Setting Up Autoresponders

Autoresponders are messages that are sent minutes, hours, days, or even months after a contact joins your list. Learn how to create them.

Drew Wilkinson avatar
Written by Drew Wilkinson
Updated over a week ago

Each time contacts join your list, you want to ensure they’re met with valuable and timely texts. With autoresponders, you can send messages automatically after a contact joins your list. A perfect tool for automatic follow-ups, drip campaigns, and more.

Follow Along with SimpleTexting Academy

More of a visual learner? Get started with your first autoresponder by following along with this step-by-step video from SimpleTexting Academy.

What Are Autoresponders?

Autoresponders are messages automatically sent to new contacts. They help by giving you the efficiency of creating a series of messages without having to launch campaigns manually. Use them to keep your customers engaged and make sure new contacts receive text messages that bring them back to your business.

They’re great for automating common text message campaigns like...

  • Welcome messages

  • Weekly tips and tricks

  • Staggered series of coupons 

  • Easy reminders

Set Up Your First Autoresponder

In this example, imagine you’re a florist looking to set up a welcome message for new contacts to your VIP texting program:

1. Click Autoresponders on the left-hand panel.

2. Click New autoresponder. 

3. Give your autoresponder a name. This is just for your reference, your subscribers won’t see this. For example, “Bounce Back Coupon."


4. Next, select the list your autoresponder should go to. We’ll select our customers list. NOTE: Only new contacts to the list will receive your autoresponders. Existing ones won’t. 

5. Set up your Autoresponder to be an SMS or MMS.

6. Type your message

7. Next, select the delay. You can send your autoresponder minutes, hours, days, weeks, or even months after someone subscribes to your list.

8. Add a delivery window. (This step is optional.) Here, you can set limitations on how late or early a text can be sent as well as the days of the week you'll allow messages to be sent.

How do delivery windows work? Let's look at the example above. Imagine you set an autoresponder to send a week after someone joins your list. If a customer texted in a keyword at 11:35 PM on Sunday, they wouldn't get your message at 11:35 PM the following Sunday. Instead, they'd receive it at 10:00 AM on Monday.

9. Click Save autoresponder.

Done! Here’s how your autoresponder works:

  • First, people join your list by either texting a keyword, signing up through a web form, or through some other expression of consent. 

  • Second, they receive your autoresponder automatically as a new subscriber after the delay you’ve set kicks in. 

Didn't Find What You Were Looking For?

Some of our customers who were interested in autoresponders found these articles useful instead:

Did this answer your question?