What is the Best Way to Learn About the iViP Messenger?

 

Start using it! Find out how by watching the 1st New User Tutorial - Chatting with the Messenger. The basic features of the Messenger are covered in videos 1 through 6. The last five videos (7-11) are more for team administrators or marketing personnel. For most users, we recommend that you just learn the basics and don't worry about the more advanced tools for now. Texting with the Messenger is a lot like sending short e-mails to people's mobile phones. To send a text, just enter the person's 10 digit Mobile # in the TO: area, compose your text in the Message area (again, just like sending an e-mail) and click Send Now. When they reply, it will appear as a blinking, green bubble in your Record area up above. Be sure to click on the blinking, green bubbles to indicate that you 'got it.' And with that, you are well on your way to becoming a texting professional! Now if you want to become a power user and explore all the iViP Messenger can do, we recommend checking out the User’s Guide.

 

 

I'm New Around These Parts, What Should I Do Next?

 

After you have logged in, we recommend that you go to the TO: field in the Messenger and enter your own name and mobile #. Then send a few texts to yourself and reply back, just to familiarize yourself with what it is like to chat with someone via text messaging. You can immediately start using the Messenger 'as is' without having to change any of the the default settings. When you are ready, there are several places you can store your most frequently used content in order to speed up your workflow and response times. Depending on the role you play within your company, you might want to customize all of the features below - or none of them - it's up to you.

 

Users Can Personalize their Account in these 6 Areas - as needed:

1)  Complete Your Profile Information: Go to Preferences > Profile > My Profiles

2)  Add / Import Your Most Frequently Used Contacts:  See Tutorial 4,  Adding  and  Importing Contacts

3)  Create Your Own Personal My Groups: See Tutorial 8

4)  Select Similar Contacts, Drag and Drop Them Into Your My Groups:  See Tutorial 8

5)  Check Your Automator Settings:  See Tutorial 2,  Tutorial 5  and  Auto-Reply Timer

A)  Turn Routing On / Off

B)  Select 3 Users to Route Your Unanswered Texts to When You're Not Available

C)  Forward Inbound, Unanswered Messages To Your Mobile #

D)  Confirm that Your Out-of-Office Auto-Reply Is Correct (Leave this blank if you do not want any Auto-Replies to go out)

E)  Decide If You Want to Take Ownership Whenever You Send Outbound Texts? (See next FAQ - second paragraph down)

6)  Enter Your Most Frequently Used QuickTexts and HotKeys:  See Tutorial 2  and  Tutorial 9

 

Administrators Can Personalize their Team's Account in these 3 Areas - as needed:

1)  First, Invite New Users onto Your Team: Go to Preferences > My Profile > User Profiles.  See Tutorial 10

You can use your mouse to drag the individual User Rows into the desired order for the role of TextMaster. TextMaster status is automatically given to the top-most User in the User Profile's list who is currently logged into the Messenger (and who has TextMaster privileges.)

2)  Enter Your Team's Most Common Promotions:  See Tutorial 9  and  Promotions Menu

3)  Decide Labels for the 8 Sales Groups:  See Tutorial 8  and  Sales Groups

 

 

 

Should I Take Ownership Whenever I Send Out A Text?

 

If you want to get a response back from the contact, then YES, you do want to take ownership of that contact! By default, it is assumed that you want the contact's reply routed back to you whenever you send them a text. The default setting of YES is best for Account Managers, Sales & Service Reps, those who have specific Key Accounts assigned to them - basically anyone who is primarily responsible for managing the customer relationship. If you are not responsible for inbound customer requests, then NO, you do not want to take ownership whenever you send out a message. Personnel who play mostly supportive roles - like marketing, answering inventory questions, shipping or billing issues - should probably not take ownership of the contact whenever they send an outbound text. If this describes you (mostly in a support role and not a 'front line' customer service rep), then go to your Preferences > Automator window and set your Take Ownership? switch to NO. This will allow you to text important information out to the customer using iViP, but any future inbound messages received back from that customer will be automatically routed to the assigned User who 'owns' that relationship.

 

 

Why Is It Important to Click on Inbound, Blinking Green Bubbles?

 

Like a video game, inbound, blinking messages are trying to get your attention - hoping to find a live person who will click on them - which will change their status from UNREAD to Read. If a contact owner fails to mouse click on their blinking, inbound messages, iViP will Route and Forward their messages in an attempt to find someone who can answer the customer's texts. If there still is no one available who can mark the inbound, unanswered message as Read, then the contact owner's Out-of-Office Auto-Reply will answer the text on their behalf. All these features can be personalized in your Automator settings. A single mouse-click on any blinking, UNREAD message will mark it as Read, which stops the blinking and turns off all Routing, Forwarding and Auto-Reply timers running in the background.

 

 

What Texts Will My Contacts Appreciate the Most? What Kind Could Cause Them To Unsubscribe?

 

Remember: You are actually going to reach your mobile customer in the middle of their day with your message - instantly - right in front of their eyes. Which is an awesome privilege - and will generate LOUD complaints if abused. So make sure your texts are personal and meaningful, solving real problems, and try to reply quickly - inbound texts should be answered within 15 minutes after receipt. If you do this, your customers will love you for it. However, if you send impersonal, meaningless, unsolicited advertising messages to them, you could cause them to reply with 'STOP' - which would delete them from your Phonebook and Unsubscribe them from this Service.

 

 

Why Should I Check the Total Number of Contacts Selected Before I Hit the 'Send Now' Button?

 

The Messenger is deceptively simple, yet incredibly powerful. With a couple of keystrokes, you can put your message immediately in front of hundreds of mobile customers no matter where on the planet they may be. To avoid sending texts by mistake, be very careful when 'loading up' the TO: address area with a large number of contacts. Just like you could mistakenly send an e-mail to the wrong e-mail address list, make sure that the right contacts (and the right number of contacts) are listed in the TO: address area. When you are sending to a lot of contacts at once, look for the number that appears just below the TO: button on the Messenger. Use this to confirm that you have the correct number of total contacts selected before you hit the 'Send Now' button!

 

 

When Should I Text iViP Tech Support?

 

Our text support line for training and use-related questions is 949-246-5106.  If you want to talk to iViP Tech Support in person, you can reach Garret at 949-295-4065.  Please contact us for any of the following issues:

1) If you need help converting your customer database into the required *.CSV format so it can be imported into your Phonebook.

2) If one of your customers mistakenly texts in their credit card info. Tell us asap - we can manually delete it from their text history.

3) If you want to suggest a new feature or give us feedback on your experience with the Messenger.

4) If you would like another Phonebook account so a different team in your organization can take advantage of Text Messaging.

5) If you would like to open a new Phonebook account using a different Gateway (mobile #) to send / receive your texts.

6) If you have a question about how to use the Messenger, how a particular feature works, or want to schedule on-site training.

 

 

When an Employee Leaves my Team, What Should I Do with their iViP Account?

 

The Best Practice is to Turn their Account Status button OFF. If a User is no longer on your Team, Administrators should go to their Preferences > Profile > User Profiles tab and turn the Account Status button for that User to the OFF position. Be sure to click Save at the bottom of the Window to enforce this action. Turning a User’s Account OFF will immediately: A) Log them out of any open Messenger sessions, B) permanently Remove their account from your team, C) Cause all current messages, Scheduled and Group Sends waiting in their outbound Queue to fail and be archived, D) Mark all contacts that were assigned to this User as “Unassigned” and E) Replace them, if they are listed on another User’s Automator as a preferred ‘Route To’ person, with the TextMaster default. This will prevent unauthorized access to your company’s contacts, keep texts from being mistakenly forwarded to people no longer on your team, remove any future Scheduled Sends that may be stored in their outbound Queue, and keep the User Drop-Down lists accurate. There is another switch located on each Administrator’s Preferences > Profile > Plan & Usage Tab that will immediately log-off everyone on your Team at once. You can read more about what this Master On-Off switch does under the “ACCOUNT CLOSURE” heading located on the Terms of Use page. Administrators can use this button as an “Emergency Kill switch” to immediately prevent all current and future Scheduled messages from being sent out.

 

 

Can We Publicly Advertise Our New iViP Mobile Texting Number?

 

NO! Only accounts that were originally opened for this purpose can publicly advertise their iViP Mobile number. For everyone else, if you attempt to publicly advertise your iViP Mobile Texting Number, only inbound texts from recognized mobile numbers (who are already listed in your Phonebook) will be delivered to your account. If a person who has not been added to your Phonebook sees your advertisement and attempts to send in a text, they will receive a generic auto-reply that says, "Message Not Delivered: Your mobile # must first be listed with the party you are trying to reach. Please contact them directly and ask to have your mobile # added to their texting service. Thank you." This filter protects your account from receiving spam texts from random numbers (and spam texts are on the rise). Furthermore, once you have entered a contact's mobile number into your iViP account, that mobile number permanently belongs to you and any future inbound texts from that mobile number will always be recognized and delivered to your account.

 

 

Will our Assigned iViP Mobile Texting Gateway (Mobile #) Ever Change?

 

The Gateway which delivers texts to (and from) the contacts listed in your Phonebook should never change. However, there may be unforeseen circumstances (for instance, the Gateway may become inaccessible - even by us) that could require iViP Mobile to replace your assigned Gateway with another equivalent Gateway. Which means we cannot guarantee that your original Gateway will always be available. Fortunately, if a Gateway (Mobile #) drops unexpectedly, it can be replaced with another one - this will not affect the Service in any way. But it would affect your contacts - they would see that you are texting them from a different Mobile #. Therefore, we will make every effort to keep the Gateway assigned to you available for as long as you use the Service.

 

 

How Will I Know If My Outbound Text Reached Its Intended Destination?

 

Answer: When the customer replies back. If your last text requires a response, most contacts will reply back within a few minutes. Good citizens of the text messaging world know how important it is to reply quickly whenever they receive a text from someone. And they appreciate it when they hear promptly back from you as well. Which means that if your last outbound message was urgent and clearly required a response, but you have not received any replies back after a few minutes, then you can assume that your last text did not reach them and you should try contacting them some other way. The reason you did not get a response back to a text that clearly was asking for a reply is usually because the phone number you are trying to text does not have SMS messaging enabled on it. About 92% of the US population can currently be reached via mobile SMS text messaging. If you inadvertently send a text message to someone's home phone number (also called a 'landline'), nothing will happen - the message just dies on the other end of the line. In the rare event that your message fails to make the first handoff between our iViP Mobile Service and the telecom carrier networks, you will be immediately notified ON SCREEN with the words **SEND FAILED-RETRY**. If you see that appear on a message that you just sent, then you might try re-sending the message or reaching the contact some other way.

 

 

What Happens to the Messenger if my Internet Connection Drops?

 

The Messenger works really well - it is amazingly robust, fast, and quite fun to use. Because it sends and receives texts through the Internet, if your Internet connection is momentarily interrupted, you might see an informational alert which says "Unable to Connect to the Server." This may also appear if your computer has just woken up after being asleep or the IP address has changed. Click on “OK” if you see any informational alerts. This will immediately restore the Messenger to its prior state as long as the Internet connection is up. If your browser is accidentally closed or your computer happens to power itself off, no problem. Since it is a web app, the Messenger can simply be re-opened in a new window by clicking the My Account link at iViPMobile.com.

 

 

How Do I Print from the Firefox Browser?

 

The Firefox browser automatically blocks all pop-ups by default. You can tell Firefox to always allow pop-ups from the ivipmobile.net website. First click on a conversation you would like to print. Click on the blue circle in the corner and press the Print button. You will see a yellow bar across the top that says, “Firefox prevented this site from opening a pop-up window.” Click the Options button in the upper right corner, then select the first line that says “Allow pop-ups for ivipmobile.net.” Now you will always be able to print your conversations from within the iViP Messenger.

 

 

Who Can I Text?

 

What if I try to text someone on their land-line or a mobile phone that can not receive texts?

     If you don’t get a response back with 15minutes or so, then you’ll have to make a phone call instead.

What kind of mobile numbers can I text?  

     The Messenger can send texts to any 10 digit mobile # - such as 987-654-3210.

How many mobile numbers can I text? 

     The Phonebook’s TO button let’s you move up to 1200 contacts into the Messenger at once.

Can I text mobile numbers with area codes in Mexico or Canada?

     Yes, but we will have to charge international rates: 35 cents / text.

What if my US-based customer travels outside the US?

     Your cost is the same since you are sending to a US area code.

Can I send texts to a short code?

     Yes - the Messenger can communicate with 3, 4, 5 and 6 digit short codes.

 

 

Quick Facts about the Messenger

 

How do I get updates?

     When we release a new version of the Messenger, it will automatically download and replace the old one.

Should I take credit card orders via text using your Service?

     No! The Messenger should not be used to store any credit card info.

How long can my text messages be?

     A single outbound message can be anywhere from 1 to 459 characters in length.

What does the 1, 2 or 3 appearing to the left of the Message composition area mean?

     Messages longer than 160 characters may be received as 2 or 3 separate texts on some phones.

Can I clear the text bubbles out of my Record area?

     No, your Record will always show the most recent texts for each contact.

I checked the 'Stay Logged In' box so I will always be signed in whenever I visit My Account. How do I cancel this?

     Click LogOut.

 

 

What Happens if I Violate Your Texting Policy?

 

Although iViP Mobile has no obligation to monitor your use of the Service, we reserve the right to review your use of the Service for adherence to the texting policy below. iViP Mobile may terminate your use of the Service for any of the following reasons:

 

1) If anyone in your organization is caught sending spam or unsolicited commercial messages. Spamming is defined as marketing to random mobile numbers who have not 'opted-in' or have no prior business relationship with your organization.

2) If you attempt to disable the Auto-Unsubscribe feature (X, stop, quit, remove) or re-enable contacts who have previously Unsubscribed

3) If we hear complaints from irate customers who have been spammed or who received unwanted texts

4) If your texts result in, or become the subject of, legal action or threatened legal action, regardless of whether such legal action is subsequently determined to be with or without merit

5) If your messages contain any material that (a) is unlawful, obscene, defamatory, harassing, vulgar or offensive (b) violates any property rights or any other rights of any third party (c) promotes violence, discrimination, or illegal activities (d) contains any sexually explicit content or web links (e) is false, misleading, or likely to mislead or deceive (f) impersonates any other person or organization

6) If you do or allow to be done anything which jeopardizes the operation of our or any third party's business, facilities or services

7) If your messages do not comply with any applicable local, state, federal and international laws, government rules and requirements.

 

 

Are My Text Messages Private?

 

All messages sent or received within a single Phonebook are searchable by any user granted log-in permission for that Phonebook. For organizations with multiple Phonebooks, members assigned to one team will not be able to see messages stored in another team's Phonebook. At times, we may be required by an investigating government body, law enforcement agency or court order to provide texting records pertaining to a specific incident. Any Administrator can go to their Preferences > Profile > Plan & Usage Tab and download an Excel spreadsheet with up to 6 months worth of messages at a time from your team’s Phonebook.

 

 

How Many Phonebooks and How Many Contacts per Phonebook Can I Have?

 

Each Phonebook can hold about 5,000 to 7,000 contacts each. You can add more, but it will take a little longer to load the extra data. Each Phonebook can be shared by up to 30 individual users. A single organization can have multiple Phonebooks, especially if their contacts can be divided up by the team they most commonly interact with - such as the Sales, Service, Key Accounts, Technical or Executive teams. Furthermore, a single organization can have multiple Phonebooks all sharing a single Gateway (one Mobile Texting #), or it can have multiple Phonebooks using different Gateways (several Mobile #’s) - each corresponding to different locations. Some companies with a large number of mobile employees might want to have an Internal Company Phonebook to solve communication issues among their vendors, sales managers, shipping and field service personnel, and then have an External Public Phonebook for their customer service reps to handle requests from the outside.

 

How Long Will My Texts Be Stored in the Messenger?

 

When your Phonebook exceeds 200,000 messages, your oldest 100,000 will be exported from the on-line database and archived as an Excel file. If your team sends 5,000 texts per month, then you can expect to see the last 20 months of texting history stored on-line. And if your team sends 10,000 texts per month, then your last 10 months of texting history will be accessible from within the Messenger. It is generally recommended that corporations should store written correspondence with their customers for at least 5 years. Because your texts are considered written correspondence, iViP Mobile will keep back-up copies of your team's texting history on our servers for a minimum of 5 years. We recommend that Administrators keep a copy of their team’s messages by downloading them as Excel files on their Preferences > Profile > Plan & Usage Tab.

 

 

How Much Does It Cost to Use this Texting Service?

 

Anyone with administrator rights can log into the Messenger, go to their Preferences > Plan & Usage Tab, and view the billing agreement on file with your company. The monthly rate listed at the top of that page applies regardless of the number of texts sent or received per month (that is, all plans are unlimited in number of texts per month). However, this may not be the case for your customer who is receiving one of your texts. Whenever a mobile customer receives a text from you, they may be charged by their carrier for each text (averaging about 10 cents each), or they may have enrolled in an unlimited text messaging subscription with their carrier. Your customers are responsible for their own charges when they communicate with you via this Service. Because your customers may be charged for the texts they receive from you, it is a good idea to only use the iViP Texting Service to send important, personalized texts relevant to your customer’s needs.