Currently we support SMS and Facebook messaging, and we plan to add more soon!

Yes! We think it's outrageous that other apps charge you up to 30% fees for each order or sale. When you use the Texthood, you fulfill the orders as you would phone orders, and you pay us nothing beyond your plan subscription.

With existing SMS services, you need to sign up for a separate number tied to a specific phone. With the Texthood, one SMS number is accessible by all of your authorized staff so whoever is available can respond. Plus, the app has advanced business-oriented features like private team messaging, automatic replies, and more.

The Texthood is also a better interface to manage your business's Facebook messaging. In addition to the same team-oriented features already mentioned, it's a great way to separate your personal Facebook usage from your business usage.

The Texthood helps you engage, keep, and better serve your existing customers and customers that you reach through your own marketing. Give them your Texthood-powered SMS number and encourage them to order by SMS directly from you.

You may still want to still participate in other ordering apps if they're bringing you new customers that you're not reaching through your own marketing. But there's no reason to pay them high fees just so your existing customers can place an order on mobile!

Not at all! Your customers just use apps they already have like SMS and Facebook. For SMS they can text you at the dedicated SMS-enabled number we'll set up for you, and for Facebook they can text you through your Facebook page or through Facebook messenger links

At this time we'll need to assign you a new number in order to enable you to receive SMS. Having a new number and publicizing it makes a bigger impression on your customers and so they'll be more aware of their new option of texting instead of calling you.

The most important thing is promote, promote, promote! Your customers will only know that it's possible to text you at your business's new SMS number if you tell them! So promote over your email newsletter, on your website, on social media, and add the number to your menus, ads, and business cards!

To reach customer support, start a conversation with "The Texthood" from inside the Texthood app or browser client and please tell us the name of your business and a brief description of your issue. Customers with paid subscriptions receive priority.

You can sign up either online or in the app. Click on one of the links below to get started!

Nope you can use the Texthood on your existing smartphone, tablet, or web browser! Install it on your personal device for personal accounts, or on your shared devices (e.g. your tablet or PC POS system) for shared accounts.

For your POS, if you use a tablet you can install our Android or iOS app, or if you use a PC you can use our web browser client.

Nope, you can create a new account using the Create an account link at the bottom of the login page.

However, we do recommend logging in with Facebook because it's easy and it'll let you link the Facebook pages of any businesses you manage.

When you're first signing up, you'll be prompted to link to your business's Facebook page or to manually create a business.

You can also create a business by opening the side menu and selecting My Businesses then Create a new business.

There are two general ways you can link up your team to your business's Texthood account:

• Personal accounts: a user with a personal account will access the Texthood using their own device (smartphone, tablet, etc.) and you need to authorize each personal account individually. They should create a personal user account in the Texthood app and then you'll authorize each user individually as an owner, manager, or associate.
• Shared accounts: some users will access the Texthood using a shared device, e.g. a receptionist or host/hostess using a smartphone, tablet or computer at the front desk or the checkout counter. Here, you should create a new account with a generic user name (e.g. "Gina's restaurant - front desk"), authorize the shared account as an associate of your business, and then log in as the shared account on the shared device (and leave it always logged in) so that anyone who uses the shared device can respond to messages.

Of course, you'll likely want a mix of personal and shared accounts. For example you can have personal accounts for the managers and marketing / PR staff, and a shared account for the front desk / reception.

(Note that there's no difference in how you create or log into a personal and a shared account. The difference is how you use them: a personal account is private to a single person, while a shared account is intended to be used on a shared device.)

Inside the app or web client, when you navigate to your business (go to the side menu, open My business and select your business), there will be a checklist of things you should do next. Follow the checklist!

The most important thing is promote, promote, promote! Your customers will only know that it's possible to text you at your business's new SMS number if you tell them! So promote over your email newsletter, on your website, on social media, and add the number to your ads and business cards!

In your business's page (open the side menu item My businesses and tap your business), go to Invite user to join business, select the role you want to grant the new authorized user, and do one of the following:

1. Generate a scannable code: this will create a scannable code that the invited user can scan using the Texthood app. (Your invited user will need to install the Android or iOS to scan this code.) To access the scanner, the invited user should open the Texthood app, go to My businesses, tap on Join an existing business, and tap on Scan an authorization code.
2. Send an email: at the bottom of the invite screen, enter the email address of the user you want to authorized and tap Send invitation. They'll get an email with a link to authorize them (and also sign up for an account if they haven't already).
3. Send an internal invite: at the bottom of the invite screen, enter the name or username of the Texthood user you want to authorize and tap Send invitation. (They'll need to have already created an account on the Texthood.) The invited user will see the invitation appear in their Alerts page (accessible in the side menu) and can tap on the thumbs up icon to accept the invitation.

To remove an authorized user or revoke an invitation, go to your business's page and tap on Manage users and invitations. Swipe left on the user or invitation you want to remove / revoke, and tap on the remove / revoke button. (If no button appears, that means you are not authorized to perform that action.)

Owners and managers of a business are allowed to add/remove authorized users, update information about the business such as phone number or email, manage subscription and billing, and more.

Owners and managers have the same privileges with the exception that managers cannot add or remove owners. Only owners can add/remove other owners. The user that first creates a business is an owner, and each business must have at least one owner.

Associates are only allowed to view and reply to messages on behalf of a business. They are not allowed to edit any settings or add/remove authorized users.

If your business has an active SMS-enabled phone number, you can send an SMS to a customer's phone using the Texthood. On the main Conversations page, click the compose icon on the upper nav bar and enter the customer's phone number in the address field. Type the message you want to send in the message input bar at the bottom of the screen. You may be asked to acknowledge the you will comply with relevant anti-spam regulations.

Due to Facebook's privacy policies, it is not currently possible to initiate a conversation with a customer over Facebook.

On the main Conversations page, click the compose icon in the upper nav bar and select the team members you wish to add to the conversation from the list of available user, or type the names of the users you wish to add. Type the first message you want to send in the message input bar at the bottom of the screen and hit the send button.

Private messaging allows you and your team to communicate privately in a conversation started by a customer. This allows you to discuss how to best serve your customer without the customer overhearing the discussion.

To turn on private mode in a conversation, tap the eye icon above the message input bar at the bottom of the screen. (This icon will only be available in conversations that include a customer.)

You can tell that private mode is on because the background of the conversation changes appearance and there will be a label that states that private mode is on.

While private mode is on, all messages that you type will only appear to other authorized staff of your business in that conversation. (To view private messages, the other staff must also turn on private mode.)

To turn off private mode, tap the eye icon again.

You can tell if there are private messages available in a conversation by looking at the eye icon. If the icon has a red dot this means there new private messages available. If the icon has a yellow dot this means there are private messages but you've already viewed them. No dot means there have been no private messages in that conversation so far.

Prepared replies are snippets that answer simple questions your customers ask a lot. The app comes pre-loaded with many common replies such as "Yes we're open", "No we're closed", "There's a 15 minute wait", and so on. And of course, you can create your own.

To use a prepared reply: in a conversation, tap the blue paper icon to the left of the message input, and select the desired prepared response. It will be inserted into the message input; to send, tap the send button.

To customize your prepared replies: in a conversation when you open the prepared response popup, there is an Edit button that will allow you to edit the prepared responses. Alternatively, you can go to Settings in the side menu and go to Manage prepared replies.

To access the automatic replies settings, go to your business's page (go to My Business in the side menu then tap on your business's name), scroll to the bottom, and tap on Autoreply Settings. There are three types of automated responses:

1. Welcome message: this is sent immediately when you receive a new message from a customer. We recommend something simple and warm, and use it to set the tone of the conversation.
2. Busy message: this is sent if no one responds to the customer within a certain amount of time. You can set how long to wait before sending this message. Use this to make sure your customer doesn't feel ignored, but try your best to answer your customers quickly.
3. Closed message: you can use this to send an immediate response to your customer if they message you outside of business hours. If you link your Facebook page, the app will automatically load your hours from your Facebook page settings, otherwise you can manually set the hours. You also have the option of inserting your business's hours into the body of the message.

To set up automatic password-protected reply settings, go to your business's page (go to My Business in the side menu then tap on your business's name), scroll to the bottom, and tap on Password-protected reply.

Enter the password you want to use and the reply that you want to send when a customer texts you the password. (If a customer texts you the wrong password, they won't get any reply.) Turn the toggle button to "On" to activate the password-protected reply.

You can silence all notifications for this business if you don't intend to manually view or reply to customer messages. Simply turn on the "Silence notifcations" setting.

Note that when a password-protected reply is active, all other automatic replies will be deactivated.

Additional SMS packages are billed at the end of each month. Both inbound and outbound SMS count towards your SMS usage.

Each package is indivisible and there is no carryover of unused SMS. For example, if you are on the Basic plan and use 328 messages in a month, you will be billed an additional $5 for one additional SMS package for that month (in addition to your base subscription fee).

Open My Businesses from the side menu and select your business. Then tap on the your number. Your SMS page will be displayed in the page about your number and subscription.

If you'd like to cancel your subscription, please contact us inside the Texthood app (our account name is "The Texthood") or using one of the contact methods below. Please include the email address associated with your business in the Texthood.

Email:	info@thetexthood.com
Text:	(617) 553-6048