Texting (SMS)
Updated
In short
If your plan includes texting, customers can text your Vocenya number and your assistant replies. US carriers first have to approve your business, which usually takes 3 to 10 business days. Anyone who replies STOP is never texted again.
In this article
Texting is not on sale yet. This article explains how it works so you are ready when it is.
Who has texting
Texting is not included in the Value, Starter, Growth and Pro plans. It is an add-on: $19.00/month with 500 texts included each month, then 3¢ per text, plus a one-time $25.00 setup fee for the carrier registration. Each text up to 160 characters counts as 1 (long messages count as at most 3). Pictures you send count as 3; pictures customers send you count as 1. Texts in both directions count.
The setup fee is added to your next invoice when you submit your registration. Texting counts toward your bundle discount.
Carrier registration (10DLC), simply
US phone companies only deliver business texts from registered numbers. This is called A2P 10DLC. Vocenya registers your business and your texting with them for you. You fill in a form on the Texting page:
- Your business, exactly as on your IRS records: legal name, EIN, address, website and a contact. Carriers check the name and EIN.
- What you text and how customers opt in. We prefill this from what Vocenya actually sends. Change it only if it no longer matches your business.
Review usually takes 3 to 10 business days after you submit. The page shows each stage: business registered, texting approved, and your number assigned.
No EIN? You can register as a sole proprietor. You verify with a code texted to your own mobile. Sole proprietors are limited to one number and 1,000 texts a day.
If the carriers reject it, the page says so. Fix the answers and submit again at no extra cost.
Before approval
Nothing is sent until the carriers approve. Your receptionist doesn't offer texts on calls yet.
What your assistant can text
- Replies. Your assistant answers texts. Turn this off to have every text wait for your team.
- Missed-call text-back (off until you turn it on): one text to a caller nobody answered.
- Booking confirmations and reminders a day ahead (off until you turn them on). Reminders are never sent between 9 PM and 8 AM in the customer's time zone.
- A text during a call, like your address or booking details, once the caller agrees.
Only customer care texts to people who called, texted, chatted or booked. No marketing blasts.
STOP, START and HELP
- A customer who replies STOP (or UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END or QUIT) gets one confirmation and is never texted again.
- START opts them back in.
- HELP gets a short reply with your number.
The Texting page lists everyone who replied STOP.
HIPAA mode
Texts are not encrypted, so in HIPAA mode Vocenya only sends short fixed notices, like a missed-call notice or an appointment time. Patient texts go to your team, and the patient is asked to call.