Table of Contents

Communication Tools: Overview

Kristen Fiddes Updated by Kristen Fiddes

Read Time: 19 mins

Overview

The Communication Tools page provides the ability to view customer communication at an instance level, as well as offering the ability to create mass messages and set triggered messages for future actions, along with providing access to configure related items such as saved messages and saved message categories.

To access this area, locate the "Communication Tools" navigation icon in the column located to the left of your screen.

Communication Tools Defaults

While Communication Tools is a built-in feature and requires no configuration to begin using it, there are available options in System Settings that can be utilized to configure pre-filled form entries.

To access these options, navigate to Settings > System Settings and scroll to the bottom of the page. These fields are optional and do not prevent users from altering the information when they are creating a Mass Message or Triggered Message.

  1. Default Message 'From' Name: This field determines the sender name that the message will appear from.
  2. Default Email Message 'From' address: This field determines the mailbox the message will appear from.
  3. Default Email Message 'From' Domain: This field determines the domain the message will appear from; the only options available in the dropdown are domains already added and verified to your Sonar instance.

New Message

Clicking on the blue New Message button will populate a new page that offers the ability to either send a mass message or a triggered message. In the sections below, we'll take a look at the creation process for both of these options.

Mass

The Mass message feature exists to send correspondence to a large number of customers, where manually selecting the recipients would be impractical due to time consumption. Mass messages are targeted to a list of accounts based on the filters selected.

Most commonly, mass messages are used to notify your customers of upcoming changes to the network such as maintenance or unexpected downtime, however, mass messages can also be used to inform your customers of promotional material, temporary savings, or even price increases across your service offerings.

Mass messages are limited to 3000 recipients when sent. While more recipients can be added in the UI, anything above the first 3000 will not be received at the destination.
  1. Prefill From Saved Message: This field allows you to select from any existing saved messages in your instance.
    If you are selecting a Saved Message that has two languages included, a new dropdown will appear to the right titled "Language" where you can select which one to utilize.
  2. From Name: This field determines the sender name that the message will appear from. This is a required field.
  3. From Email Address: This field determines the send email address and is also required.
    The "From Email Address" field can only use a domain name that has already been verified within Sonar. For more information on setting up an outbound email domain, refer to our knowledge base article found here.
  4. Inbox Preview: This field is not required, but allows you to set an inbox preview for the message - this can be used to provide a sneak peek to the recipient of what the email is regarding before they actually open the email.
  5. Subject: This field is where you can define the subject of the message that gets sent out. It is also a required field.
  6. Message: The required message section is where you can add the message's content.
    For a complete overview of Sonar's rich text editor and examples of how it can be used, check out the documentation for it here.
    Available Variables
    The available variables within the mass message creation process are as pictured below:

    Amount Due: This variable will display the amount due on any unpaid invoices. This variable is useful for Mass Emails targeted at many delinquent customers.
    Auto Pay Enabled: This variable can be used to conditionally show message content based on an account's auto-pay status.
    Account Name: This variable will include the respective account name on the mass message upon receipt.
    Account Number: Similarly, this variable will include the respective account number on the mass message upon receipt.
    Company Name: This variable will include your company name in the message.
    Contact Name: The contact name variable places the name of the designated recipient on the email.
    First Name & Last Name: This variable will insert the recipient's first and last name per their contact information.
  7. File: Here, you can attach a specific file that you wish to be sent out with the mass message.
    When attaching files to the mass email, the maximum file size is 500MB.
  8. Save Message: This button allows you to save the configuration as a saved message, meaning that you'll be able to return to it and send the contents at a later date by using the first field we looked at, "Prefill From Saved Message".
  9. Filters: From here, you can define the criteria needed for accounts to be included in this run. As multiple filters are added, the recipients will shrink accordingly.
  10. Send Mass Message: Finally, here is where you can send the mass message. Once clicked, you'll return to the "Communication Tools" overview page and be able to see all emails sent under the "Sent Emails" tab.
Example Use Case
For this example, we are going to create a mass massage that will alert customers to tower maintenance for a specific AP only. To ensure this option works correctly, please confirm that you have the poller connected to Sonar.

Take notice that it is possible that the Poller cannot see all connected customers to the AP.

We begin by first navigating to the Communications Tools > New Message > Mass. In the new window fill out the fields as needed to provide the customers with the information needed to inform them of this scheduled maintenance. To ensure that this mass message is sent to only the customers on a specific AP, we will use the filter option to complete this task. Click Add Filter and in the first dropdown field select Account is Associated with item. In the dropdown field to the right, you will select the inventory item (AP) that is having maintenance done with it.

To ensure that the poller sees all the connected customers on the AP, you can navigate to the Network site and click on connected devices for that individual AP.
Triggered

Triggered messages allow you to configure customized messages that can be sent out automatically to customers based on the occurrence of specific events. For example, you can have a message automatically sent to customers once they reach a certain percentage of their data usage each month, or when a credit card on the customer's account is about to expire. Below you will find an overview of how to set up triggered emails.

  1. Enabled: this checkbox determines whether the triggered message is active and currently sending out to customers, or if it is disabled and therefore not being used.
  2. Name: This is used for the name of the triggered message itself and is a required field.
  3. Trigger: Here is where you would select the event that would trigger the message to be sent out, from a predefined dropdown list of available triggers. This is also a required field.
  4. Messaging Categories: This is where you can select which category(ies) the triggered message should fall under, if any. Messaging categories are used to determine the type(s) of emails that a contact should receive, and can be defined for each contact listed on an account.
  5. From Name: This section determines the sender name that the message will appear from. This is also a required field.
  6. From Email Address: This field determines the sender email address and it is also a required field.
    The "From Email Address" field can only use a domain name that has already been verified within Sonar. For more information on setting up an outbound email domain, refer to our knowledge base article found here.
  7. This section allows you to select which language the message is available in. Currently, the two available options are English and French only.
    Language Considerations
    If you are taking advantage of the "Language" dropdown per account contact, you must ensure that the body for both languages has content included.

    In the example above, Peter Parent has the "French" language selected. If we were to create a Triggered Message with content included in only the "English" body, Peter would not receive an email. Therefore, we will need to ensure we have both the English and French translations included when creating the Triggered Message.
  8. Inbox Preview: This field is not required, but allows you to set an inbox preview for the message - this can be used to provide a sneak peek to the recipient of what the email is regarding before they actually open the email.
  9. Subject: This is where you can define the subject of the message that gets sent out.
  10. Body: The body is where you can define the message's content, and can use the text editor to customize the appearance of the message. These messages can contain conditional statements as well as variables. Conditional statements allow you to send out emails to different subsets of customers while only having each customer see what is relevant to them. For example, one of the conditional checks available is *|AMOUNT_DUE_RAW|*, which is the amount of money the customer owes, as a floating point number (e.g. 1.23.) If the email was sent with the conditional statement example below, the IF/ELSE statement will be evaluated and the email will only contain 'You owe money!' or 'You don't owe any money!', based on whether or not *|AMOUNT_DUE_RAW|* is greater than 0.
    *|IF:AMOUNT_DUE_RAW > 0|*

    You owe money!

    *|ELSE:|*

    You don't owe any money!

    *|END:IF|*
  11. File: Here you can attach a specific file that you wish to be sent out with the triggered message.
    When attaching files to the mass email, the maximum file size is 500MB.
  12. Create: Finally, this button allows you to save the configuration of the triggered message. If the message is saved successfully, a message will appear in the upper left corner indicating "Triggered Message created".

Configure

The Configure button is always visible when you're in Communication Tools, and reveals four different options:

Messaging Categories

Messaging Categories are used to ensure the appropriate contacts are notified when sending out triggered messages from your Sonar instance. From this modal, you're able to identify which categories are set as a "default" category, and you can also edit and delete the categories listed, depending on permissions.

To create a new messaging category, click on "Create Messaging Category".

  1. Name: This field is used to quickly identify what the category would be used for. It is a required field.
  2. Default: This checkbox determines whether this category will be a default category moving forward; this means that any new contacts created after would automatically be included.
  3. Apply To Existing Contacts: This checkbox allows you to automatically enroll all existing contacts into the new category.

When editing an existing messaging category, another checkbox is visible:

Adding a checkmark here and then clicking on "Save" will mean that the category is removed from any contacts that currently have it added.

Saved Message Categories

Saved Message Categories offer the ability to categorize your Saved Messages, making it easier to identify the messages when creating a Mass Message. This can be particularly useful if you anticipate you'll have a range of Saved Messages that would be bothersome to scroll through.

To create a new category, click on "Create Saved Message Category".

An additional modal will appear where you will input the chosen name, which upon saving will become an option you can search via when creating a Mass Message. From the above modal, you can also "Edit" any existing Saved Message Categories, or delete it altogether by clicking on the downward-facing arrow and selecting "Delete".

Saved Messages

Clicking on Saved Messages will open a new modal that displays a list of existing messages in your instance, along with details such as the name of the message, the language it's in, and the category. From this modal you are also able to make adjustments to a Saved Message, clone it, or delete it.

Selecting to clone a Saved Message will prompt a new creation modal with all the fields pre-filled to match that of the existing Saved Message you are cloning, including both languages (if applicable). From here, you can make any changes to the cloned message and save it as a new one.

If a new saved message is required, click on "Create Saved Message" to populate the creation modal.

  1. Name: This field is used to create an easily identifiable name for the message and is required.
  2. Category: This dropdown allows you to nest the message under a Saved Message Category, as looked at in the section above.
  3. From Name: This section determines the sender name that the message will appear from. This is also a required field.
  4. From Email Address: This field determines the sender email address and it is also a required field.
    The "From Email Address" field can only use a domain name that has already been verified within Sonar. For more information on setting up an outbound email domain, refer to our knowledge base article found here.
  5. This section allows you to select which language the message is available in. Currently, the two available options are English and French only.
    Language Considerations
    If you are taking advantage of the "Language" dropdown per account contact, you must ensure that the body for both languages has content included.

    In the example above, Peter Parent has the "French" language selected. If we were to create a Saved Message with content included in only the "English" body, Peter would not receive an email. Therefore, we will need to ensure we have both the English and French translations included when creating the Saved Message.
  6. Inbox Preview: This field is not required, but allows you to set an inbox preview for the message - this can be used to provide a sneak peek to the recipient of what the email is regarding before they actually open the email.
  7. Subject: This is where you can define the subject of the message that gets sent out. It is a required field.
  8. Body: The body is where you can define the message's content.
  9. File: Here you can attach a specific file that you wish to be sent out with the message.
Triggered Messages

We touched on creating a Triggered Message above; however, the options visible upon clicking through "Configure", and then "Triggered Messages", offer a way to action all existing triggered messages in your instance. Via this modal, you are able to preview the message by clicking on the language in the "Preview" column, or edit the message by clicking on "Edit".

System default Triggered Messages such as "New user created" and "User forgot password" cannot be edited.

"Create Triggered Message" populates a modal with the same configuration fields we saw earlier by navigating through New Message > Triggered.

Call Logs

The first page you'll see upon accessing Communication Tools is "Call Logs". This section reflects all call logs taken within your instance and includes options to action them into tickets.

  1. You may be familiar with filtering already due to the function presence already ingrained in your instance. Much like other tables, you can filter through all line items to pinpoint specific data such as accounts or users.
    For more information on Simple vs Advanced Filtering, click here.
  2. The Account column reflects the account name attached to the call log and provides quick account access to the account by clicking on the name.
  3. The Subject column reflects the header input by the user who took the call.
  4. The Duration column details how long the call lasted, counting from the moment the agent started a call log through to when they created it.
  5. The User column reflects the name of the user who started the call log.
  6. The Created column details the time and date the call log was created by the attendant.
  7. The Edit button allows you to make adjustments to the call log, if necessary. This button being visible depends on permissions set to the user role, which we'll go into further detail about below.
  8. Clicking on Create Internal Ticket will prompt the internal ticket creation modal, similar to what you would see if creating a call log and immediately continuing on into a ticket.
  9. And on a similar note, clicking on Create Public Ticket will prompt the public ticket creation modal.
  10. The Delete button provides the ability to entirely delete a call log from the instance. This button being visible also depends on permissions set to the user role and will be covered below.

Sent Emails

The next available tab under Communication Tools is Sent Emails. This page provides an overview of all emails sent within your instance, including individual ticket responses, triggered messages, and mass messages.

  1. You may be familiar with filtering already due to the function presence already ingrained in your instance. Much like other tables, you can filter through all line items to locate specific reject reasons or using the Entity option to identify all emails sent to certain accounts, etc.
    For more information on Simple vs Advanced Filtering, click here.
    The "Status" filter underneath "Simple Filters" provides quick access to view which emails have not been received by the intended recipient.
  2. The Recipient column reflects the name of the account contact the email was sent to.
  3. The Subject column reflects the email subject.
  4. The Email Address column details the address the email was sent to.
  5. The Status column indicates whether the email was successfully sent to the contact.
  6. If the email was not received by the contact, the Reject Reason column will reflect why.
  7. The Created column indicates when the system created the email.

Permissions

To utilize all aspects of Communication Tools, the corresponding role permissions must be enabled first. Below, we'll break down which permissions affect which abilities in order to provide you with a clear view of how you can configure roles.

If you're a Super-Admin of your Sonar instance, no permission changes are required for your account. For more information on Roles and Permissions overall, please review this linked article.
Call Log
The Call Log category of permissions has 4 togglable options.

View all call logs: if this is disabled, users cannot see the "Call Logs" tab under Communication Tools. On a similar note, they will be unable to see any call logs when they navigate to "Correspondence" within a customer account.
Create a call log: if this is disabled, users are unable to start a call log.
Update a call log: if this is disabled, users cannot see an option to "Edit" a call log either within Communication Tools or under "Correspondence" within a customer account. Instead, the only options they'll see are "Create Internal Ticket", "Create Public Ticket", or "Delete".
Delete a call log: if this is disabled, users cannot see the "Delete" option when clicking on the dropdown alongside a call log line item.
Messaging Category
The Messaging Category of permissions has 4 togglable options.

Create a new messaging category: if this is disabled, users cannot see the option "Create Messaging Category".

View messaging categories: if this is disabled, users cannot see the "Messaging Categories" option underneath "Configure". This particular option trumps all others in this category; if it's not enabled then the options to create a new messaging category, edit an existing one, or delete one altogether will no longer be accessible.

Update a messaging category: if this is disabled, users cannot see the "Edit" option alongside messaging categories. Instead, the only option they'll see is "Delete".
Delete a messaging category: if this is disabled, users are unable to delete an existing messaging category.
Saved Message
The Saved Message category of permissions has 4 togglable options.

Create a new saved message: if this is disabled, users are unable to create a saved message.

View saved messages: if this is disabled, users cannot see the "Saved Messages" option underneath "Configure". This particular option trumps all others in this category; if it's not enabled then the options to create a new saved message, edit an existing one, or delete one altogether will no longer be accessible.

Update a saved message: if this is disabled, users cannot see the "Edit" option alongside existing saved messages. Instead, the only option they'll see is "Delete".
Delete a saved message: if this is disabled, users cannot delete an existing saved message.
Mass Message
The Mass Message of permissions has 2 togglable options.

Create a mass email communication: if this is disabled, users are unable to create a mass message. The only option they'll see upon selecting "New Message" would be for "Triggered"

View all mass emails: if this is disabled, users will be unable to view mass emails sent out.
Saved Message Category
The Saved Message Category of permissions has 4 togglable options.

Create a new saved message category: if this is disabled, the option to create a saved message category will not be visible to users.


View saved message category: if this is disabled, users cannot see the "Saved Message Category" option underneath "Configure". This particular option trumps all others in this category; if it's not enabled then the options to create a new saved message category, edit an existing one, or delete one altogether will no longer be accessible.

Update a saved message category: if this is disabled, users cannot see the "Edit" option alongside existing saved message categories. Instead, the only option they'll see is "Delete".
Delete a saved message category: if this is disabled, users cannot delete an existing saved message category.
Triggered Message
The Triggered Message category of permissions has 4 togglable options.

Create a new triggered email: if this is disabled, users are unable to create a mass message. The only option they'll see upon selecting "New Message" would be for "Mass".


View triggered emails: if this is disabled, users cannot see the "Triggered Messages" option underneath "Configure". This particular option trumps the following two in this category; if it's not enabled then the options to edit an existing one, or delete one altogether will no longer be accessible.

Update a triggered email: if this is disabled, users cannot see the "Edit" option alongside existing triggered messages. Instead, the only option they'll see is "Delete".
Delete a triggered email: if this is disabled, users cannot delete existing triggered messages from the instance.

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Call Logs: General Best Practices

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