Play

To set up the play sequence for your campaign, open your Campaign and navigate to the “Play” section. The system provides a default play that you can fill out or edit. At the top of the section, you will see images that represent the various steps in the play sequence. At the end of the sequence, there is a “+” button to add more steps to a sequence.

In the lower part of each play action, an activity is laid out. The first step in each Play sequence is either a phone call or a text message. Each of the following steps are optional for you to edit or delete, and you can also add additional steps. You also determine how much time should pass between each step. A few special notes:

• The first step in every play sequence is required to be a phone call or a text message.

• If you add “Mailing List” as a step in the sequence, be aware that “Mailing List” requires staff time to execute. Be thoughtful of how much time staff is needed to pull the mailing list, send the direct mail, and for the mail to be received by the prospect.

• If you add “Mailing List” as a step, also ensure that you choose which mailing list the prospects should be added to for that step in the sequence.

• If you add “Email” or "Text Message" as a step, ensure that you choose an email or texting template that makes sense for that step in the sequence.

If you choose to start your campaign with a text first play, here are some tips on how to set up your play for success.

Batch size

When you select to start the campaign with a text first play, you enter how many text messages should be sent per batch.

• To determine batch size, consider agents’ capacity both to reply to text message responses and to make the initial calls following the first text.

  For example, if the first shift has 4 agents working for 4 hours averaging 30 calls per hour, you would want a batch size of about 640 texts, so that agents have enough prospects to call on that shift.

• As a general guideline, consider sending 30 texts per agent calling hour in the first calling shift.

  Note: A maximum of 2,000 text messages can be sent per batch.

  To help determine batch size, you can find more information on your institution’s text reply rate and average calls per hour at Analytics, Overview, Texting Activity Summary and Agent Performance Comparison viewports.

• Next, consider the percentage of your prospects who have mobile phone numbers on record when determining batch size. Any prospect who does not have a mobile phone number or has a “Do Not Text” restriction will skip the texting portion of the play and move directly to the next play step.

• To ensure agents have enough prospects available to call, consider overestimating the number who will be called.

Time between text first play and first phone call

Several factors go into the timing of the first call after the first text, including:

• number of callers,

• calls per hour, and

• prospects ready for additional call attempts.

We recommend the initial text message should not specify the exact time when the call will occur. Provide a vague window of time to provide the flexibility necessary for your agents to reach all of the prospects queued up with the text first play.

Instead of “We’ll try calling tomorrow…”, consider, “Look for a call in the next few days…”,

Text first play message recommendation

Consider including the phonathon Caller ID number in the initial text message so donors know to pick up the phone when you call.

For example:
“Look for a call from 123-456-7890 in the next few days. We look forward to chatting!”

Prospect assignment to agent

With a phone call as the play first step, agents are assigned to prospects based on the first phone call. With text messages as the first play step, prospects are not assigned when the text message batch is sent. Instead, they are assigned when an agent first interacts with them. If an agent replies to a text message or makes the phone call as part of the play's second step, they are then assigned to the prospect.

Sending text message batches

When you are ready to start the text first play, navigate to the Text First Play tab and send the first batch. For more information, see the Text first play help.

Once a prospect enters a play sequence with an agent, the prospect stays with the same agent throughout the rest of the play. So, in the example play sequence, when an agent calls a prospect at step 1, the email that sends automatically two minutes later will be from the same agent. The same agent will then also place the follow up call two days later.

There are a few cases that will stop a prospect from moving any further in the Play:

• Completed Phone Result: When an agent records a phone call result that is mapped to Complete, the prospect will be marked as Complete for the campaign and will stop progressing through the Play.

• Qualifying Donation: After a prospect makes a qualifying donation, even if the donation came from outside of Guided Fundraising, the prospect will stop being contact for a certain duration of time depending on the setting "How long do you want to wait after a prospect's last qualifying donation?" If the prospect donated through phone or text message in Guided Fundraising, they are marked as Complete and will not progress any further in the campaign.

• Change in Status/other data: If the prospect's status changes, and they are no longer active. Or, if contact restrictions are added that would prevent the prospect from receiving any further outreach, the prospect will stop progressing through the Play.

For plays with text messages, please review the following policies:

• Twilio Acceptable Use Policy

• Twilio Messaging Policy

In addition, you have to include your institution name in each text message. When you add a text message play, only texting templates that include your institution name appear as template options. To add institution names, navigate to Admin, Phone Settings. One of the names you set up has to be used when you set up each texting template under Messages.