A message template is a text or email you send often, such as an appointment reminder or a quote follow-up, saved once and reused. Templates can include variables like {contact.first_name} that are replaced with the contact's details when you use the template.

This article is for everyone. Agents and supervisors create their own templates; agency admins can also share templates with the whole agency or with selected agents.

Open Message Templates

Open Contacts and select Message Templates in the page header. Back to Contacts returns to your contact list.

Message Templates button
Message Templates is in the Contacts header.

The page has two tabs, SMS and Email. Each tab lists your templates on the left and the Template Details form on the right.

Message Templates page
SMS and Email tabs, the template list, and the details form.

Create an SMS template

  1. On the SMS tab, enter a Template Name that says what it's for, for example "Appointment reminder".
  2. Write the text in SMS Body.
  3. To add a contact's details, place the cursor where they should go and click a variable under Available Variables. It's inserted at the cursor.
  4. Select Save Template.
New SMS template
The first name variable sits where the contact's name will appear.

The template appears in the list with a badge showing who can use it, and the form clears for the next one. New Template also clears the form.

Saved SMS template
Your own templates carry the Mine badge.

Create an email template

  1. Open the Email tab.
  2. Enter a Template Name, a Subject and the Email Body.
  3. Click variables to insert them in the body. You can also type a variable into the Subject, for example Your quote, {contact.first_name}.
  4. Select Save Template.
New email template
An email template adds a subject line.
FieldWhat it does
Template NameHow the template appears in the Template list when you write a message.
ScopeAgency admins only: Whole agency or Selected agents.
Visible to agentsAgency admins only, with Selected agents: who can use the template.
SMS BodyThe text of an SMS template.
SubjectThe subject line of an email template.
Email BodyThe message of an email template. Line breaks are kept.

Variables

VariableReplaced with
{contact.first_name}The contact's first name
{contact.last_name}The contact's last name
{contact.email}The contact's email address
{contact.phone}The contact's phone number

Variables are filled in from the contact you're writing to. If the contact has no value for a variable (for example no email address), the variable text stays in the message, so read the message before you send it.

Share templates with your agency

Agency admins get a Scope list on both tabs:

  • Whole agency (the default): everyone in the agency can use the template.
  • Selected agents: only the agents you pick under Visible to agents can use it. Hold Ctrl (Cmd on a Mac) to select several.
Scope - Selected agents
A follow-up text shared with two agents.
Selected agents badge
The badge shows how many agents the template is shared with.
Scope - Whole agency
A welcome email for everyone in the agency.

Templates you create for yourself are private and show Mine. Shared templates show Agency or Selected agents. Agents see shared templates in their lists and can use them; only agency admins can edit or delete them, so agents see Shared in place of the delete button.

Use a template in a message

Every message window has a Template list: Send Text Message and Send Email to Contact on a contact, New Message in Conversations, the Text button in the dialer's top bar, and the bulk text and email windows. The list shows the matching templates (SMS templates for texts, email templates for emails), each labelled with its scope, for example "Mine: Appointment reminder" or "Agency: Welcome to AgentTech Insurance".

  1. Open the message window for the contact.
  2. Pick the template in Template.
  3. Check the message. The variables are already replaced with the contact's details, so this is your preview. Change anything you like.
  4. Send the message as usual.
Template in a text
The first name is filled in from the contact.
Template in an email
Subject and message both come from the template.

From the top-bar Text button

If you type a number instead of choosing a contact, a template with contact variables shows "Select a contact to preview personalized text." Select Contacts, pick the person, and the template fills in.

Select a contact to preview
Pick a contact so the variables can be filled in.
Template filled in the top-bar Text
After picking the contact, the text is ready to review and send.

Edit or delete a template

  • Edit: select the template in the list. It loads into the form; change it and select Save Template. Messages you already sent don't change.
  • Delete: select the bin button on the template and confirm Delete this template? in the browser. It disappears from the list and from every Template list.
Edit a template
Select a template to load it into the form.
Delete a template
The bin button deletes the template after you confirm.

Common problems

  • A template isn't in the Template list: SMS templates only appear when you write a text, and email templates only when you write an email. A template shared with Selected agents only appears for those agents; ask your agency admin to add you.
  • The message stays empty after picking a template: the template uses contact variables and no contact is selected. Choose the contact first.
  • A variable still shows as {contact...}: that contact has no value for it. Fill in the contact's details in Contact Management or edit the message before sending.
  • You can't edit a shared template: only agency admins can change Agency and Selected agents templates.

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