Does this article apply to you? This article covers Enhanced Automated Workflow features. To check if your account has access, go to Automated Workflow in AMS+. If you see a "Welcome to the New Automated Workflow" banner at the top of the page, you're all set.
This article explains what needs to be set up in your account before you can use texting actions in Enhanced Automated Workflow, including subscription and beta access, compliance and consent, phone number requirements, record readiness, planning your message, and your sending window. For how to configure a texting action within a workflow, see How to build an Enhanced Automated Workflow in AMS+.
Note: Texting actions in Enhanced Automated Workflow are currently in private beta.
Requirements
- Automated Workflow must be activated in your agency's AMS+ account. Only the Account Owner can activate it. Learn more.
- Your agency's AMS+ account must be on the Accelerate or Elevate subscription package.
- Your agency must be approved for the texting actions private beta.
- You must be logged into AMS+ as an Agency User.
- To set up the agency's texting number:
- You must be assigned to a Security Group with the Manage Users permission.
- To add, edit, or remove texting actions in Enhanced Automated Workflow:
- You must be assigned to a Security Group with the Manage Automated Workflow permission.
In this article
- 1) Confirm your subscription and beta access
- 2) Review compliance and consent
- 3) Set up the agency's texting number
- 4) Prepare your records
- 5) Plan your message
- 6) Know your sending window
1) Confirm your subscription and beta access
Your agency's AMS+ account must be on the Accelerate or Elevate subscription package.
If your agency later moves to a package other than Accelerate or Elevate, any active workflow containing a texting action is automatically turned off. You'll need to remove the texting action from the workflow before it can be reactivated.
If your agency isn't yet part of the beta, you can apply using this form.
2) Review compliance and consent
The same SMS consent and opt-in/opt-out rules apply to texts sent from a workflow as any other text sent from AMS+.
Your agency is responsible for making sure any workflow that sends texts follows the consent and compliance rules that apply to SMS messaging. AMS+ doesn't monitor or verify that compliance on your behalf.
If a recipient replies STOP, they're automatically blocked from receiving texts by any method, including a workflow's texting action, until they reply START.
See SMS Best Practices in AMS+: Regulations & Guidance and How opt-in and opt-out behavior works for SMS text messages in AMS+ for full detail.
3) Set up the agency's texting number
Texting actions send from the phone number set as the agency default for SMS. There's no separate field to choose a different number for a workflow's texting action. If your agency has more than one phone number, confirm which one is set as default before you build a workflow with a texting action.
Learn more: How to set up SMS text messaging in AMS+.
4) Prepare your records
A texting action can only send to an Individual or Agent with a cell number on file. Even when a workflow targets a different record type, like a Group or Policy, the text still goes to a specific Individual or Agent tied to that record, such as a Group's Primary Contact or a Policy's Servicing Agent. If the resolved recipient has no valid cell number when the action runs, it's skipped and the reason is recorded in Workflow History.
Note: If an Individual's or Agent's only phone number is in the Home Phone field rather than the Cell Phone field, often because it's the only number on record for them, workflow texts won't reach them. Before turning on a workflow with a texting action, check whether the records you expect to text have their number in the right field, and move it to Cell Phone if not.
This only affects the texting action itself. Any other actions in the same workflow, like creating an activity or sending an email, still run on their own schedule and aren't affected by a skipped text.
Which specific person or agent receives the text depends on the workflow type, especially for Group and Policy workflows where the recipient isn't the record that triggered the workflow. See How action recipients work in Enhanced Automated Workflow in AMS+ for the full breakdown.
5) Plan your message
SMS messages send in segments of about 160 characters each. You're billed per segment, and each segment also counts against your account's monthly SMS limit.
It's easy to assume a texting action sends one message each time it runs, but that's not guaranteed: depending on the message's length, one trigger can send multiple segments.
Merge tags and the automatic opt-out footer both add length that's hard to predict while you're building the message. It's worth checking before turning the action on, especially since a texting action sends automatically, without review, every time a record meets the workflow's conditions.
Every text sent from a texting action includes an opt-out footer. It always uses your account's name and can't be changed to a specific agent's name or customized per workflow. Excluding your account name, the footer's fixed text is about 37 characters.
This happens per texting action, every time it runs. If your agency has several workflows with texting actions, or a workflow includes more than one, this applies to each one separately.
See the full segment table in How to send SMS text messages in AMS+.
6) Know your sending window
Texting actions don't use your individual sending hours from My Account > Account. A workflow's texting action can only send between 8:00 AM and 7:00 PM CT. This window is fixed and can't be changed.
If a workflow's texting action would run outside that window, the text is held and sent once the window opens again.