Skip to content

How SMS Works

SMS lets customers text your business number and get answers from your agents directly in Daktela β€” as a two-way SMS chat. Before you set it up, it helps to understand the pieces involved and how a conversation travels through them.

When you are ready to build, follow Set Up SMS β€” it takes you through all the steps in the right order.

The Journey of an SMS Conversation

flowchart LR
    customer["Customer texts<br>your number"] --> connector["Connector<br>(SMS Connect / Hyper SMS)"]
    connector --> tc{"Time condition:<br>are you open?"}
    tc -- "Yes" --> queue["Queue"]
    tc -- "No" --> terminate["Terminate<br>(offline)"]
    queue --> agents["Agents"]
    queue -- "No agent answers" --> terminate
    tc -. "optional" .-> auto["Automessages"]
    auto -.-> queue
    connector -. "optional" .-> bot["Decision tree<br>or chatbot"]
    bot -.-> queue
  1. A customer sends an SMS to your number. Daktela receives it through a connector β€” either SMS Connect or Hyper SMS (hosted SIM cards), set up with Daktela's help.
  2. The connector sends the conversation to its Next destination β€” usually a time condition that checks your business hours.
  3. During business hours, the conversation lands in a queue, which rings your agents according to its distribution strategy. Agents reply by SMS from the activity.
  4. Outside business hours β€” or when no agent answers in time β€” the conversation is routed to a terminate target, which can log it as missed so you can follow up.
  5. Optionally, you can insert automessages or a decision tree/chatbot anywhere in the chain.

The Building Blocks

Building block What it does Where to set it up
Connector The link between your SMS numbers and Daktela: connector type, sender identification, number prefixes and CLID rules. Its Next destination starts the routing chain. Settings β†’ Routings β†’ SMS
Time condition Routes the conversation to different targets depending on date and time, using a time group. Settings β†’ Routings β†’ SMS β†’ Time conditions
Queue Holds waiting conversations and distributes them to agents according to the distribution strategy. Settings β†’ Routings β†’ Queues
Agents The users whose rights have access to the queue. Settings β†’ Routings β†’ Queues, Agents column
Terminate Defines how a conversation ends and whether it counts as answered or missed. Settings β†’ Routings β†’ SMS β†’ Terminate
Automessages Automatic messages sent to the customer while they wait. Settings β†’ Routings β†’ SMS β†’ Automessages
Decision tree Daktela's built-in chatbot. Settings β†’ Routings β†’ SMS β†’ Decision trees
Chatbot A connection to a third-party chatbot. Settings β†’ Routings β†’ SMS β†’ Chatbots

Info

Changes to connectors, time conditions, automessages, decision trees, chatbots and terminate targets only take effect after you click Apply configuration changes in the top right corner of the routing overview.

Before You Start

  • Administrator access to the Settings section of Daktela.
  • An SMS connector arrangement with Daktela β€” the connector's API token is set up by us, so contact us first. Decide between SMS Connect (your own sender identification) and Hyper SMS (SIM cards hosted by Daktela).
  • Your business hours and a list of agents who will answer conversations.

Ready? Continue to Set Up SMS.