Channels
The Channels tab decides which kinds of incoming messages the receptionist answers. Each channel has its own On/Off switch, and turning a channel on reveals the settings for it. Phone calls is on to begin with; texts and email are off until you switch them on. With the receptionist switched on but every channel off, you will see a reminder that it is not answering anything yet.
Text messages (SMS)
Section titled “Text messages (SMS)”Answers texts sent to your Apptoto number. Two checkboxes decide which text conversations are the receptionist’s.
Assign new conversations to the receptionist
Section titled “Assign new conversations to the receptionist”A text on a thread with no appointment behind it: someone new texting in, a past client coming back, or a conversation you started from the inbox.
A text that arrives more than 30 days after the last message on a thread also starts a new conversation, even if that thread began with a reminder. Someone texting a month after their appointment is not answering the reminder.
Assign replies to your auto messages to the receptionist
Section titled “Assign replies to your auto messages to the receptionist”An answer to an appointment reminder, confirmation, or other auto message, whether the schedule sent it or you clicked Send Now.
Replies to messages you composed yourself still come to you. A message written from the inbox or from an appointment, with or without a template, is yours to answer, and the receptionist stays out of it.
Answers email replies from existing clients only, in threads started by messages sent from Apptoto. It does not answer email from someone who has never been messaged from your account.
Email replies stay in their original email thread, even after a long pause, so a client answering an old message does not start a second conversation.
Assign replies to automatic emails to the receptionist
Section titled “Assign replies to automatic emails to the receptionist”Reminders, confirmations, and other automatic messages, whether the schedule sent them or you clicked Send Now.
Assign replies to emails you compose to the receptionist
Section titled “Assign replies to emails you compose to the receptionist”Messages you compose from the inbox or an appointment, including messages composed using a template. This is off unless you turn it on, because a reply to something you wrote is usually yours to read.
Phone calls
Section titled “Phone calls”Answers calls to your Apptoto number, either right away or after your own phone has rung first. Callers can book, reschedule, and ask questions, and you are notified about anything it cannot finish. If anything goes wrong, the call forwards exactly as it does today.
Everything about how a call sounds and what happens on it lives on the Phone tab: the voice, the greeting, your office number, ringing your own phone first, and what happens when the receptionist cannot help a caller.
For the receptionist to answer calls, your clients have to reach your Apptoto number. Either give them that number directly, or forward your existing business line to it.
What calls cost
Section titled “What calls cost”Minutes the receptionist is on the line use 2 message credits per started minute. If it transfers a caller to you, the minutes after the transfer are billed at the usual call rate of one credit per started two minutes.
A call somebody at your office answers because your phone rang first uses no receptionist minutes - it never picked up - but the call itself is billed at that same usual call rate, like any forwarded call.
Notifications while the receptionist is answering
Section titled “Notifications while the receptionist is answering”Conversations the receptionist handles are handled quietly. It answers without interrupting you, marks the conversation read, and only notifies you when it flags something for follow-up or cannot answer at all. If you currently get an email or text every time a client replies, you will see a note on the tab confirming this once a channel is on.
Everything it handles is still recorded. You can read any conversation in full on the Activity tab or in your Inbox.