Reaching Out to People¶

This guide covers starting a conversation with a new person: add them on the People page, send the agent's opening message over RCS, and let the agent take it from there.

The walkthrough follows the sales development flow, where the agent qualifies the person and books a call with your team, because that is where outreach sees the most use. The mechanics — adding a person, sending a reviewed greeting, automatic follow-ups — are the same for any agent that opens conversations, whatever it does once the person replies.

Before your first send (one-time setup)¶

These are normally configured once by whoever set up the agent. Check with them before changing anything here:

A messaging channel is connected. The agent has an active RCS channel (Settings · Channels). Without one, the Outreach button reports "No active RCS binding."
A greeting is written. The first message people receive is a pre-written, reviewed template (Settings · Message templates), not improvised text. You pick the greeting at send time or accept the default.
Representatives are listed. The team members who take booked calls, with their email addresses (Settings · Representatives). They are notified when an appointment is scheduled.

With those in place, everything below is point-and-click.

Step 1: Add the person¶

Open the agent in the console and go to its People page.
Click Add Person.
Fill in what you know. Only one field is required for outreach:

Phone: the person's mobile number, typed however you naturally write it. (555) 123-4567, 555-123-4567, and +1 555 123 4567 all work. US numbers do not need a country code; international numbers do (for example +44).

The other fields personalize the conversation, so fill in what you have: Full Name, Email, Company, Title, Product Interest (what they said they are interested in, in their own words; vague is fine), Source, and Notes. If representatives are configured you can pick an Assigned representative. Leave Status as new.
Click Save. "Person added." appears and the person joins the list.

For a whole spreadsheet instead of one person, use Import CSV/XLSX on the same page. See People.

Step 2: Send the outreach¶

Find the person's row on the People page. A row with a phone number that has not been contacted shows an Outreach button.
Click Outreach to open the Send outreach dialog.
Pick the Playbook the conversation follows. This decides what the agent pursues once the person replies (confirm an appointment, qualify and book a call, and so on). Every Playbook marked available for outreach on Settings · Playbooks is offered, and the one marked default for outreach is preselected.
The Greeting template menu fills in from the chosen Playbook's opening message, or the agent default when it has none. Change it for this send if you want a different opening.
Check the preview. The dialog renders the exact message this person will receive, using their real record, and lists any fields that fell back to a default. If a required field is missing and the template's policy is block-send, the dialog disables sending; pick another template or fill in the field first.
Click Send outreach.

What success looks like¶

A confirmation appears: "RCS message sent to Jane Smith (T-Mobile)". The carrier name confirms the number was verified as reachable before sending.
The person's Status changes from New to Contacted.
The Outreach column shows the send time, and the button is replaced by a checkmark so the same person cannot be messaged twice by accident.

On the person's phone, the greeting arrives as a rich message from the agent, personalized with their name and interest. When they reply, the agent continues the conversation. Nothing further is needed from you.

If something goes wrong¶

The dialog states what is missing. The common cases:

Message	What it means	What to do
Person does not have a valid phone number…	The number is missing digits or is not a real mobile number.	Edit the person and check the number. A US number needs 10 digits; an international one needs its country code.
This phone number is not RCS-capable.	That phone cannot receive RCS messages. Some carriers and older phones do not support it. Nothing was sent.	Reach this person another way.
No active RCS binding…	The agent's messaging channel is not set up or was disabled.	Ask whoever administers the agent to check Settings · Channels.

Nothing is ever half-sent. If you see an error, the person was not messaged; fix the issue and click Outreach again.

Sending again

Sent to the wrong person, or testing with your own number? The timestamp in the Outreach column has a small × next to it. Clearing it restores the Outreach button so you can send again.

Following the conversation¶

You do not need to watch the conversation, but you can at any time:

Click the person's name on the People page to open their record: their details, when outreach was sent, any scheduled calls, the agent's memory journal, and every conversation with that person. Click a conversation to read the full exchange.
Preparing for a call? On the record, click Export for call to download a printable summary: the person's details, the agent's notes, and the full transcript.
The agent's Messages page shows recent conversations across everyone, newest first.

As the agent qualifies the person, their Status moves along the funnel: new → contacted → qualified → converted (or lost).

Following up with people who don't reply¶

Not everyone answers the first message. Anychat can send one automatic follow-up to a person who goes quiet, a single check-in after a delay you choose, and it cancels the moment they reply. To reach out more than once, send further follow-ups by hand (below).

Turn on the automatic follow-up¶

On the agent's Settings · Outreach page, find the Follow-ups card:

Switch Automatic follow-up on.
Set Send after: how long to wait with no reply, measured from the initial outreach (for example, 2 days).
Pick the Follow-up message, a pre-written template (Settings · Message templates). One must be chosen before the follow-up can be turned on.
Optionally turn on Quiet hours to avoid messaging people overnight: a start hour, an end hour, and the timezone to judge them in. A follow-up due during quiet hours waits until the window passes.
Save.

From then on, anyone you send outreach to who does not reply gets one follow-up on schedule.

Only affects people contacted from now on

Turning the follow-up on never messages existing people retroactively. It applies to outreach sent after enabling it, it is RCS-only, and it is off until you turn it on.

Watching and controlling follow-ups¶

On the People page, each contacted person shows a Follow-up status:

Nudge 1 · in 2d: the follow-up is scheduled, with when it is due.
Replied: they answered; the follow-up will not be sent.
Paused / Done: paused by you, or already sent.

Per-person controls in the row's actions:

Follow up: send a follow-up now, without waiting for the schedule. Works any number of times, and even when the automatic follow-up is off.
Pause / Resume: temporarily stop or restart the automatic follow-up for this person.
Stop: cancel the automatic follow-up for this person entirely.

A person's record shows a Follow-ups summary and lists every follow-up sent alongside the agent's journal.

How you'll know when a call is booked¶

When the agent schedules, reschedules, or cancels a call, Anychat emails your team automatically:

The assigned representative for the appointment is always emailed.
Anyone under Notification recipients on the Scheduling settings page is emailed too. If that list is empty, the agent's contact email is used.

The email contains what the call needs: the person's name, the agreed time in their timezone, the assigned representative, and any notes the agent gathered.

If the agent is connected to Google Calendar, every booking also appears on that calendar and stays in sync through reschedules and cancellations. The person gets a confirmation with an add-to-calendar button and an optional reminder before the call.

Booked calls are always visible in the console on the person's record under Scheduled calls. Availability windows, reminders, and calendar setup are covered in Scheduling Calls.