Hearsay Messages FAQ’s Access: Q: Can I get access for text messaging? A: Visit Blueprint within the Marketing Storefront portal or ask your Regional Marketing consultant to sign-up for compliant texting today. Q: I’m not a Hearsay Social user. Can I still use Hearsay Messages? A: Yes. Visit the Blueprint within the Marketing Storefront portal to learn how to sign-up today. Q: Can my Marketing Assistant obtain access to the Hearsay Messages app? A: It depends. If they’re able to access the Hearsay Social platform we can give them shared access to your Hearsay messages account. Q: I’ve signed up. How do I get started? A: The Hearsay team will be sending you an email when your messages account is ready. In the meantime, take a moment to review the Hearsay Messages Playbook and Hearsay Messages Activation Guide to learn what is coming next. Q: How can I access Hearsay Messages? A: Hearsay Messages can be accessed from the app on your Apple or Android device. Additionally, there is a desktop version that can be accessed from Agency Gateway. Q: How do I login to Hearsay Messages on my desktop? A: Go to the Agency Gateway homepage ((https://agencygateway.allstate.com/). Click ‘Edit’ in the top left corner of the page. Add the Hearsay Social quick link and click save. Getting Started: Q: Why do I need a new number for texting? A: In order to protect your personal texting conversations from regulatory scrutiny, we connect your office number so you can keep business texting separate from personal texting. Q: When will I know texting has been activated on my landline? A: You will receive a notification on your Hearsay Messages account. Be sure to enable notifications in order receive this notification. Q: How do I know when my number has been successfully ported from another carrier? A: If the number has been ported from Zipwhip you will receive a confirmation email from the Hearsay team detailing next steps. Otherwise, check in with your carrier to learn more about the current status. Q: Will the Hearsay Messages app work with Android devices? A: Yes. Hearsay Messages is compatible with both Android and Apple devices. Q: How do I invite my team to help manage my team? A: Login to your Hearsay Messages account. Select your name in the top right hand corner. Click user settings and then select workspace settings. From the workspace settings page, input the email address and select ‘Invite’.
Q: Where can I download the mobile app? A: Visit the Apple App store or the Android app store and type in Hearsay. Select the ‘Hearsay Messages’ app to initiate the download. Q: Does the mobile app have the same functionality as the desktop version? A: On sending/receiving text messages, the web and mobile apps have the same features. Contact integration works differently since there is no ‘device’ to integrate with on the web. We recommend downloading both so you are able to text on the go or at your desk. Q: In general, can you tell me a bit more about the function of the workspace? A: Each agency is represented as a workspace. Each workspace has 1 phone number with the remaining assistants that have been provided access sharing the workspace Q: What is the difference between my current texting and Hearsay messages? A: Hearsay protects your agency from two different types of regulations. The first is FINRA regulations that require any licensed producer that all electronic activity is monitored and archived. The second, is TCPA regulations that give consumers the ability to opt-in and out of texting communication. Don’t worry though, Hearsay has built-in features that help protect Allstate and your agency. In addition, Hearsay has a number of productivity tools (scheduling, mobile app, calendar integration) built into our platform that help your agency be more productive as well. Business Contact Consent: Q: How do I get consent to text a contact? A: The request for consent to text is sent via the Hearsay Messages app. Open the Hearsay Message app and initiate a new message after reviewing the Terms & Conditions with contacts. Tap the “Ask Now’ button to send a text to your contact. After your contact provides their consent, they are automatically placed on the opt-in for texting list. If your contact declines, or does not respond to the consent request, the business contact will appear on the opt-out for texting list. Q: How will I know if a business contact opts-in or opts-out of receiving text messages from me? A: You will see a “Lock” icon next to each contact that has not opted-in to receive text messages from you. You will also not be able to type anything into the window if the contact is locked. Q: Can I resend the consent request if a contact doesn’t respond? A: No. The conversation will be locked until consent is provided. Q: How does a business contact opt out of receiving text messages after they’ve previously opted-in? A: The contact can text back the keyword “Stop” at any time, and all text messages to that contact going forward will be blocked. Q: If a business contact opts out of receiving text messages, how soon are text messages blocked? A: The contact will immediately be put on a DO NOT TEXT list if they text the keyword "Stop". Which blocks the ability to send that number messages. Q: How do I unlock a conversation? A: Before communicating with customers, consumers must accept the term and conditions. If you have already sent the terms, you must wait until they consent. Q: if a consumer selects ‘Get info’ what do they see? A: They are presented with the link and terms and conditions for communicating.
Q: What does, lock / pending, and unlocked mean? A: The lock icon indicates that the contact has opted out. Pending means that the request has been sent out, but the consumer has not yet taken action. If a conversation is opened, it is an indication that terms have been accepted and it is admissible to have a conversation.
Q: What if I receive inbound text from client that I have not received consent from? A: The conversation will remain locked until you send the attestation language and receive consent. Content: Q: What type of text messages can I send to my business contacts? A: Participants can send text messages to clients for business purpose. For example, schedule or confirm appointments, send reminders, follow up with business contacts, reach out for life events or other type of general administrative correspondence for business purposes. Participants are prohibited from sending text messages that sell, solicit, negotiate or make recommendations to sell or purchase products or services. Q: Can I send or receive a text message that contains attachments or pictures? A: No. Text messages with attachments or are not permitted and will be blocked. We are looking at this as a potential enhancement in the future. Q: Can text messages be sent to more than one individual? A: No. Sending text messages to more than one individual in one send will be blocked. Q: Can I schedule texts? A: Yes. It is possible to schedule texts from your mobile device and the desktop site. Contacts Q: What is group messaging capability? A: There is not group texting. This is largely due to TCPA regulations Q: Can I mass upload data into the platform or do must I add each contact individually? A: All of the messaging capabilities are predicated on user actions. Bulk uploads and broadcasting are similarly prohibited. Q: Is it possible to import data from eAgent into the platform? A: This is currently being reviewed. More to come in 2017! Q: Is it possible to upload contacts to Hearsay with a .csv file? A: Yes. Send a CSV file with all the following fields to
[email protected] to upload contacts to your unique workspace: Salutation, First Name, Last Name, Title, Mobile, Email, Workspace Identifier, and Contact ID. Compliance: Q: Why do I need to get approval from my customer to text them? A: Due to anti-spam regulation, you must obtain consent once from your contact to open up the texting channel. Once the person has confirmed consent, you can text them as normal.
Q: Are Hearsay Messages text monitored by Allstate? A: Yes. Similar to social, Hearsay Systems will monitor text based on a pre-defined lexicon. Q: What happens if my text message contains a prohibited word within the lexicon? A: If a text message contains a word in the lexicon, an alert will be sent to compliance for review. The entire text conversation is captured in the alert. Q: What if a business contact sends a text message to me that contains a prohibited word within the lexicon? A: You will receive that text from that contact; however compliance will receive an alert on that incoming text message for review. Q: What should I do if I receive an inappropriate text message (e.g., product specific or sales related)? A: Call your contact and take the appropriate action based on the content. Ensure that you are complying with Standard Operating Procedures for outgoing and internal electronic communications requirements. General Use/ Miscellaneous: Q: What happens if I text a landline in error? A: If you try to send a text message to a number that does not allow text messages, the message will come back as "Not Delivered”. Q: Does texting on Hearsay Messages count against my text messaging/data plan? A: Yes, Hearsay utilizes your data plan to send and receive messages as a result your carrier’s standard text messaging rates will apply. Q: Why do I have to give Hearsay Systems permission to have access to my contacts? A: Hearsay Systems wants to make it as easy as possible for you to text clients whose contact information you already have. By providing access to your contacts, you’ll be able to easily text people without manually inputting numbers. Hearsay only integrates with your phone and existing contacts on this specific device, you will notice that in the desktop version none of your phone contacts are imported. From a design standpoint, this is on purpose because we know it’s important to separate your personal contacts and business contacts. Q: Do the Text Reminders go to just my contact or to me as well? A: Text Reminders are only sent to your contact. If you want to receive a calendar notification about an upcoming event, add the event to your calendar and set up calendar notifications. Q: When will I receive my refund for the three months of service that I paid for during Blueprint Annual Enrollment in which the Hearsay Messages texting platform was not available for my agency to use? A: You received a refund of $74.25 per phone number (three months at $24.75 per month) you enrolled in and paid for during Blueprint annual enrollment. The refund was applied to your Executive Advantage Plus card on January 31st.
