I am trying to submit a suggestion for new RingCentral Automator work flows. I hope this is the correct place.I would like to see the Automator fully automated to support the TCR requirements. Specifically:send the opt out verbiage with the text message record the customer preferences to ensure text messages are not sent when the customer has opted out or are send when they have opted in

E

esoper

The First Step

Solved

Request: TCR opt-in/opt-out auto-replies and enforcement

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
November 19, 2024
35 replies
1484 views

I am trying to submit a suggestion for new RingCentral Automator work flows. I hope this is the correct place.

I would like to see the Automator fully automated to support the TCR requirements. Specifically:

send the opt out verbiage with the text message
record the customer preferences to ensure text messages are not sent when the customer has opted out or are send when they have opted in

Best answer by ByrneReese

@bt-chris.brown I am not sure this is what you are saying, but one thing I feel I should point out is based on my own misunderstanding early on.

TCR applies to all communications between a business and consumer. TCR does not disambiguate between 1-on-1 communications between a business representative and a customer. So if you and I are corresponding with one another via SMS, me from my RingCentral phone number and you as one of its customers, if you text STOP to me, I am obligated not to text you again -- even if we are talking about what we both did last summer. You know? I thought I would share, because again, I thought TCR governed how I use SMS to market to you or sell to you. But it governs more than that.

Let me take a step back and look at your request fresh. You are not talking about an auto-reply to a request to STOP, START, etc. You are looking for a way to inform the people you correspond with of their ability to unsubscribe if they want to. I think that is correct, but let me know if I got that wrong - otherwise, the rest of my advice below is likely to be wrong. :-/

Ok. So I see two ways to solve this problem: one is through the use of SMS templates. SMS templates allow you to write and share a message across your organization that you can easily insert into a text you intend to send to someone. This would not be automated, but would at least let you create a consistent message that could be sent to the people you correspond with. The downside being that it is not automated, and your employees would need to be trained to send this disclosure reliably. Ug.

Ideally we could automate this message using Workflow Builder. We don’t have a trigger for SMS sent - that seems like the ideal trigger. The workflow would work like this:

At a frequency of once per month or even once per year, when you send an SMS to someone, the workflow would be triggered and send a second SMS shortly thereafter saying, “FYI - you are corresponding with INSERT NAME from COMPANY NAME. If you would like to no longer receive messages from them, you may send ‘STOP’ at any time.” The workflow would periodically send this disclosure based on the workflow’s frequency settings - in this way it would also work to remind users of their rights on a recurring basis. In this scenario, the following would be possible:
- Byrne: “Hey Chris, I wanted to follow up regarding our phone call.”
- Workflow Builder to Chris: “Disclaimer: you are corresponding with Byrne Reese from RingCentral. If you would like to no longer receive messages from Byrne, you may send ‘STOP’ at any time.”
- Chris: “Oh hey Byrne. No problem. It was great speaking with you.”
- Byrne: “Likewise. Let’s schedule a meeting to chat...”
Alternatively, you could bind the same logic to the “SMS received” trigger. So the interaction would be slightly different, but it would still work to achieve the same results. In this mode though the following interaction would be more common.
- Byrne: “Hey Chris, I wanted to follow up regarding our phone call.”
- Chris: “Oh hey Byrne. No problem. It was great speaking with you.”
- Workflow Builder to Chris: “Disclaimer: you are corresponding with Byrne Reese from RingCentral. If you would like to no longer receive messages from Byrne, you may send ‘STOP’ at any time.”
- Byrne: “Likewise. Let’s schedule a meeting to chat...”

You can see the only difference between the two would be the order in which the messages are sent. What do you think of these ideas?

Show previous replies

A

Adawson

New Participant

@ByrneReese I apologize if this has been mentioned -- How do I turn off the core auto response since I’ve created one specific to each of our users with our company name?

ByrneReese

Product Manager

@Adawson It is not possible to turn off the core response. We have enabled those to ensure our own compliance with TCR rules and customers’. In January we will release a feature so that you can register custom messages in your TCR campaign that will used instead of the stock responses we have today.

Our recommendation and guidance is that you disable the auto-replies being sent by Workflow Builder.

However, your use case is intriguing. I would like to talk to the SMS product manager to see if there is something we could do here that let’s you craft highly customized messages.

G

gurpreetsingh

Employee

@Adawson ,

This is Gurpreet, and I’m the PM on the RingCentral side managing the SMS opt-out feature. I wanted to provide you with a full context of what we’ve done so far and what’s coming soon. Many of the concerns raised will be addressed by our core features. Here’s an overview:

1. Customized Auto Replies

This feature is expected to launch in mid/late January 2025.
How it works:
- TCR-registered numbers: START, STOP, and HELP auto replies will use the text provided by admins during TCR registration. Please NOTE: If there are 10 numbers in a TCR campaign, they will use the same OPT-IN, OPT-OUT and HELP text messages as were provided by admins during the Campaign registration. (User level customization is not allowed)
- Non-TCR-registered numbers: Canned auto replies (similar to today’s behavior) will be sent.
Next Steps:
In 4-6 weeks, you’ll see customized auto replies being sent without requiring any changes on your end—it’ll work out of the box.

2. Adding Opt-Out Instructions to Outgoing SMS

We recognize the challenges today of manually including opt-out instructions to comply with regulations. Here’s how we’re addressing this:

Checkbox Option in RingCentral App:
- Users will see a checkbox when composing SMS messages, allowing them to append the opt-out instruction with a single click.
- While this solution is manual and user/agent-level, it simplifies the process compared to typing instructions repeatedly.
- ETA: Tentatively, January/February 2025.
Admin-Configurable Policy (Under Discussion):
- We’re exploring a feature that would allow admins to mandate opt-out instructions for all outgoing SMS messages as a policy.
- This is currently under discussion, and we’ll keep you updated on progress.

For now, only work around is to type opt out instruction every time, or create a template and reuse it like what @esoper is doing.

Lastly, if you're seeking advanced SMS solutions with enhanced features like better consent management(conversational/transactional/marketing), shared inbox functionality (allowing multiple users to access SMS from a single number), broadcast/marketing workflows, and much more, I recommend exploring our Advanced SMS Inbox.

This is a paid add-on to the RingEx license and can be applied selectively to users/numbers who need advanced SMS solutions.

Do let us know if you have any more questions!!

Regards

Gurpreet

PM, RingCentral

A

Adawson

New Participant

@gurpreetsingh Thank you for this information. We will be using the templates for now.

B

bt-chris.brown

@gurpreetsingh Do you have any status updates on the Opt-Out changes you mentioned above (checkbox option in RingCentral App and admin forced policy)? We’ve been struggling to get a couple of our accounts registered properly for TCR. Despite this, we need to make sure we stay compliant until then with Opt-out notices.

G

gurpreetsingh

Employee

@bt-chris.brown

Checkbox option - This is now available when you try to send SMS to multiple recipients at once. This was number 1 use case for opt out instruction, as most the multiple recipient texts are marketing in nature.

Checkbox Option - As a checkbox for 1-1 SMS. This for conversational use case, but we have got requests to have checkbox option here as well. This is coming by end of Q1 (in March, 2025)

Admin forced policy - It’s lil complicated and is being discussed. No timeline yet. Will update as soon as we have one.

B

bt-chris.brown

@gurpreetsingh Thanks for confirming. I see the new feature now for Opt-Out. Since our use-case is conversational only, is our only option for now to have our users utilize the templates for any messages we are initiating? Will RingCentral be able to offer any further guidance regarding Opt-in/Opt-language/policies as it relates to conversational communications? As mentioned in my previous post, we continue to have issues getting our TCR registrations completed.

G

gurpreetsingh

Employee

@bt-chris.brown Sorry for late reply, somehow missed the notification. Nice to know that you can see the feature now.

is our only option for now to have our users utilize the templates for any messages we are initiating?

For now, yes best it to use templates till we have a check box for 1-1 comms also in our apps in 2 months or so.

Will RingCentral be able to offer any further guidance regarding Opt-in/Opt-language/policies as it relates to conversational communications?As mentioned in my previous post, we continue to have issues getting our TCR registrations completed.

Please use above links for anything TCR. In case you have are having issues getting TCR registration complete, pls call in to our support. We have a dedicated TCR support team who can help your case.

Regards,
Gurpreet
PM, RingCentral

A

amidragon

Participating Frequently

Hello! It seems that the customized START/STOP/HELP messages are not yet implemented. Also, those automated replies do not show up in the RingCentral app, so there is no way to confirm/show that a contact has received them after they send the keyword. (I texted our company from my personal number and received the standard replies, but could not see them in the RingCentral side of the thread). @gurpreetsingh Is it also in the plan to display those automatic messages in the RingCentral interface?

Thank you!

Amina

A

amidragon

Participating Frequently

Hello! It seems that the customized START/STOP/HELP messages are not yet implemented. Also, those automated replies do not show up in the RingCentral app, so there is no way to confirm/show that a contact has received them after they send the keyword. (I texted our company from my personal number and received the standard replies, but could not see them in the RingCentral side of the thread). @gurpreetsingh Is it also in the plan to display those automatic messages in the RingCentral interface?

Thank you!

Amina

@ByrneReese any insight?

Show more replies

1. Customized Auto Replies

2. Adding Opt-Out Instructions to Outgoing SMS

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