Download the app (iOS or Android) or open the web browser client.
Use your Facebook account to sign in. You can then import and link to your business's Facebook page or join an existing business.
Or you can manually create a new business or join an existing business.
For help setting up a dedicated SMS number, please contact us.
Have your managerial staff sign up on the Texthood for a personal account so you can add them as authorized users.
Create a shared account for your front desk or host station terminal (smartphone, tablet, or browser).
Invite each new user to your business so they can see and reply to your business's messages.
For help on setting up team, check out our Getting Started F.A.Q.
Let your customers know they can now text your business! Use our built-in promotional tools and snippets.
Add your new number to your printed menus, brochures, and business cards.
Share it on Facebook, add it to your Google local listing, and add it to your email newsletter and website.
For more help, check out our F.A.Q.
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!
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
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
There are two general ways you can link up your team to your business's Texthood account:
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
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!
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
Due to Facebook's privacy policies, it is not currently possible to initiate a conversation with a customer over Facebook.
On the main
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
To access the automatic replies settings, go to your business's
page (go to
To set up automatic password-protected reply settings, go to
your business's page (go to
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
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 |