No one likes to be left on read when they are looking for answers! So, what happens when someone tries to reach you and texts something that Gloo does not recognize as something to automatically address? When someone texts something that Gloo doesn't understand, the response depends on if and how you've configured your workflows and messaging settings. Let's take a look at 3 general types of messages that people can send into Gloo:
Types of messages that can be sent into Gloo
Activating a Workflow
Workflows in Gloo are activated by texting in one of the keywords you set up in the Workflow. This will trigger one or more actions predetermined by you. If someone texts in a keyword, Gloo will understand it and take immediate action based on the Workflow settings. Remember that the keyword must be isolated (alone) and exact in the text sent for the Workflow to be triggered accordingly.
Prayer requests
As long as the text includes the word pray or prayer, they will trigger the Prayer feature in Gloo. If the Prayer Received System Workflow is active, a response will be sent automatically to let the contact know their request was received.
Other (Anything else)
If someone texts in something that is not a Workflow keyword or a prayer request, Gloo will not understand what they have texted in, and manual intervention may be required. This is what typically happens:
Unresolved message response: If you've enabled an "Unresolved Message Response" under your System Workflows, Gloo will automatically send a quick reply. The default message is: "Thanks for texting in! I have forwarded this along to someone at [Name of your organization]." This response informs the sender that their message couldn't be understood. You can customize this message any time in your System Workflows.
"Needs Response" Status: Regardless of whether an automatic response is sent, the message will be marked with a "Needs Response" status in your system. This indicates that the message requires manual attention from an admin or team member. The status remains until someone replies or manually changes it to a "closed" status, such as "Served" or "Disconnected."
No Automatic Response: If you have disabled the Unresolved Message Response, Gloo won't send any automatic reply when it doesn't understand a message. In this case, the message will still be marked with a "Needs Response" status, awaiting manual attention.
Subsequent messages: If the sender continues to send messages that Gloo doesn't understand, the system will not repeatedly send the Unresolved Message Response. Instead, the messages will remain in the "Needs Response" state until someone manually addresses them.
Manual Intervention: To resolve these situations, a church admin or team member needs to review the messages in the system, determine the appropriate response, and update the message status accordingly.
Here are a few examples of what unrecognized texts might look like and what happens when they come into Gloo:
What if someone texts in "Hello, can I please speak to the pastor"?
If the Unresolved Message Response System Workflow is active, the sender will get the appropriate response (previously configured in the system). However, if that System Workflow is not active, no response will be sent!
If a team member has notifications turned on for unresolved messages, they will be notified someone texted in Gloo and that Gloo didn't know how to respond. If notifications are turned off, no one will be notified about that message.
What if you configured the word "new" as a keyword to activate a Workflow but someone texts in the sentence "I'm new here"?
Since the keyword isn't exact, the sender will not get the Workflow configured response and that text will be treated as an unresolved message.
A good way to prevent potential keyword related messages from being overlooked is to add more words as keywords options to your Workflows.