A brand can have its own phone number and send text messages (SMS) from playbooks. Replies land in the Inbox.
Buying a number
- Open Brand & Accounts > Phone numbers and click Buy a number. Only the brand owner can buy one.
- Pick the United Kingdom (a mobile number) or the United States (a toll-free number).
- Fill in the business details. Carriers check who sends texts from every number. In the UK they approve the details first, usually within a few working days, and we buy the number the moment they do. In the US the number is bought straight away and texts once carriers verify it.
- Search, pick a number and confirm. The number is added to the brand's plan each month; nothing is charged until it is bought. Numbers cannot be bought during a free trial.
Texting from a playbook
Add a Send text message step. Send from picks the brand's number for the contact's country, or a number you choose. The counter under the text shows how many parts it takes and the credits. A text is up to 160 characters per part, or 70 once it has an emoji; a UK part costs more credits than a US part because carriers charge more.
Rules that protect your contacts
The first text to each contact ends with Reply STOP to opt out, and texts are held outside texting hours (8am to 9pm in the UK; 8am in Hawaii to 8pm on the US east coast). Both are on by default in the texting rules. When someone replies STOP they are opted out of texts, and no step texts them again.
Sharing a number
The owner can share a number with their other brands that belong to the same business, such as branches. Each brand pays for its own texts in credits; the brand that owns the number pays the monthly fee. Replies go to the brand that texted the person last. If someone replies STOP, no brand can text them from that number again.
Releasing a number
Release keeps the number working until the end of the billing period, then gives it back. Click Keep number before then to undo. A released number cannot be recovered.
