - in response to incoming calls, SMS messages, emails etc. and do it fully within legal constraints.
J.B. Ferguson, Champion
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37,222 Points
You are confusing what is being requested. We are NOT talking about an advertising auto text dialer! We are talking anout an auto-RESPONDER to a text initiated by someone else. Every attorney I have ever spoken to about text auto-responding and email auto-responding has stated that responding generically as I mentioned in the previous paragraph DOES NOT violate ANY laws or regulations.
Cecile Glassy, Champion
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21,522 Points
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2,820 Points
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516 Points
Mike, Official Rep
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93,998 Points
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112 Points
Here's some ideas for consideration: Which do you want and how important is it? Rank as critical, would be nice, or don't really care
Phase 1. Vote RC NOW to create an autoresponder with multiple custom message responses admins can activate on a global basis. The incoming and outgoing messages with time date stamp should be retained in the event needed to prove compliance.
Phase 2. RC to create an autoresponder with multiple custom message responses admins can activate on a per user basis. What if there is a global auto responder (it's after hours) and an individual (I'm on vacation). Which of the two messages prevails?
Phase 3. If employees use texting for other purposes, a texting platform with both auto-responder and opt-in to texting is recommended so the company can communicate with customers the way customers prefer, maintain required records, keep valuable sales / marketing data otherwise lost with attrition, and have a trail of evidence if ever needed to prove compliance. Phase 3 for RC or maybe they partner with 3rd party provider.
Note: Mobile devices are consider to be ATDS – Automatic Telephone Dialing System or Auto-Dialer because they have the capacity to auto dial. So...
Yes, Ok to use autoresponder one time in response to inbound provided there is nothing that can be construed as marketing message within the response.
No, not OK to use for other messaging (as defined by FCC)
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112 Points
Here's some ideas for consideration: Which do you want and how important is it? Rank as critical, would be nice, or don't really care
Phase 1. Vote RC NOW to create an autoresponder with multiple custom message responses admins can activate on a global basis. The incoming and outgoing messages with time date stamp should be retained in the event needed to prove compliance.
Phase 2. RC to create an autoresponder with multiple custom message responses admins can activate on a per user basis. What if there is a global auto responder (it's after hours) and an individual (I'm on vacation). Which of the two messages prevails?
Phase 3. If employees use texting for other purposes, a texting platform with both auto-responder and opt-in to texting is recommended so the company can communicate with customers the way customers prefer, maintain required records, keep valuable sales / marketing data otherwise lost with attrition, and have a trail of evidence if ever needed to prove compliance. Phase 3 for RC or maybe they partner with 3rd party provider.
Note: Mobile devices are consider to be ATDS – Automatic Telephone Dialing System or Auto-Dialer because they have the capacity to auto dial. So...
Yes, Ok to use autoresponder one time in response to inbound provided there is nothing that can be construed as marketing message within the response.
No, not OK to use for other messaging (as defined by FCC)
J.B. Ferguson, Champion
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37,222 Points
The topic is, and always has been, AUTO-RESPONDER! No one has asked for an opt-in texting system. In fact I only found one topic regarding opt-in texting in all of these forums:
https://community.ringcentral.com/ringcentral/topics/is-there-a-way-to-let-my-customers-opt-in-out-o...
I think we should all stay on topic here and stop bringing up about marketing opt-in texting and violations of FCC/TCPA rules in THIS topic. I have no say in the matter but if you want to continue your line of comments, it might be more appropriate to bring them to the above mentioned topic (see the link above). The title of that topic is: Is there a way to let my customers opt in/out of SMS messaging from my employees? Just MY opinion.
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112 Points
As a long term RingCentral customer- here's my input:
Phase 1: critical need
Phase 2: don't care
Phase 3: critical need
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2,820 Points
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202 Points
The SMS/text feature needs an auto-response feature for our business. Not having this feature creates a liability for our organization and stress for our staff. We inquired about just shutting off text altogether and were told that doing so still wouldn't generate a response to the client/sender. I can write much more about the needs and use-cases if needed. Thank you. Josh
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658 Points
I did so about a year ago, and am still waiting.
The issue of SMS Auto-Response has been on the forums in one form or another for about two years, as far as I can tell.
In any case, it's probably worth the effort, as long as you're not expecting immediate results.
Best of luck!
-Glenn
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