Managing your SMS Inbox

So, you've received updates from your customers.  Now what?

Recapture provides you a mobile-phone-like interface where you can see and manage messages that are sent to and received from your customers.  The SMS Inbox is available on the Abandoned Carts and Order Notifications screen BOTH.  It's the same inbox for each.

at https://app.recapture.io/account/order-updates/inbox

Is the same as this:

at https://app.recapture.io/account/abandoned-carts/inbox

When new messages come in, just like in your mobile phone, you'll see a count next to the message indicating the number of new messages to read from the customer:

The message stream on the left is per customer,
Clicking on the message will show you the conversation stream:

Texts from your store appear in Green, texts from the customer appear in white.  All responses are threaded by time, so the messages on the top are oldest, and the ones on the bottom are newest.

On the right, you see any orders that the customer has made or are pending.  You can also manually unsubscribe the customer if they request it with the button on the upper right.

Recapture is smart enough to detect a wide variety of "Opt out" messages and if the customer replies with one, we will automatically stop the conversation, even if it's not precisely what you ask them to say.  (For example, they can use the F-bomb instead of "STOP" and we'll opt them out automatically.  Many other possibilities exist here, but that's the general idea)

Here's an example of an unsubscribed customer:

Notice that the reply box is disabled.  And at the top right, the customer shows as "Unsubscribed"

Once this happens, you cannot contact them via SMS anymore per the regulations of the TCPA.

For customers who opt in, however, you can have Recapture send automated messages or do manual replies.  On the bottom, you can reply to the customer manually if you like by typing a message here:

Just hit Enter or Return to send the message when you're done typing.  You can paste in Emojis from an external source if you like, as well.

The list of messages to the customer will include whatever you have planned to send them (e.g. abandoned carts AND order updates, if you have both enabled).  

Best Practices with SMS Inbox

• You should check the inbox frequently to make sure customers are being messaged appropriately
• Respond to anyone who has concerns or questions promptly
• If you see a high opt-out rate, consider offering an incentive to your customers to sign up for the SMS list (e.g.a coupon, or some kind of educational content that you don't offer elsewhere) so there's a reason they give you their number
• Make it clear that you're collecting their mobile number so you can send them updates about things.  People like to know that you're not going to barrage them with messages, so make sure you make this clear on your checkout page or your popup where you collect the numbers.