Sending Text Messages

Easily send personalized SMS Text messages to tenants, owners, and vendors from every Rentec Pro and PM account of Rentec Direct with an activated text messaging.

Learn more about activating your text messaging feature at Setup Text Messaging

This article reviews:

• How to Send a Text Message
• Response Alerts (How you are notified of a response)
• Viewing and responding to Replies
• FAQs

Pro Tip: Use the Push Notification with Rentec Direct Mobile App to receive notice of text replies and maintenance requests directly to your mobile device.

How to Send a Text Message

The following steps walk through how to create a text message.

In your Rentec Direct account: 

1. Access the list of contacts
   1. Click on Tenants or Owners
   2. To send a message to a vendor
      1. Click on Settings
      2. Under Financial click on Vendors & Payees
2. Right-click on the individual
3. Click on Messaging
4. Click on the chat bubbles to create a text message. If you haven't activated text messaging for your account, a pop-up will help you get started. Enter your area code and Submit an Order to start using your texting within 24 business hours
5. Templates can be helpful with messages that are commonly used and for messages sent to customize group messages.
   1. Use the dropdown to select an existing Text Template
   2. Click on +Add New to create and use a New Template
   3. Leave the default of No Template to compose your own message
6. The To field will auto-populate the mobile number from the individual's profile
7. To send to a group
   1. Click on Send to a Group
   2. Click in the To field to select one or more groups
   3. Click on whichever group/groups are to receive the message
8. Click on Send Message

Learn more about Creating Email and Text Messaging Templates

Response Alerts

Rentec Direct offers convenient solutions for storing all communications with tenants, vendors, and owners. When someone responds to a text sent from your Rentec Direct account, you will receive a notification, and the response will be saved in your Rentec Direct account. 

There are two notifications you may receive:

1. When someone replies to a text that you've sent, the message notification icon at the top of every page in the software will indicate that there's an unread message. 
   
   

   

2. Receive an alert on your mobile device when using the Rentec Direct Mobile App and have set notifications to push.

Viewing and Responding to Replies

Reply to texts received directly from the message. 

There are two ways to view messages that have been received:

1) In your Rentec Direct account: 

1. Click on the message notification icon (text bubble) at the top of the page
2. Click on View all messages
3. Click on the message 
4. Click on the Reply arrow

2) In your Rentec Direct account

1. Click on either:
   1. Tenants
   2. Owners
   3. Settings
      1. Under Financial, click on Vendors & Payees
2. Right-click on an individual line and select Messaging from the menu options
3. Click on the Message
4. Click on the Reply arrow

Frequently Asked Questions

Q) How many characters can a text be?

A) SMS text messages allow for up to 1071 characters. When sending SMS messages to a group, the editor displays a character counter at the bottom to help you keep your message within the limit.

Q) Can tenants call the designated "Text" phone number

A) If a tenant attempts to call the "Text" phone number indicated, they will reach a message stating, "You have reached an unanswered extension...., we do not accept voice calls at this number. Please contact us at... your company number...(located at Settings>Your Contact Info)

Q) Can tenants text photos or images?

A) Yes, responses you receive to text messages can include videos and images (outgoing texts are limited to text only)

Note: When using data fields in a message, the actual data (such as a tenant's last name) may be longer than the placeholder %last_name%, so plan your message length accordingly.