One-to-one messaging is a core feature of TextUs. Messaging individual contacts allows you to send targeted, personalized texts to drive better engagement and business outcomes. Within the platform, there are many different ways to send messages — from your general inbox, from a contact record, from a conversation — so many that when you’re new to TextUs, it can be overwhelming to figure out where to begin.
In this short guide, we’ll walk you through one easy way of sending a message from your inbox. Once you’ve completed all the steps outlined here, you’ll be more comfortable navigating your Inbox and ready to continue exploring all of the possibilities that it holds!
Step 1: Start a new message
First, navigate to your Inbox by clicking Inbox on your top navigation bar. Your inbox allows quick and easy access to all of your Conversations (1:1 messaging threads). The main folder in your inbox is your Open folder, which holds all your active conversations. To learn more about opening and closing conversations as well as other Inbox actions, see Manage your inbox.
Since we’re just getting started, we don’t have any open conversations yet. To begin your message, click the Compose button on the top left of your Inbox page.
Step 2: Search for a contact
After clicking Compose, a window will pop up with a space to write your message. First, you’ll need to choose your recipient by filling out the To field. Within this field, you can search for an existing contact or create a new one. Since the purpose of this follow-along guide is to test this feature for the first time, we recommend selecting your own contact or a contact whose phone you can receive text messages on so you can watch your message be delivered on the customer end.
Step 3: Compose your message
Next, we’ll write our message. Since we’re sending this message primarily as a test, we’ll keep it simple. For future messages, you can learn more about the different types of customizations such as attachments, emojis, and signatures from our Create a new conversation article.
Step 4: Send your message
Once you’re happy with your message, just hit the Send button with the arrow icon on the bottom right of the window to send your message. A small Message Sent confirmation will appear at the bottom of the screen and you’ll be directed back to your Inbox. The message you just sent will now appear within your Open folder as a conversation.
Step 5: View your conversation
At any point, you can click on the conversation from your inbox in order to view your sent message, read any replies, or send another message to the same contact. You can also view the exact time and date you sent your original message, and any changes in the conversation state or the user assigned to it.
Congratulations, you’ve now sent your first TextUs message! We hope this step-by-step guide was helpful in showing you one quick and easy way to compose messages from your inbox. For more in-depth information on messaging, conversations, and your inbox, see our Inbox & Conversations articles and don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions here.