Use Your Local Phone Number

Once your local phone number is approved and SMS capabilities are enabled, you can use it to communicate with customers and employees, send notifications, and manage conversations directly in Docket. 

Before You Start

• Your local phone number must be approved and configured in your account before use.
• SMS capabilities are subject to your plan’s text message limits, including monthly allowances and overage charges. 
• Customers can call or text your local phone number directly. Calls are forwarded to the phone number listed in the assigned employee’s profile.
• If you have not registered a local phone number yet, please review and complete the steps listed in this article.

Best Practices for Local Phone Numbers

• If a call is missed, follow-up using your main business phone line or send a text from the Messages tab.
• Review and update notification settings regularly so the right messages are being sent.
• Use merge tags to automatically include customer details in text notifications.
• Enable ETA messages to provide tracking links in your “On Our Way” notifications.
• Monitor monthly text usage and adjust your plan if needed.

Please Note: If a customer replies "STOP" to a text, Docket automatically stops sending them SMS messages. SMS will resume if the customer replies "START" or if their phone number is updated on their record.

Check Your Monthly Text Message Limit

To avoid unexpected charges, be sure to periodically check how many messages you have used throughout your billing cycle.

To see how many messages you have used:

1. Click on “Account” in the bottom left corner.
2. Click on “Plan” at the top.
3. Click on “Messages” if it does not open automatically.
    

On this page you can review your monthly test message limit, how many messages you have sent, and your overage rate per additional message. 

Please Note: Messages that exceed 160 characters are split into multiple messages.

Send Automatic Text Notifications

Docket allows you to automatically send text notifications for employee and client activities. 

Employee Notifications

1. Click on “Account” in the bottom left corner.
2. Click on “Settings” at the top.
3. Click on “Notifications.”
4. Click on “View” on the Employee Notifications card.
    

In Employee Notifications, click to expand a type of notification and add a phone number(s) in the Text field and click the “+” icon to add. After adding numbers for an automatic text notification, click “Save Settings” to update your Employee Notifications.
 

Client Notifications

1. Click on “Account” in the bottom left corner.
2. Click on “Settings” at the top.
3. Click on “Notifications.”
4. Click on “View” on the Client Notifications card.
    

In Click Notifications, click to expand a type of notification and toggle on which text notifications you would like to automate. When you toggle on Text for a notification, such as Job - On Our Way, you’ll be able to customize the message and use merge tags to auto-fill customer details. 
 

Add Real Time Tracking for “On Our Way” Notifications

You can also include real time tracking links for your “On Our Way” notifications by enabling routing.

1. Click on “Account” in the bottom left corner.
2. Click on “Plan” at the top.
3. Click on “Routing.”
4. Toggle on “Use Routing ETA” on the Routing ETA card.
    

Toggling this setting allows clients to view ETAs and track drivers. 

Manage Text Conversations

Access Conversations

The Messages section on the left-hand menu where you can find a list of every text message that’s been sent to your Local Phone Number by a client.

When you first click into Messages, all unread text messages will be highlighted yellow while all the read text messages will appear white. When you select a conversation, it will appear blue. 
 

Send and Respond to Texts

To begin a new conversation with a client, follow the below instructions:

1. Click on the “+ Message” button at the top of your clients list.
    

   

2. If you’re sending a text message to a contact that already exists in your Docket account, make sure you’re in the ‘Contacts’ section of the Compose Text Message prompt that appears.
   
   If you’re sending a text message to a number that hasn’t been saved as a contact’s phone number in your Docket account yet, make sure you’re in the ‘Direct’ section of the Compose Text Message prompt that appears.
    
3. Select your client from the Recipients list under ‘Contacts’ or enter the phone number you’d like to text in the Phone field under ‘Direct’.
4. Type your message into the Message field.

5. Click “Send” to send it to your client.
    

   

The message will appear in the list of conversations and you can move onto your next task while waiting for a response.

To reply to a client in an ongoing or previous  conversation, open up the conversation in Messages and type your message into the text box at the bottom of the messages list and click “Send Text” to send it to your client.

Enable Sound Notifications

To receive sounds alerts for new messages:

1. Click on your name in the top right corner.

2. Click on the “Settings” button from the drop-down that appears.
    

   
    

3. Toggle on the Sound for New Message setting that appears in the new menu.

4. Click on the “Update” button at the bottom to save this change.
    

   

Please Note: Your computer sound has to be turned on and at a high enough volume for you to be able to hear the sound.

If you have any questions, please reach out to our Support team through the chat widget on the bottom of this page or by sending an email to support@yourdocket.com!