Turn on After-Hours Reply and your BrokerPlus line texts back automatically whenever a client messages you outside your business hours, so a message at 9pm doesn't sit there unanswered overnight.
When You'd Use This
You're not glued to your phone after hours, but you still want a client to know their text landed and roughly when to expect a real reply. This covers turning that on, what the client actually gets, and how to write your own version of it.
Turning It On
- Open Phone > Settings > Texting.
- Under the After-Hours Reply card, switch on Reply Automatically After Hours.
The switch takes effect immediately. There's nothing else required to start sending replies.
What the Client Receives
By default, a client texting your line outside your hours gets: "Thanks for your message. Our office is closed right now, so I'll get back to you next business day." It says nothing about your actual hours, so the wording stays accurate even after you change them.
Editing the Message
Once the switch is on, a text box appears where you can write your own reply, up to 300 characters. Leave it blank and the default reply above goes out instead. Type something and a Save button appears; select it to store your version.
Keep it short
300 characters is roughly two text segments. A client reads this on their phone, so a short, clear line beats a long one.
How It Reads Your Business Hours
The card shows a line summarizing your current hours, for example "You're open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, Eastern Time," pulled straight from your business hours setting. If you haven't set any hours yet, it tells you every text gets this reply since nothing counts as open. The reply itself doesn't restate your hours to the client; it only uses them to decide when to send.
Common Gotchas
- After-hours reply is separate from your business hours setting. Turning this on doesn't change your hours, and changing your hours doesn't turn this on. Update your hours under Call Handling first if the summary here looks wrong.
- Leaving the message box blank isn't the same as writing nothing; the default reply still sends.
- A STOP reply from a client blocks any further texts, including this automatic one, until they text START again.
What to Do Next
- Set Up Call Routing and Voicemail to confirm your business hours are set correctly.
- Texts Your Assistant Writes to see how automated texting works elsewhere on your line.
- When a Client Opts Out of Texts to understand how a STOP reply affects this and other texts.