In the prior chapter we explain why many of your incoming SMS messages will end up getting passed from the SMS Pipeline into SMS Conversations. Now, let’s take a step back and see how to manage those messages, or messages that are sent to SMS Conversations directly. Navigate to People > Communications > SMS Conversations to start. New Conversation - This will open up a new window to start a conversation with an individual. You can send the SMS message directly from Rock, and even include an image. Recipient Filter - Use this filter to search for specific recipients. This is a fast alternative to scrolling through a lengthy list of people to find the conversation you're looking for. Available SMS Numbers - You can change between currently active SMS numbers by clicking the drop-down here. Changing the number will show you conversations associated with that number. If only one number is available, then the dropdown is replaced with a label. All Responses - This panel displays all the responses to the selected SMS number. Clicking on any of the listed responses will show you the conversation with that person. Unread Indicator - Indicates that the message has not yet been read. Add Note - Text conversations can hold important information. By adding a note directly from SMS Conversations, you can track details about the conversation in a more visible and accessible way. The block's settings let you limit the Note Types that can be used. Add Reminder - Need to follow-up with this person in the future? Add a reminder straight from your conversation. Mark Read/Unread - Toggle a conversation's status between "Read" and "Unread." Insert Snippet - Quickly insert prewritten SMS Snippets into your messages (see the SMS Snippets section below for more details).Message - All you need to do is type your message here and hit Send to keep the conversation going. Your outgoing messages and responses will be shown in the screen above. Send Image - Click the ti ti-camera icon to upload and send an image to the person. We realize that every organization is different, so we added in settings allowing you to customize each feature for your needs. Suppose you have the Students Director and First Impressions Director messaging their own volunteers. You can create multiple pages with the SMS Conversations block on them. Then on each page you can specify who has access and which number(s) can be used. Each ministry could have their own SMS Conversations page. To learn more about creating pages and adding blocks check out the Designing and Building Websites using Rock guide. NoteReal-Time SMS ResponsesYou no longer need to refresh the page to see new SMS messages. The system updates in Real-Time, displaying replies right away. Handle Nameless People Sooner or later, you’ll start receiving SMS messages from people and phone numbers you don’t recognize. If you’re worried that this will cause a snag in your processes, don’t be. Rock will try to match the phone number of a new incoming SMS message to a person in the system. If it can’t find anyone with that number, Rock will create a Nameless Person record instead. This allows your processes to continue as normal, without knowing their name or other contact information. In most cases this will result in the message being passed from the SMS Pipeline to the SMS Conversations page. Other possible actions are limited because we don’t know who the person is. Phone Number - Typically, a name is shown here. Since Rock doesn’t know the person’s name, you’ll see the phone number instead.Unknown Person - This indicates the conversation is with an unknown (i.e., nameless) person.Link To Person - Click this button to link the phone number to a new or existing person record. We’ll cover that in detail below. As new texts come in, you might lose track of your nameless people in the SMS Conversations page. Luckily, you can go to Admin Tools > Settings > Nameless People to see and manage your list of nameless records. Phone Number - All of the phone numbers Rock can't link to a person record are listed here.Link To Person - Click the ti ti-user button to link the phone number to a new or existing person record (see below). NoteWhere Did My Nameless Person Go?Each night, the Rock Cleanup job will go through the Nameless record types to look for a matching person record. If it finds a match it will merge them for you and the Nameless record will be removed. Linking to an Existing Person Once you know for sure who you’re talking to, you'll want to link the phone number (and the conversation) to an actual person in Rock. You'll do this from the Link Phone Number to Person page. You can get there from the SMS Conversations page or from the Nameless People page as described above. Add New Person - As pictured above, this page lets you quickly and easily create a new person record to be linked with the phone number.Link Existing Person - Clicking this button will give you a person picker screen so you can look up the existing record to be linked with the phone number. Respond From a Device When you send an SMS message (see the Communication Wizard chapter) you'll select an SMS number to send from. When Response Recipient Forwarding is enabled as described earlier, responses will be forwarded to the response recipient's mobile phone with the sender's name and a response code. The response code consists of the @ symbol followed by a three-digit number (e.g., @347). If further follow-up is required, the response recipient can use this code to reply back. If your mind is swimming a bit, that’s OK. Let's look at an example. In our example Jenny has just sent out a bulk SMS message to several attendees reminding them of the car show that afternoon. Let's walk through a conversation she has with Alisha. Bulk Message - The original bulk SMS message. Notice Jenny has cleverly used merge fields to personalize the text message with each recipient's name. First Response - Alisha then responds to the message. Response Code - The response goes back to Rock's SMS phone number. Rock then looks up that number's response recipient and relays the message to Jenny's phone. Because the message is no longer directly from Alisha, Rock adds Alisha's name to the message and also the response code @671. Sent to Alisha - Jenny decides she would like to continue the conversation, so she writes a quick message back including the response code. Rock will use this code to match the conversation back to Alisha. Shows Message - Alisha receives Jenny's response. Note how Rock has removed the response code. To Alisha it appears that she is texting Jenny directly. Notice that both sides of the conversation are texting to Rock's SMS number (555) 351-5392. Little does Alisha know that Jenny's real number is 867-5309. Use SMS Snippets The SMS Snippets feature allows you to streamline messaging by creating prewritten responses for future SMS conversations. Instead of typing repetitive messages manually, you can select from existing snippets directly within the SMS Conversations page and the Check-in Manager app (described in the Checking-Out Check-in guide). Go to Admin Tools > Settings > SMS Snippets to start adding snippets for your organization. In the Snippet Detail view, you’ll see everything that makes up a snippet—its content, settings and options for managing it. Admins can configure snippets with either Personal or Shared access, categorize them, and customize their content using Lava (remember to toggle the Text |Lava switch). Shared snippets are available to your entire organization.Personal snippets are private and help you create quick, reusable prompts for yourself (e.g., "Ted, don't forget to turn off the lights before you leave the building tonight!"). TipSnippet CategoriesUsing a lot of snippets? Keep them organized by creating categories in Admin Tools > Settings > Category Manager. Some blocks, including the one in the Check-in Manager's SMS feature, include a category selection setting. Configuring this ensures the right snippets are available in the right context.