Portico CRM SMS Campaign Overview

Created by Joshua Robinson, Modified on Tue, 22 Jul at 1:19 PM by Joshua Robinson

Portico CRM - SMS Campaigns

Contents

Portico CRM - SMS Campaigns

SMS Campaign Overview

On Demand SMS Campaigns

On demand campaigns are created for the purpose of initiating outbound text communication to a targeted audience (a specific program, lead source, lead type, status, inquiry date, or date range, etc.). The on-demand SMS campaign will send bulk text messages during a designated “begin” and “start” time throttling between the toll-free numbers assigned to the campaign.

When a Verity Champion creates an on-demand SMS campaign, they will:

select the recipients for the campaign from the contact grid
give the campaign a name and description
schedule the campaign to run immediately or start later
select the batch start and end time for sending the messages
select the on-demand SMS template for the campaign
assign outbound and inbound queues for authorized users to send or read campaign text messages
assign toll free numbers to the campaign
monitor the progress of the campaign and the level of engagement
re-engage the campaign recipients in Follow Up communication

Below is an example of how the on-demand SMS campaign is presented to the advisor:

Step 1: The system will send text messages during the assigned batch start times.

Step 2: The system will display inbound campaign text message responses to all team members assigned to the campaign.

Step 3: The first available advisor will respond to the prospective student by selecting the text notification.

Step 4: The system will generate a Follow Up task as outlined in the call disposition task settings for the contact attempt.

Step 5: Based on the outcome from the contact attempt, the system will remove the lead from the campaign or generate a Follow Up task for additional attempts.

Drip SMS Campaigns

Drip SMS campaigns are created for the purpose of initiating outbound text communication to a prospective student based on when an event has been triggered in the system, such as when a student’s status changes, an appointment is created, or for a designated call activity.

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Portico CRM - SMS Campaigns

When a Verity Champion creates a Drip SMS campaign, they will:

create the campaign at the campaign manager
give the campaign a name and description
schedule the campaign to run immediately or start later
select the batch start and end time for sending the messages
select the drip SMS template for the campaign
assign outbound and inbound queues for authorized users to send or read campaign text messages
assign local phone numbers to the campaign
monitor the progress of the campaign and the level of engagement
re-engage the campaign recipients in Follow Up communication

Below is an example of how the drip SMS campaign is presented to the advisor:

Step 1: The system will send text messages during the assigned batch and start times when the event has been triggered.

Step 2: The system will display inbound campaign text messages to all team members assigned to the campaign.

Step 3: The first available advisor will respond to prospective student by selecting the text notification.

Step 4: The system will generate a Follow Up task as outlined in the call disposition task settings for the subsequent contact attempt.

Step 5: Based on the outcome from the contact attempt, the system will remove the lead from the campaign or generate a Follow Up task for additional attempts.

! Drip campaigns associated with appointment confirmation and reminder events will send communication using the user’s Verity number allowing for responses to be directed back to the user assigned as the staff attendee for the appointment.

Pre-Requisites and Requirements for Configuration

Decisions for Process Alignment

Prior to beginning the configuration required in Verity for team campaigns, it is important to establish the responsible parties for setting up and maintaining the various areas of the system needed to facilitate this process for the best outcomes.

It is recommended that Verity Administrators within the organization are chosen to lead the configuration effort, having their Verity Champions complete the following:

Portico CRM - SMS Campaigns

Meet with Directors of Admissions, Marketing Team, or other decision-makers to understand the internal processes and best practices for on demand bulk SMS campaigns.
Meet with Directors of Admissions, Marketing Team, or other decision-makers to understand the internal processes and best practices for drip SMS campaigns.
Involve power users who could decide what criteria is needed to narrow the audience for the targeted campaign, contact strategy to apply to the campaign, and distribution to the admissions representative or other teams who may handle the on-demand SMS campaign.
Involve those users who would decide what system events trigger drip communication for the campaign, contact strategy to apply to the campaign, and distribution to the admissions representative or other teams who may handle the responses from the drip SMS campaign.

System Permissions

To configure bulk SMS campaigns in Verity CRM, it is expected that Verity Champions and the power users delegated to complete the needed configuration are granted permissions to:

Create or modify teams
Create task routers
Create and edit campaigns
Create and edit SMS organization templates
Create and edit workflow events

As the System Administrator, to configure or review user roles and permissions in Verity:

Go to Settings > System > Permissions > Select the role > Pull dropdown to view the permissions assigned under the role. (See Illustration 1)

Then, for the power users who need access to the configuration:

Go to Settings > List Inventory > System Users > Users - Find the Verity user on the list, and then click on the pencil icon to edit the account. Ensure the user has assigned the proper role with the needed permissions to reach the necessary screens for completing the configuration. (See Illustration 2)

Portico CRM - SMS Campaigns

Illustration 1: System Access Configuration Screen-Role Permissions

! The user with the System Administrator role should have access to all the areas in Verity needed for the successful configuration to support team campaigns.

Illustration 2: User Permissions Screen

Purchasing Phone Numbers

Phone numbers will need to be purchased and assigned for use to SMS campaigns.

! Purchasing toll-free numbers for bulk SMS campaigns is recommended as a best practice.

! The phone number can be reused for future campaigns once the current campaign has been completed.

! Reassigning the same numbers to the campus’ related SMS campaigns is also recommended as a best practice.

To purchase a phone number:

Navigate to Settings > Contact Center > Phone Directory > Unassigned Phone Numbers. Click on the plus sign to add a new phone number. (See Illustration 3)

Portico CRM - SMS Campaigns

Illustration 3: Unassigned Phone Numbers Screen

In step 1, indicate that the phone number is intended to be used for a text campaign. (See Illustration 4)

Illustration 4: Assigning Phone Number for Text Campaign

In step 2, select your search terms. You can indicate if the phone number should include specific digits or a phrase, search by an area code, and/or country code and whether it should be a local number or a toll-free number.

! Toll-Free numbers are recommended for bulk SMS campaigns.

Select the option to search for phone numbers that are enabled for SMS. Click on the “Search” button to complete the search. The search will display the phone number and the phone number capabilities

(Voice, SMS, or MMS) along with the country and region with zip code and the phone number type (local or toll free). (See Illustration 5)

Illustration 5: Search options in Step 2

Select the button labeled “Buy” to purchase the number (See Illustration 6). To release an unassigned phone number, select the button labeled “Release”.

Portico CRM - SMS Campaigns

! The option to restore a released the phone number is available for next 10 days and requires submitting a ticket to support@verityiq.com.

Illustration 6: Purchase options once search has been completed

SMS Campaign Configuration

Create SMS Organization Template

The first step in creating a bulk SMS campaign is to create the organization template.

To create a SMS organization template:

Go to Settings > Communication Templates > SMS/MMS Templates > SMS Organization > Click on the plus sign to add a new template. (See Illustration 7)

Illustration 7: Configuration Screen for SMS Organization Templates

Portico CRM - SMS Campaigns

Follow the steps to create the SMS Template. (See Illustration 8)

Illustration 8: Create SMS Template Window

Select the @ symbol to configure the template fill options. These are the dynamic values that can be used to personalize the template (See Illustration 9). Options are available for Applicant, Appointment, Contact (Inquiry), Logged in User, School, and Video templates.

! As a best practice, it is recommended to use advisor template options once an advisor has been assigned to the prospective student to avoid sending advisor information associated with a temporary lead bucket.

! Appointment options are recommended for templates that are used for drip communication.

! Allow on demand: Will display the template at the contact grid.

! Allow Opt-Out: Is the default value for templates that are used for bulk SMS campaigns.

! Use template for Text Campaign Type: Both allow the template to be used for On Demand and Drip campaigns. On Demand allows the template to be used for On Demand campaigns when targeting a specific

Portico CRM - SMS Campaigns

audience. Drip allows the template to be used for event driven workflows like appointments, statuses changes, and call activities.

! Schools: All schools will be selected as the default value.

Illustration 9: Template Fill Options Window

Create New Team

If the process dictates for a dedicated team to respond to the SMS campaign, a new team needs to be created for the designated staff, such as Campus Admissions.

Q: In what case would a new team need to be created?

To create a new team:

Go to Team Manager > Click on the Create Team button (See Illustration 10)

Portico CRM - SMS Campaigns

Illustration 10: Create Team button

At the new team screen, you may provide a name and description for the new team, as well as click on the plus sign to add one or more staff members to the team. Designate the team lead(s) and escalation manager(s), as needed. (See Illustrations 11 and 12)

Illustration 11: Team management configuration screen

Portico CRM - SMS Campaigns

Illustration 12: New team creation screen

Create New Task Router

To broadcast SMS messages to a specialized team, create a new team task router and designate the read SMS task to display the inbound campaign text message notifications to the team members assigned to the campaign.

! When creating a SMS task router, both an inbound and outbound task router need to be configured.

To create a new task router:

Go to Settings > Task Routers > User Task Routers. (See Illustration 13)

Click on the plus sign to create a new task router. Give the task router a name and description which would suggest the team selected as the recipient for the new tasks. For example: “Campus A Team”. (See Illustration 14)

Illustration 13: Create task router screen

a. When clicking the plus sign – a window will appear to add a new task router. The following information is available to be populated/edited:

Task Router Title
Task Router Description iii. Task Router Status – either inactive or active (defaults to active)

Portico CRM - SMS Campaigns

Illustration 14: Add user task router configuration screen

! For the outbound queue: The SMS type task router needs to (1) have the algorithm set as Broadcast, (2) have the task router type set as SMS, (3) be marked Active, (4) have the Outbound as direction, and

(5) have Send SMS as task sequence 1.

! For the inbound queue: The team type task router needs to (1) have the algorithm set as Broadcast, (2) have the task router type set as SMS, (3) be marked Active, (4) have the Inbound as direction, and (5) have Read SMS as task sequence 1.

Create On Demand SMS Campaigns

On Demand SMS campaigns need to be created to present the specialized team with the inbound responses to the SMS campaign. The SMS Campaign will also route inbound calls to the team assigned to the campaign.

To create a new on demand text campaign:

Go to the Contact Grid > Advanced Filters (See Illustration 15)

Narrow the audience for the targeted campaign by using advanced filters to select the inquiry dates, statuses, campus, lead sources etc.

Illustration 15: Selecting the audience using advanced filter at the contact grid

Select apply filters to display the targeted audience. Using the grid view select the box next to the first prospective student’s initials to open the campaign menu option on the bottom of the screen (See Illustration 16). Using the list view, check the box to the left of the campus code to open the campaign menu option on the bottom of the screen. (See Illustration 17)

Illustration 16: Selecting the audience from the grid view at the contact grid

Illustration 17: Selecting the audience from the list view at the contact grid

Click on the “Select All” button to select all the recipients to include the team campaign and select the “Text Campaign” button.

Follow the steps to create a new team campaign. (See Illustration 18)

Illustration 18: New text campaign configuration screen

! Batch Start and Batch End Time: The start and end time permit the user to select the allowable time span in which to send text messages from the system. The default values are from 9AM-9PM.

! Text Campaign Template: Allows the user to select the SMS Organization template to use for the campaign.

! Outbound Queue: Allows the user to route outgoing messages from team associated with the outgoing task router.

! Inbound Queues: Allows the user to route incoming messages to the team associated with the inbound task router.

! Phone Numbers: Allows the user to assign toll free numbers to the SMS campaign. At least two phone numbers are required for each bulk SMS campaign.

! Attempt Disposition Settings: Allows the user to assign the contract strategy which will be applied to the campaign.

Creating Drip SMS Campaigns

Drip SMS campaigns need to be created and mapped to workflow events to execute the automated communication outlined in your contact strategy.

To create a new drip text campaign:

Go to Campaign Manager > On Going Campaigns > Drip Text Campaign (See Illustration 19)

Illustration 19: Drip text campaign configuration screen

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Follow the steps to create a new text campaign. (See Illustration 20)

Illustration 20: New text campaign configuration screen

! Batch Start and Batch End Time: The start and end time permit the user to select the allowable time span in which to send text messages from the system. The default values are from 9AM-9PM.

! Text Campaign Template: Allows the user to select the SMS Organization template to use for the campaign.

! Outbound Queue: Allows the user to route outgoing messages from team associated with the outgoing task router.

! Inbound Queues: Allows the user to route incoming messages to the team associated with the inbound task router.

! Phone Numbers: Allows the user to assign toll free numbers to the SMS campaign. At least two phone numbers are required for each bulk SMS campaign.

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! Attempt Disposition Settings: Allows the user to assign the contract strategy which will be applied to the campaign.

Adding Text Campaigns to Workflow Events

To map a text campaign to a workflow event:

Go to Settings > Workflows > Lifecycle Workflows > Lead (See Illustration 21)

Illustration 21: Lead Lifecycle Workflow Screen

Follow the steps to add a new workflow event: (See Illustration 22)

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Illustration 22: Add new workflow event window

Select the text campaign from the available text campaign options. Individual workflow events will need to be configured for each campus location for campus-based campaigns.

! Appointment confirmations and reminders will trigger text communication from activity added to the Verity calendar for the configured campuses, programs, and appointment types.

! Inquiry appointment no show event will trigger text communication from an appointment status is updated to “No Show” for the configured campuses, programs, and appointment types.

! Call Activity events will trigger text communication for the configured campuses, programs, and call dispositions.

! Status Change events will trigger communication for the configured campuses, programs, and lead statuses.

View and Manage Campaign Results

You may view and manage campaign results at the campaign manager screen. The team campaign will be listed under the ongoing menu. The campaign will display the total number of recipients, delivers, bounced, opt-out, outbound, and inbound messages, along with the response rate (See Illustration 23). You may view detailed campaign results by selecting the view campaign results button. The detailed results will display SMS activity for the current date and can be filtered by inbound or outbound messages. (See Illustration 24)

Illustration 23: SMS Campaign Results

! Users may cancel the campaign by selecting the view settings option and select the cancel campaign button.

Illustration 24: View of Detailed Team Campaign results

Handling Notifications for SMS Campaigns

Reading Text Messages

SMS/Text message campaigns are an easy way to communicate with a prospective student in Verity when a phone call is not needed or not preferred. There are various ways to view text messages that are submitted by prospective students. The text notification window displays notifications for text messages sent directly to an advisor or to a group campaign number. From this window, a user can open the text message window to read the incoming text message.

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To view the text notification window, navigate to the text message notification icon (3^rd item displayed in the notification menu). (See Illustration 25)

Illustration 25 – Text message notification icon

Click on the icon to open the sub window. (See Illustration 26)

Illustration 26 – Text message notification

The sub window will display the count for any new messages and the history of read incoming messages. Click on the new text message to open text message window. (See Illustration 27)

Illustration 27 – Text message window

Campaign Text Messages

Within Verity, advisors will have the option to view text messages that are received in response to a text campaign.

Text messages sent to a campaign phone number will display the label “New campaign text message from Lead’s Name”. (See Illustration 28)

Illustration 28 – New campaign text message notification

! Text messages sent to campaign phone numbers will be displayed to all representatives who are part of that campaign associated with a team configuration. The first representative who reads the notification will be able to respond to the prospective student. The response will be sent from the campaign phone number. Other team members within that campaign will no longer see the notification once a representative has clicked on the campaign text message notification, as they will be responsible for the conversation.

Clicking on the message will open the conversation history allowing the user to view group conversations by selecting the campaign name (top selection) or direct conversations (bottom selection) between the user and prospective student. (See Illustration 29)

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Illustration 29– Text message conversation selection window

Any additional responses from the prospective student sent to a campaign phone number will be displayed in the notification area to all representatives who are part of that campaign. While in the text message window, the response to a campaign phone number will be visible to the representative engaged in the text conversation.

! A representative may switch to direct conversations which will then send text messages from the user’s Verity phone number instead of the campaign number. This will initiate a direct conversation that is not visible by the rest of the team members associated with the group text campaign.

Text Message Permissions

Access to Direct Text Messages

Access to viewing direct text messages between a user and prospective student is granted based on team leadership and by department for peer access. Users who are listed as team leads and/or escalation managers have full visibility into direct text message conversations by anyone on their team. Advisors are granted access to another peer’s direct text message conversations based on department.

For example, Debbie and Lydia are in Admissions and therefore, they will both see each other’s direct text messages to a prospective student. Advisors who are under different departments (teams or departments, or same) will not have visibility into each other direct text message conversations. So, if Maria is part of the Financial Services department and Marco is in Admissions, they will not see each other’s direct conversations with a prospective student.

Direct text conversations can also be viewed within the following Verity pages:

The quick text button on the Contact Grid
The quick text button on the Lead Profile Brief
The quick text icon next to the phone number tab under the Lead Profile Dashboard

Access to Group Messages

Access to viewing group messages is granted based on team membership. Users who are part of the same team and are assigned to the same department will have access to view group conversations under campaign text messages.

For example, Debbie and Lydia are part of the Boca Raton Admissions team, are both in Admissions, and are assigned to work the Boca Raton New Lead campaign. Therefore, they will both see each other’s group conversations for that campaign.

Group text conversations for text campaigns can also be viewed within the following Verity pages:

The quick text button on the Contact Grid
The quick text button on the Lead Profile Brief
The quick text icon next to the phone number tab under the Lead Profile Dashboard

! Please note that text messages that are sent as part of a phone campaign are not displayed in the areas listed above for both direct/group conversations.

! Phone campaign text messages are displayed at the task board by selecting the campaign name from the text message conversations window.

! For text messages viewed at the Contact Hub, access to these messages is granted based on team membership (for the outbound text queue) and conversation ownership.