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Scripts

A script is a file that combines the text, recorded audio and business rules, or set of instructions, that directs the recipient consumer through particular pathways during the SMS, voice, web or email message, based on responses made by the recipient during the exchange.

Scripts can be very simple, such as an Alert that delivers a one-way message with little or no interaction by the recipient. Scripts can also be highly complex, consisting of multiple features that allow the recipient to interact with the script.

Information collected during the exchange can be stored and viewed later in reports.

Script versus Template

On the Scripts tab, you can click Show Templates to view a list of all templates on the account or on the enterprise. These templates appear in the same list as the account or enterprise scripts and are marked with a T to the left of the template name.

A template is simply the shell containing empty or default prompts or fields. When you open the template and replace those empty fields with content or configured prompts, you generate a script from that template. In the end, you have both a template, with the empty fields or prompts, and a script, which you'll use to communicate with your customers. See below to learn how to create a script from a template.

View and Monitor Scripts

To view and monitor your scripts: Click the Scripts tab and the Scripts tabbed page appears with the Show All page active. Select Show: Account Scripts to view a list of the available scripts in the active Account, or select Show: Enterprise Scripts to view a list of the available enterprise scripts.

The Scripts table displays the following information for each script:

  • Script name - You can click the name to edit the script.
  • Actions menu - From the Actions menu, you can test or download a script.
  • Duration - The number of seconds represents the total length of all audio files included in the script - in other words the length of the call if the recipient listens to the entire message.
  • Last Modified, Last Modified By and Last Used - These columns indicate when the script was last edited and by whom, or last used.
  • Expiration - Identifies when the script will expire and no longer available.

To delete a script, select the box on the script title line and click Delete.

Edit a Script

To edit a script:

  1. Click the Scripts tab and the Scripts tabbed page appears with the Show All page active.
  2. Select Show: Account Scripts to view a list of the available scripts in the active Account.
  3. Click the script name link from the list, or select Edit.. The Edit Script page appears.
  4. Enter a new name in the Name field.
  5. Enter a description in the Description field.
  6. Identify when the script will be deleted by selecting from the Automatically Delete Script duration options.
  7. To review each prompt in the script, click the Prompts tab. You can either play or download the sound files used as a part of the script to speak the messages heard by the call recipients.
  8. To review the individual states that make up a script and the rules that govern the transitions between states, select the States tab. You can play each state.
  9. To review the variables, resources or response groups, assuming the script includes the functionality, click the appropriate tab.
  10. Click the Advanced Edit tab to edit the XML file or the JavaScript Edit tab to edit the JavaScript file.

Create a Script

Before you can initiate a campaign, or a complete series of messages to a contact list, you must have a script.

It is possible for you to write your own script, but you may want Customer Support to create the script for you. The Customer Support team specializes in writing professional and effective messages and can work with you to design a script tailored to your specific goals.

The final step is to record the text or audio prompts defined in the script. For many types of scripts, it is possible to record and create your own audio prompts, without assistance, via the phone or internet. You may want to use a professional voice talent to record the prompts, and if so you can hire your own voice talent for the job or work with voice talent provided through Customer Support.

To create a script from a template:

  1. On the Scripts tab, select Account Scripts or Enterprise Scripts and then click Show Templates.
  2. Locate the template and to the right of the template name, click the dropdown menu and select New Instance.
  3. Replace all empty prompts or fields with your own prompts or content.
  4. Save or import the newly configured script. You'll see the new script, along with the template it was created from, in the list of available scripts.

Create a Script Over the Phone

You can create, or record, many types of scripts over the phone. For example, to create an Alert script with a repeat option, which is a simple message followed by an opportunity for the recipient to listen to the message again, you can record your own message body, and the final repeat menu will be provided automatically ("To hear this message again, press 2. To end this call, hang up.")

Important
To access this feature, you must access an account that was set up using a phone number as the User ID and a 9 digit password. This feature cannot be used in a secure enterprise.

To create a script over the phone:

  1. Dial the toll free number provided at the time your account was set up. The toll free numbers are associated with the url used to sign in, as follows:
    • service2 - +1 888 288 9653
    • service3 - +1 866 502 3598 (International: +44 84 4555 1224)
    • service4 - +1 877 506 8165
    • service5 - +1 877 558 3516 (International: +1 781 270 5680)
    • service7 - +1 866 465 5788
  2. Sign in to your account.
  3. Choose the type of script you want to create. Note that of the seven script types, only five types (with phone menu choices 1 through 5) can be created over the phone. For example, press 1 to create an Alert with a repeat option. See Script types.
  4. Follow the instructions to record your script. Press the pound key (#) after speaking each audio prompt.
  5. After you press the pound key (#), you will be told the length of the prompt in seconds.

You can save, review, or re-record your message. If you review the message, everything you recorded will be played back.

  1. When finished, choose Save.
  2. When prompted, enter a numeric script name on your telephone keypad followed by the pound key (#). This saves the new script (as a JAR Java file) in your account, using the numeric name you entered. All of the audio prompts are saved as individual WAV files.
  3. Say Test Call and enter a single phone number to which the script will be sent, or say Send Group and choose an existing contact list to which the script will be sent. The Send Group option uses the following default campaign parameters:
    • Campaign name - The default campaign name in your account.
    • Sub-campaign name - The name of the script being sent.
    • Filtered phone numbers - Duplicate, No Time Zone, and International numbers will be removed. Account and Campaign suppressions and system blocks will also be removed. Wireless, Do Not Contact, Contains Extension, Ends with 00, and Ends with 000 will not be removed.
    • Caller ID number - Same as account number.
    • Begin calling date/time - Immediately (or as soon as the allowed start time for your account has been reached).
    • End calling time - End time for your account.
    • Call center options (applies to Direct Connect scripts only) - Assumes the contact center is always open and operators are available. Does not adjust calling rate to account for a specific number of operators.
    • Deliver to answering machines - Yes (will not hang up on answering machines).
    • Retry calls - None (no retries, or additional call attempts, to the same number).
    • (If these default settings are not appropriate for your campaign, use your web browser instead to set up your campaign. See Create a script over the internet.)
  4. End the call or follow the phone instructions to create additional scripts. Once you create a script, it appears in the Scripts list on the Scripts tabbed page.

Create a Script Over the Internet

To create a script over the internet using Internet Explorer or Firefox:

  1. Sign into your account and click the Scripts tab. The Scripts list appears.
  2. Click Show Templates. A list of all available script templates appears. Each template represents a different type of script and can be used to generate an actual script. See Script types. If the list is set to Account Scripts, rather than Enterprise Scripts, no templates appear.
  3. Click New Instance to generate a new script based on the desired template. For example, to create an alert script with no final menu, click New Instance to the right of AlertNoFinalMenuTemplate(1).
  4. Enter a name and a description for the script. The script name you assign appears on the Scripts list when you finish creating the script.
  5. Click Next to continue. The New Script Instance page appears, with the Prompts tabbed page selected by default. This is where you select (import) the individual audio prompts (WAV files) for use in the new script.
  6. Configure additional options required for your script by clicking the available tabs, which depend upon the contents of the script:
  7. Click Complete Import to finish the script generation process and create the script. The Scripts list appears, with the new script included.
  8. At this point, you can generate another script, or click Hide Templates to view only the scripts already created.
  9. On the script title bar, click Test to send a test call of your script, and/or click Download to save a copy of the script as a Java script (JAR) file on your PC or network.

Import a Script

To import a new script:

  1. On the Scripts tabbed page, select Import Script. The Import Script page appears.
  2. Enter a name and description for the script. Descriptions appear on the Scripts tabbed page, so enter a clear description of what the script does.
  3. Click Browse to locate the script file on your computer or network.
  4. Select the file (which must be a JAR file) and click Open to select it.
  5. Click Next. The Configure Script page appears. The tabs you see depend on the contents of the script.
  6. From the Automatically Delete Script dropdown, specify when you want the script to be deleted from the system. You can select Never if you want it to remain indefinitely.
  7. Click Import Script. The script appears on the Scripts tabbed page.
  8. Test the script as described on the Scripts page of the Account Manager help.

Test a Script

It is important to test a script prior to sending a sub-campaign to ensure the script is working properly. We suggest you send multiple test messages to test each option defined in the script. You can test a script by using it to send a message to any valid phone number or email address.

To test a script:

  1. On the Scripts > Show All page, select Test from the Actions menu next to the name of the script to be tested. The Send Test window appears.
  2. Select the channel: Voice, Email or Text from the pulldown.

Test a Voice Script

To test a voice script:

  1. Enter the phone number to which the test call will be sent in the Phone Number field.
  2. Select the Answering Machine Action option.(Optional)
    • Deliver to Machine - delivers the message to an answering device.
    • Hang Up on Machine – disconnects without delivering the message if the call reaches an answering machine.
  3. Enter the Caller ID Number from the list.(Optional)
  4. If the script includes a Direct Connect feature, the Contact Center Number field appears. To use the Direct Connect feature during the test call, enter the phone number here. The Phone Number always begins with a "+" (followed by the country code for numbers outside the United States.) If the script includes a Direct Connect number, the number you enter overrides the number in the script for the test call.
  5. Enter the Summary Email Address to which a summary report is sent.
  6. If the script requires special values to be contained in any field of the contact list, enter the values to be used for the test call. For example, if your script uses text-to-speech (TTS) to speak a name and a dollar amount during the call, it may require that the name populate the FirstName and LastName fields and that the dollar amount populate the other1 field. The values you enter must exactly match the values as they appear in your contact list.
  7. Click Send Test to send the test message. You will receive the test call at the specified phone number within two minutes.

Test an Email Script

To test an email script:

  1. Enter the email address to which the test email will be sent in the Email Address field.
  2. Enter the Summary Email Address to which a summary report is sent. (Optional)
  3. If the script requires special values to be contained in any field of the contact list, enter the values to be used for the test email. For example, if your script includes the use of a name and a dollar amount as a part of the email message, it may require that the name populate the FirstName and LastName fields and that the dollar amount populate the other1 field. The values you enter must exactly match the values as they appear in your contact list.
  4. Click Send Test to send the test message.You will receive an email at the specified email address.

Test a Text Script

  1. Enter the wireless phone number to which the test message will be sent in the Phone Number field.
  2. Enter the Summary Email Address to which a summary report is sent.(Optional)
  3. If the script requires special values to be contained in any field of the contact list, enter the values to be used for the test message.For example, if your script includes the use of a name as a part of the text message, it may require that the name populate the FirstName field. The values you enter must exactly match the values as they appear in your contact list.
  4. Click Send Test to send the test message. You will receive a text at the specified wireless phone number.

Delete a Script

Each script in the account appears in a list on the Scripts tabbed page, including those currently being used in one or more sub-campaigns and those assigned to a campaign strategy.

To delete one or more scripts from your account:

  1. On the Scripts tabbed page, select the check box next to the script(s) to be deleted.
  2. Click Delete. A confirmation message appears.
  3. Click OK. The script is deleted from the system.

To delete a script from the enterprise account, you must first sign in to each listed account and set each of the listed campaign strategies and scheduled sub-campaigns to use a different script.

The same is true for enterprise level scripts.

Replace a Script

Each script in the account appears in a list on the Scripts tabbed page, including those currently being used in one or more sub-campaigns and those assigned to a campaign strategy.

You can update the script being used for a running (or previously running) sub-campaign by replacing it with an edited version. For example, if you run a sub-campaign to send out text messages, you can change one of the follow-up messages in the script. This capability is available only to users who have Advanced Edit permission.

To replace one or more scripts in your account:

  1. On the Scripts tabbed page, select the script(s) to be replaced on the script title bar(s).
  2. Click Replace. The new script should generally not remove or change the capabilities or response groups in the existing script.
  3. Once the script has been replaced, click Apply.

This will attempt to update all sub-campaigns that have used the script within the last 60 days. The user interface will provide feedback on which sub-campaigns were updated.

Extreme care must be taken when making changes to the script on an existing sub-campaign, especially when functionality is added or removed. The script writer must be aware of the potential impact a change can have on sub-campaigns and reports.

About Text-to-Speech

The Text-to-Speech (TTS), or <say as>, XML element is used to convert names - or other text - that is enclosed within parentheses, into speech.

TSS supports the following special characters. You can use these characters in any field in the contact list that will be spoken (such as a company name or currency amount) during the course of your script.

Character Spoken as
. dot
/ slash
@ at
% percent
$ dollar
* asterisk


The following special characters are not currently supported by the <say-as> element.

  •  !
  • ( )
  • &

If a field in a contact list contains one or more of these characters, none of the string is spoken when the text is converted to speech. (For example, if the string is "Johnson & Murphy Incorporated", none of it will be converted to speech.)

Example: DC Script with Whisper

The following is a scenario in which you use a Direct Connect script with the Whisper feature:

  • Upon answering the phone, the recipient receives a message, including a voice prompt requesting that they press a button to connect to the contact center. ("Press 0 to speak with a customer service agent.")
  • The messaging system dials the contact center immediately. While the connection is being made, the recipient hears another voice prompt. ("Please hold while we connect you.")
  • Until the contact center agent answers the call, the recipient is on hold and listening to hold music and reminders to stay on the line.
  • When the contact center agent answers the call, they also hear a prompt. "Customer name John Randall. Account LQ123. Press 1 to connect to the customer."
  • When the agent presses 1, they are connected to the recipient.

Related topics

This page was last edited on October 5, 2017, at 13:27.
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