How to Use Two-Way Texting in Kicksite
Instead of needing to use third-party apps, or having to manage conversations on different devices, two-way texting makes it easy to message back and forth with your Students and Prospects.
Within Kicksite, two-way texting is called Conversations. To access it, you can search for “Conversations” in Quick Links, or click on the Conversations icon (two chat bubbles) in the upper right, between your profile picture and the search bar. If there are any unread messages, a blue dot will pulse in the corner of the Conversations icon.
Only schools with an active SMS integration can use Conversations.
Who Can be Messaged?
To message someone through Kicksite, their profile needs a phone number and to be opted in to SMS. Opting in means they have read the terms and conditions and agreed to receive messaging from your school. They can do this themselves on Landing Pages and Lead Capture Forms, or an Employee can mark them as opted in after showing them the terms and conditions.
Eligible profiles will have a yellow Conversations icon instead of gray. Click that icon to open their chat as a popover window. Each chat can also be found in the full Conversations section.
Linking a Profile
When a phone number isn’t attached to a profile yet, it will appear in Conversations with an option to Link to Profile. You can select an existing profile, or create a new one.
If for some reason you need to change the profile a number is attached to, click Unlink Profile from that chat page, then select the new profile.
Opted Out Profiles
If someone has opted out (meaning they replied STOP to a text from your school), a red X will appear next to their phone number. Opted-out numbers can’t receive any SMS messages; whether they’re from Conversations, an Announcement, or something else.
Someone who’s opted out can allow messages once again by sending “RESUME” or “START” to your school’s number.
Message Templates
Many messages you receive will likely be asking the same questions – what are your hours? Where can I learn more about your school? Templates make responding to these common questions easy. The Message Templates module is on the right side of the Inbox, below Filters.
To create a new Template, click the add icon (a circle with a plus) in the upper right. After entering your text, click the checkmark to save the Template.
To use a Template, click the copy icon (two sheets of paper) next to it. This copies the message to your clipboard. Then, paste the text into the compose field by right-clicking and selecting Paste, or pressing Ctrl+V (Cmd+V on Mac).
To edit or delete an existing Template, click the kebab (three vertical dots), then select from the popover menu.
Enabling Push Notifications
To receive pop-up notifications on your phone or computer, follow these steps. Push notifications are enabled on a per-device, per-account basis.
Note: On iOS, push notifications can only be enabled through the Kicksite Web App. Click here to learn how to install it.
- Click on your profile picture in the upper right corner, then select My Account in the dropdown.
- Scroll down to the Notifications section, then click on the arrow next to Push Notifications.
- Click the Enable button.
- Your phone or computer will now receive notifications from Kicksite 2-Way Texting just like any other app.
To turn notifications off, return to this page and click the Disable button.
Employees and Conversations
The first Employee to read a message will be listed as the one who read it, but any Employee with Read permissions can see any message in Conversations. Your customers won’t be able to see when their messages are read – this is for internal use only.
When a message is sent from your school’s number, the Employee who sent it will be listed on the Conversation view.
Each Employee’s profile can be configured with permissions for Conversations.
- Read Conversations
- Send messages (Read must also be enabled)
- Attach images to messages (Send and Read must also be enabled)
Messaging Safely in Kicksite
The SMS log, accessed from the file tab in the Conversations section, contains a complete list of all messages sent and received. Attachments are also displayed.
You can filter to a specific time period and by message type (such as Failed, Delivered, or Scheduled). Additionally, you can export the log as a .csv to search message contents.