Introduction

This document contains a brief overview of the VIP SMS or text messaging capabilities in your VIP Crexendo environment. 

VIP SMS allows your business to engage your clients using SMS text messaging. You can do this in two scenarios:

• Creating a SMS queue that allows your clients to send a text to your business that can be answered by your call center agents.
• Enabling inbound and outbound SMS engagement by assigning the SMS function to your individual users.

Before the SMS functionality can be used in your Crexendo domain, federal regulations require that each business complete a “Brand and Campaign Registration Form.” If you have not received this form from your implementation specialist, please contact cr@crexendo.com to request the form.

SMS Queues

If you would like your clients to have the option to text your business for help, you can create a SMS queue that will allow INBOUND texts to be directed to agents added to the queue.

To Create a SMS Queue:

1. Login to your VIP Portal for Managers
2. Verify that you have an available number to utilize for your SMS queue by clicking “Inventory” and the “SMS Numbers” tab. 

3. Click “Call Queues” at the top of the screen. In the “Call Queues” section, select “Add Call Queue.”
4. Go through the process of building your call queue and assign a name, extension, and type of agent routing that you would like. In the “Direct Phone Number(s)” drop down, select your available number for the SMS queue.

Click the “SMS” tab and enable SMS. You have the option to customize how the messages will come into the queue.

5. Click “Add” to complete the queue. Once you have built the queue, you can add your agents who will be responsible to receive the messages through the queue.

To Add Agents to Your SMS Queue:

1. Locate your new SMS call queue that you would like to add agents to. Under the “Agents (Available)” column, click the “0(0)” hyperlink to open the add agent menu.

2. Click “Add Agent”

3. Proceed through each option:
   • Add Agent(s) by: Add a user by name or extension or by phone number to add an external phone number to the queue.
   • Agent Extension: you can add as many users as needed by the name or extension. 
   • Status: enables the agent to receive calls. Also allows for queue supervisors to be added to a queue without being able to receive calls.
   • Wrap Up Time (seconds): gives the agent time before they can receive a new call. 
   • Max Simultaneous Calls: set a limit of how many calls the agent can receive at the same time.
   • Max SMS Sessions: set a limit of how many SMS conversations that an agent can be on at the same time.
   • Queue Priority for Agent: this option allows you to set a queue priority for an agent that is assigned to multiple queues.
   • Request Confirmation: informs the agent that they are receiving a call through the queue and to press 1 if they would like to receive the call.
   • Auto Answer: this option will automatically answer the call by the available agent.

4. Click “Save Agent.” You will now be able to see all agents in the queue. All individual agents can be edited from this screen.

SMS For Individual Users

1. Login to your VIP Portal for Managers and select “Inventory” and the “SMS Numbers Tab.” 
2. Click on the available SMS number. Click the drop-down arrow and select “User” and “Save.”

NOTE: an SMS number can be shared between multiple users. For example, if you want clients to be able to text the main number and have more than just one person respond to that message, this can be accomplished by sharing the number. If you want to enable this feature, please contact Crexendo Support for assistance. 

Using your SMS Capabilities

You can send or respond to SMS messages in three areas:

1. VIP Portal Message Tab
2. VIP Web Phone
3. VIP Mobile App

VIP Portal Messages Tab

Select “Messages” and the “Chat and SMS” tab. Select “New Conversation” and type in the number you would like to send a message to.

VIP Web Phone

Select the red button on the bottom right side of the screen and select “New Conversation.” Enter the number or contact you would like to send a message and press Enter. You can check new messages and see old conversations from the “Chat and SMS” tab on the left side of the screen.

VIP Mobile Application

Open your VIP Mobile Application and click on the “Messages” tab. Click the “Start Chat” button and type in the number or name of the contact you would like to send a message.

NOTE: SMS messages has a character limit of 1,000 characters. Any images that are sent through SMS has a size limit of 1 Megabyte.