Group SMS Messaging Now Available

Teammate’s latest Group Text Message feature is a significant innovation that improves teamwork and communication among team members.

In today’s fast-paced world, seamless communication is key to effective collaboration. Understanding this need, Teammate is excited to announce its new Group Text Message feature, a transformative tool designed to enhance the way we connect and collaborate.

The Group Text feature can be accessed in the TeamMate SMS Connector app within MS Teams. It helps to simplify conversations by enabling multiple people to join a single discussion, providing a collaborative platform for group communication.

Here’s how it works…

Sending a Group Text Message

Currently, group text messages can only be initiated through the SMS app. Starting a group text message through the SMS composer is not yet supported.

To initiate a fresh group chat, follow these steps:

1. Open the SMS app in MS Teams.

2. Click the New Conversation button.

3. In the Mobile Number field, enter the mobile numbers of the group members.
When more than one mobile number is detected, the following options display:

• Broadcast SMS – When this is selected, the message is sent to recipients individually. Each recipient appears as an individual contact in the Recent Conversations tab.
• Group SMS – When this is selected, a group thread is created for selected group members when the message is sent.

4. Select Group SMS for the Send Option and do the following:

a. Enter the group name.

b. Type the message.

5. Click the Send icon.

When a message is sent, a group thread is made for the chosen group members. The message is sent to each member of the group as an MMS using supported carriers. It is important to be aware that the carriers will charge group texts at MMS rates.

Created groups display in the Teams Channel. Recipients may reply to the group text through the Teams Channel.

Notes:
1. When a group text is received for a new group, the group name defaults to an auto-generated temporary name of the group, which can be renamed for easy reference. 
2. When phone numbers that do not support group text are included in the group text message as recipients, the unsupported numbers may still receive the message but not in a group. This is then treated as one-to-one or single messaging instead.

Starting a New Group from an Existing SMS Group

When additional numbers are added to an existing group using the + icon or when numbers are removed from the group, and new message is sent, a fresh group is formed, allowing for the definition of a new group name.

Do the following example:

1. Open an existing SMS group.

In this example, the existing group’s name is Sales Group.

2. Click the + icon, and add new mobile numbers or remove any from existing recipients

The new numbers are added at the end.

3. Enter the name of the new group and type the message to be sent

In this example, the new group name is Support Group.

4. Click the Send icon.

Result: A new group is created with the new group name.

Note:
When opting to create a new group with the same set of members from an existing group, the SMS app does not create a new group and will use the existing group instead. Messages are sent in the same thread but the group name is updated to the recently defined name of the group.

Managing a Group Conversation

• Group members may change the group name through Change Group Name. The group name is specific to members defining it. The updated group also reflects in the corresponding Teams Channel dedicated to the SMS conversation.
• A group text message thread may also be deleted through Delete Conversation.

Replying to the Group Text Through the SMS App

To reply to a group text, all you have to do is write your reply in the chat where you got the original message. Your reply will be shared with everyone in the group.

1. Open the SMS group.
The group displays the message received.

2. Type message to be sent to the group.

3. Click the Send button.

The response is sent as a group message.

Replying to the Group Text Through the Teams Channel

Recipients may also respond to the group text through the Respond to Message button in the corresponding Teams Channel’s SMS conversation.

1. Open the corresponding Teams channel of the group text.

2. Click the Respond to Message button.
The SMS Composer displays the following window with all the recipients of the group text.

3. In the Message textbox, type the response message to be sent.

4. Click the Send icon.

The response is then sent as a group text.

Teammate’s new Group Text Message feature greatly enhances the way Teams users communicate and collaborate in groups. If you would like to leverage this important new feature as a TeamMate reseller, don’t hesitate to create a free 30 day trial.