Author Archives: Elise

Tuesday Tips: Custom Text Message Auto-Reply

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Posted by Elise on June 26, 2012 – 4:54 pm
Filed under Tuesday Tips

When someone opts in to receive automated text messages by texting your keyword to 292929, they will receive a standard auto-reply confirming they’ve opted in:

autoreply Tuesday Tips: Custom Text Message Auto Reply

If you’d like to set a custom auto-reply, you can set it by going to Contacts–>Customize Your Join Reply. 

 

join reply Tuesday Tips: Custom Text Message Auto Reply

 

 

 

Here you can preview your message and set it accordingly.

 

 

customize21 Tuesday Tips: Custom Text Message Auto Reply

Here you can set a custom reply when someone opts in to receive your group texts. Pretty simple, right? This is a great tool if you’d like the recipient to contact a specific phone number once they’ve opted in, receive a special message, or even direct the recipient to a website!

Tuesday Tips: Sending Text Messages from Your Phone

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Posted by Elise on June 19, 2012 – 5:15 pm
Filed under SMS Text Messaging, Tuesday Tips

If you need to text your contacts or a specific group on your contact list and are not by a computer, no worries! You can also send a group text message from your phone.

First, make sure that your phone is an authorized phone number to send a text from phone. You can see this under My Account–>Text from Phone.

If you’d like to send a message to everyone, you can do so by texting:  #all and your message to 292929.

all Tuesday Tips: Sending Text Messages from Your Phone

If you’d like to send a message to a specific keyword, you can send to a specific group by texting: #account keyword.group keyword and your message to 292929.

group Tuesday Tips: Sending Text Messages from Your Phone

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If you need a reminder on where to find these instructions, you can always come here or under Create a Broadcast under Useful Tips. 

blog pix 1024x847 Tuesday Tips: Sending Text Messages from Your Phone

Tuesday Tips: Changing Messenger Settings

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Posted by Elise on June 12, 2012 – 4:43 pm
Filed under Tips & Tutorials, Tuesday Tips

Last week we explained how to monitor messenger activity on Call-Em-All.com. Did you know you can set up other users to be connected to your Call-Em-All account to also send automated calls?

You can even set their preferences to only view certain contact lists & broadcasts. Here we’ll show you how.

First, go to My Account–>Messengers–>Edit. 

messenger editing2 Tuesday Tips: Changing Messenger Settings

You can set specific broadcast preferences for the messenger’s account as well.

For instance, if you would not like your coaches or recruiters to send a phone tree call past 8pm, you can set the calling window to be at 8pm. The messenger’s respective phone number can also display for the Caller ID when they send a broadcast as well.

If you’d like the messenger to be able to send a text from their cell phone to a group, enter their Mobile Number in the box on the top right.

Also, if you would like the messenger to only see his or her contact lists and broadcasts, slide the Yes/No box over to NO. 

messenger edits Tuesday Tips: Changing Messenger Settings

 

Tuesday Tips: Viewing Messenger Activity

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Posted by Elise on June 5, 2012 – 3:52 pm
Filed under Tips & Tutorials

If you have messenger users as a part of your group calling account, we’d like to share some tips for managing messenger details.

If you have not set up messengers, these users are simply “sub-accounts” with their own login information. Messengers are great for various users in organizations such as Sunday School teachers for churches, coaches for sports teams, teachers for schools, or even recruiters for staffing companies. Don’t worry, this feature is already included in your service!

Monitoring Messenger Activity

To monitor messenger usage or to see who created a particular broadcast, go to Reports–>Messenger Activity. Note: You will need to be logged into the master account to view these.

 

messenger1 Tuesday Tips: Viewing Messenger Activity

Here you will see all the messengers listed for your account. Click on the messenger’s name to view a detailed report.

 

messenger2 Tuesday Tips: Viewing Messenger Activity

Here, you will see which broadcasts were sent by a particular messenger.

messenger3 Tuesday Tips: Viewing Messenger Activity

The Importance of SMS Opt-Ins

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Posted by Elise on June 4, 2012 – 11:20 am
Filed under SMS Text Messaging

Approximately 74 million people have opted-in to receive text messages from their favorite brands. However, many companies choose to bypass the opt-in process, and it comes with its fair share of consequences.

SMS Spam Lawsuits

Recently our friend Derek Johnson of Tatango blogged about a settlement regarding a SMS spam lawsuit with Lithia Motors.

opt in 200x300 The Importance of SMS Opt Ins

“The lawsuit claims consumers received unsolicited text messages from Lithia Motors, which violated federal and state laws barring the use of automated devices to send text messages to individuals without their consent. The unsolicited text messages came from the short code 35703.”

Although thousands of consumers opted-out after the first message with words such as Stop, Cancel, or Unsubscribe, they received an additional unsolicited text message offer. Eventually they came to a $275 million settlement, paying about $675 to each person who received the unwarranted messages.

Many companies that do not follow opt-in protocols are facing SMS messaging lawsuits. For instance, a recent Simon & Schuster lawsuit sought $90 million in damages, or almost $1500 per unsolicited text message.  The text messaging campaign sent to promote an upcoming Stephen King novel was sent to about 60,000 people.

Sending text messages to those who have opted-in is not only the legal approach, but also good business practice. When businesses send texts to those who have opted-in, they are spending valuable time and resources to people that actually want to hear the message.

Blocked Short Codes

Many carriers may even block a specific short code. If the carrier (such as T-Mobile) knows a certain text provider does not require opt-ins, they will often block that short code from sending any messages to its numbers.

Many unapproved short codes can either delay or prevent the delivery of SMS messages; we have heard of delays up to three days for messages where recipients did not opt-in.

In conclusion, if you are looking for automated texting, make sure to have proper opt-ins before sending any messages. Otherwise, you may face lawsuits of at least $275 per message sent, or important messages may not be received.

Tuesday Tips: Monthly Plan on Hold

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Posted by Elise on May 29, 2012 – 2:57 pm
Filed under Tips & Tutorials

If you are in an organization that is currently using the monthly plan and do not broadcast automated  messages over the summer, you can put your plan on hold.

You can do this by going to My Account.

Select Put Subscription on Hold under Monthly Subscription on the right of the page.

reactivate 1 Tuesday Tips: Monthly Plan on Hold

You can also set a specific date to reactivate.  That way, you can make calls whenever your season starts and will not need to reactivate your subscription. It’s one less thing to mark off your long To-Do list at the beginning of the season!

reactivate 2 Tuesday Tips: Monthly Plan on Hold

 

 

Press Submit once you’re done!

 

Tuesday Tips: Opting Out Numbers

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Posted by Elise on May 22, 2012 – 3:34 pm
Filed under Tips & Tutorials

Do you have a phone number on your contact list that would prefer not be contacted anymore?  This is a great feature if someone’s number has changed, would prefer to only receive text and not voice messages, or is no longer a member of your organization.

Opting Numbers Out in Your Account 

You can do this by going to Reports–>Opt Out Report.

opt out reports Tuesday Tips: Opting Out Numbers

On the Opt Out page, press +Add, then this dialogue box will appear. You’ll add the number and select which type of communication they’d like to opt out from.  Click Add once you’re done!

optout Tuesday Tips: Opting Out Numbers

Self Opt-Out

The recipient can also opt out of automated calls themselves on the website by going to call-em-all.com and selecting Opt Out under Useful Tools at the bottom of the page. As a reminder, if someone does not want to receive text messages from you, they can always reply to a message with the word STOP or CANCEL. 

self opt out Tuesday Tips: Opting Out Numbers

 

Opt Numbers Back In

Did someone accidentally opt out of receiving calls from you? You can add them back with their written permission from the opt out list.

Click on the number on the opt out list to opt them back in.

remove opt out Tuesday Tips: Opting Out Numbers

If you have written permission to call the number and if calling it will not violate Call-Em-All’s responsible use policy, then click the two checkboxes and select Remove!

opt back in Tuesday Tips: Opting Out Numbers

Voila! The number is back on your list!

Have any questions? You can always call us at 877-226-3080 or e-mail us at AccountSupport@Call-Em-All.com!

 

Tuesday Tips: Managing Inbound Response

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Posted by Elise on May 15, 2012 – 4:53 pm
Filed under Tips & Tutorials

Did you know that Call-Em-All broadcasts 2500 calls per minute? Since most numbers are called within seconds, responses can be overwhelming. Hearing from your recipients can be a good thing, but sometimes you may want a little more manageable response rate.

You can slow down the call speed by going to My Account–>Update under Preferences.

Then, you can adjust your call speed as needed!

call speed Tuesday Tips: Managing Inbound Response

5 Tips to Stop Text Message Spam

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Posted by Elise on May 11, 2012 – 3:27 pm
Filed under Tips & Tutorials

Ever getting annoying text messages claiming you’ve won a $100 Giftcard? We do too, and we hate text spam just as much as you do. Really.

Here are some tips to make sure you don’t receive those pesky texts anymore:

1. You can change your preferences of message sources that are allowed to be sent to your phone with your carrier. Short codes (like Call-Em-All’s 292929) have rules that must be followed, including honoring STOP, CANCEL, and QUIT.  Every short code must be tested and approved before it is allowed to send messages.  Long codes (10-digit numbers, e-mail addresses, etc) do not have such administration.

If you’re an AT&T customer, you can manage your preferences at this site. Verizon customers, you can also manage these preferences then go to the Spam Blocking tab.

5 Tips to Stop Text Message Spam

2. If a specific 10-digit phone number continues to spam your cell phone, you can contact your carrier to block a certain number. (If you use AT&T, you can do so here.)

3. According to the New York Times, replying to the message, even with words like Stop, Cancel, or Quit, may verify to the spammers that you have a working number that can be resold.

4. Therefore, the best tactic to prevent SMS spam is to not reply to the message and forward the message to 7726 (SPAM) to notify your carrier so they can investigate.

5. If you have a smartphone, there may be apps you can download to prevent spam. For Androids, we hear that the Anti SMS Spam & Text Filter is a useful app.

Do you have any tips for avoiding spam texts? Comment below and let us know!

 

You can read more information on preventing spam on AT&T’s website.

Our Pinterest Experiment!

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Posted by Elise on April 26, 2012 – 4:57 pm
Filed under Customers & Call-Em-All

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you know that the new social media website Pinterest has been exploding lately. Call-Em-All even has its own Pinterest page- follow us if you have  an account, too!

From graphics to clothes to party designs, Pinterest is a great way to connect with what your friends and contacts currently like.

I (Elise) have been seeing several different companies and individuals create some awesome graphics with some of their favorite quotes. I figured I would give it a try! That way, we could also use them as backgrounds and such. I have even printed out a few and put them on my desk and in picture frames!

Without further ado:

FDR quote with overlay and CEA Our Pinterest Experiment!

stripes with quote walt 805x1024 Our Pinterest Experiment!

circle with quote with CEA Our Pinterest Experiment!

alive2 smaller Our Pinterest Experiment!

 

 

Do you have a Pinterest? We’d love to connect!