Process 8x8 Contact Center SMS interactions
SMS has become a popular channel of communication in customer service. As an 8x8 Contact Center agent, you can interact with customers via SMS channels. SMS messages received from customers are directed via the SMS channels to chat queues. As a member of chat queues, receive these messages and interact with customers using the chat interface in 8x8 Agent Workspace
The brand new interface for 8x8 Contact Center agents to receive and process customer interactions.. As an agent, you can look up customer records if the message is from an existing customer, check for outstanding cases, and history of interactions to handle the conversation effectively.
8x8 Contact Center has introduced a new feature to enhance our digital offering that allows agents to send outbound SMS messages to customers. With this enhancement, agents can communicate with customers more effectively. For example, while on call with the customer, agents can send out an SMS message to confirm an order or reference a case. While working on an inbound case, an agent can send an SMS message asking the customer to contact via chat or phone.
Availability
SMS channels for receiving SMS messages can be configured in 30 countries. To learn more, see our list of supported countries. SMS messages can be sent to most countries in the world (note that the cost of sending messages to different countries varies based on the country, with the US and Canada being the least expensive).
Features
- Connect and communicate: As contact center agents, use SMS messages to communicate with customers in real time. Agents cannot initiate SMS messages.
- Route messages: Based on agent skills, SMS messages are routed via chat queues to available agents. These messages are then directed to available agents based on rules/schedules/skills.
- Engage with customers effectively: Multitask and maximize your productivity by handling SMS messages from up to six customers at a time.
- Handle interactions more efficiently: Increase efficiency by accessing the customer record via screen pop. When an existing customer sends a message, quickly look at the popped customer record and learn about recent cases.
- Track past activity: Save the SMS interactions in a chat transcript and automatically link it as a case to the right customer record for future reference. Agents always end SMS interactions.
- Initiate SMS: As an agent, you can send outbound SMS messages to customers. AgentAgents use the Agent Console to view and manage customer interactions. Virtual Contact Center supports Regular agents and Supervisor agents. initiated SMS offers the following benefits:
- Send a standalone SMS message as an interaction.
- Send a message to a customer while on an interaction with the customer (phone call or chat).
- Select a channel number to send the message from and select the customer phone number to send the message to.
- Send a canned message from the knowledge base or type a custom message.
- Messages will be delivered to customers phone from the selected channel number.
- Customer responses to messages will be routed via the SMS channel.
Limitations
- We do not support SMS messaging to short code numbers currently. We support messaging to toll-free and regular phone numbers.
- SMS messaging does not support images or emojis. It is plain text only.
- Customer responses to agent initiated messages are not directed to the agent unless a dedicated SMS queue is set up for the agent.
- GroupA group is a collection of agents created for management or reporting purposes. Groups can be functional (for example, Technical Support) or organizational (for example Supervisor Mary’s Team). Each agent can be assigned to only one group, and cannot view or access information about other groups or group members. messaging is currently not supported for outbound SMS.
- For outbound SMS, an SMS channel must be set up with a number for that region.
- To send a message while on a call, there must be a disposition code set up.
- Alphanumeric sender ID’s are not available.
- The message will not display in QMSA.
- MMS is not supported.
Before you start
To receive SMS messages in 8x8 Agent Workspace, you must:
- Be a member of the chat queue to which the chat is routed.
- Place yourself in the Available status.
