Radius' SMS service is built upon the FCC's regulations. However, compliance with all SMS regulations is on you. For full information on the FCC Regulations, visit the FCC Site. Please visit our SMS Best Practices: Regulations & Guidance page with practical tips and links to important information.
If you are on an AMS plan with the full VoIP capabilities, purchase a number and set it as the SMS default number (and set up voice mail and other features). You will then be able to use that number for dialing and texting.
If you are on a Basic plan, purchase a text-only number. It is still in the Phone Numbers tab even though this number will not be able to place nor receive calls. Set it as the SMS default. Save.
Set the times allowable to send text messages to your leads & clients in Settings> Account Logo, Name & Time Zone Settings
Set your time zone and when text messages are allowed. Save.
Radius has an automatic opt-out for text messages for automated text messages from automated workflows and appointment reminders. We recommend putting "Reply STOP to opt out" at the end of any lead facing texts that are direct messages from the agent to a lead. DO NOT TEST THIS if you are an agent or other user type in Radius! You may mess up the delivery of messages to your cell phone in the future.
If the person wants to opt back in at a later point, they must text SUBSCRIBE to your Radius Active SMS number in order to receive text messages from your number again. The Radius Active SMS number is the Radius default number if you're on the basic plan. If you have full VOIP, please check to see what number you have selected as your Active SMS number.
Because of these regulations, your SMS messages can not have masked caller IDs. The caller ID must be associated with the provider that the message is coming from. If you have the VOIP plan, you'll be able to select which of your purchased phone numbers you want to have be the SMS caller ID. Otherwise, your caller ID will be a default number associated with your Radius account. However, all messages will show the name of the agent that is generating the message.
You can also set SMS replies to go to your cell phone in addition to going to the Message Center and Lead/Client Notes. To do so, go to Account> My Info> confirm your cell # is in the cell field. Save changes. Go to the Notifications tab and enable SMS replies to your cell phone. Save changes.
When testing text messages, DO NOT TEST with your own cell number as it will confuse the system if you have your cell number in your agent details and in a lead/client file. If you're sending a message to a family member, colleague or friend to test, write them a real message like "Hello, Let me know if you receive this message. Thanks!" If you write something like "TEST" or "SAMPLE", the recipient's carrier may block it automatically thinking it's spam.
How the message appears on your lead/client's cell phone:
In Message Center:
In Lead or Client File:
The FCC requires that you have permission to send SMS messages, so you must have the cell phone number of the lead/client in their Cell field. SMS will not work for phone numbers in the Phone field. If a lead or client types STOP, they will automatically be removed from the ability to send SMS to that number & you will no longer be able to send them SMS messages, including direct messages.
SMS delivery status is shown next to the messages.
Delivered = Sent to Carrier
Accepted = Carrier to Lead/Client
Undelivered = Carrier Did Not Send to Lead/Client (The lead/client or their carrier blocked the message delivery)
Note that if you're trying to test your SMS messages, make sure that you're not texting an account user. If Radius has an agent's cell phone in their Account> My Info details, you can not use them as a text lead/client.
SMS messages get segmented after 160 characters. It will appear as 1 message to the lead/client, however it will effect your SMS credits if your message is split into multiple segments/credits. You will get notified if you've exceeded your credits and can purchase credit packs in Settings> Phone Dialer & SMS Credits. Hit the SMS credits to see a summary of where you are in your included allotment and to purchase more. If you do not have enough credits to send out the rest of the messages, any queued up SMS messages will be removed from the queue after 24 hours if credits are not added.