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, the system will Route and Forward their messages in an attempt to find someone who can answer the customer's inbound text. If there still is no one available who can mark the unanswered message as READ, then the contact owner's Away-from-Desk Auto-Reply will answer the text on their behalf. All these features can be turned On or Off in your Preferences > 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.

If you are logged into the Messenger, then inbound messages from contacts assigned to you will appear immediately in your Record. If for some reason you do not reply or mark the inbound text as READ, then the message will also be Routed to the first back-up User listed in your Automator after a 2-5 minute delay (assuming this feature is turned on). If your 1st Route-To User fails to reply or mark the inbound text as READ, then Routing will continue to the 2nd User you have listed after a 2 minute delay. If that person is also unavailable, then after another 2 minute delay the inbound text will be given to the TextMaster by default (which we recommend), although you can specify a 3rd Route-To User if you wish. If your Automator has Forwarding turned on, then a copy of the inbound text will be Forwarded to your Mobile # at the 11 minute mark. After 15 minutes, if the inbound text still remains Unread, then your Away-from-Desk Auto-Reply will respond to the contact on your behalf. Leave the Auto-Reply field blank if you do not want an Auto-Reply to be sent to back to your contacts.

When your office is closed, the Forwarding and Auto-Reply delay times are shorter. If no one from your team is logged into the Messenger, inbound messages from contacts assigned to you will be Forwarded to your Mobile # after a 2 minute delay. If you provided an Away-from-Desk Auto-Reply, then contacts assigned to you will receive your Auto-Reply after a 5 minute delay.

Set Your Team’s Auto-Reply

Administrators can go to their Preferences > Plan & Usage tab to set their Team’s general Auto-Reply. If an inbound text is received from a contact that is not assigned to anyone and there is no TextMaster available to mark it as READ, then this Auto-Reply will answer on your Company’s behalf after a 5 minute delay. We recommend writing this Auto-Reply like an after-hours greeting which confirms they have reached your business and that your Service Department will respond the next time your office is open for business. Whenever an Administrator adds a New User to their Team, this general Auto-Reply will also appear as the default Auto-Reply in the New User’s Automator settings, which they can customize for themselves at a later time. Leave the Team Auto-Reply blank if you do not want any messages automatically sent back to your Unassigned contacts.