To set up a text message task, you must add it to an appropriate job.  For example, if you wanted to send a text to clients on the date their VAT payment is due, you could add a text message task to your VAT Return job. 


Please note: our text messaging feature is currently unavailable during the 30-day free trial of Senta.


TABLE OF CONTENTS

Creating text message tasks

You will need to add a new task and set its type to Send text message. Please note that when using this task type, you can only send a text to the primary contact.  



You can enter a standard message to be sent in the Send text message tab, however, you can also edit this at the point of sending the text message:



As with emails, you can use placeholders to customise the message. Please note: if using the from. prefix, this will pull through the Account manager's details.

Scheduling and assigning the task


You have all the usual options for scheduling and assigning tasks, but we recommend you assign text messaging tasks to a person, not Senta. If you assign this task to Senta, the message will send as soon as the task becomes "ready" when Senta recalculates jobs during the night... and your clients may not appreciate an urgent text message at 4 am.  


As well as a specific individual, you can assign the task to a specialist.


This means that the appropriate person will be asked to complete and send the text when the time is right. 


If you would like to schedule the text message to become Ready on a specific day and/or due on a specific day, date offsets can be added to the Timing tab:



In the live job, the individual can select Send the text message to view the message:



They can make a last-minute edit if necessary and select Send to send the text message:



Currently, Senta does not store outgoing messages. If you would like to keep a record of these, please see our guide for Saving a copy of text messages

What if the primary contact does not have a mobile number in Senta?


If not all of your primary contacts have a mobile number stored in Senta, you can add a filter to the text message task so that it does not show for those contacts. 


To add a filter, navigate to the Filters tab on your text message task and select Add filter:



Scroll to the bottom of the field picker, and underneath the Advanced section, select Expression and select OK:



In the expression filter, include client.contact1.mobile:



This means the task will only create where the primary contact has a mobile number stored in the Mobile field. 


For further information on using filters in Senta, please take a look at our guides:

How do filters work?

How do I use filters within jobs?