Getting Your Ask Jenny Reports by Text

If you'd rather get your Monday numbers on your phone than dig them out of your inbox, Jenny can text them to you. Turn it on once in your profile and your scheduled reports arrive as a text — and you can text her back with a question about them.

You turn this on for yourself. Nobody else on your team can switch it on for you, and that's deliberate: it's your phone and your agreement to be texted.

Before you start

• You need a mobile number on your profile. Until there's one on file the switch is greyed out and the line underneath reads "Add a phone number above to turn on text messages."

• It has to be a mobile. A landline or a desk extension won't work — the text is accepted and then quietly fails at the carrier, with nothing to tell you.

• A number on file isn't the same as agreeing to texts. Under your phone number you'll see "Used for account contact. We won't text you unless you turn on text messages in your profile." That's the whole point of this switch.

Turning it on

1. Open your Profile from the account menu.

2. Check the number under Account Details is the mobile you want texts on.

3. Scroll to Text messages and flip the switch next to Text me from Ask Jenny.

4. Read the agreement that appears beside it before you flip it — that's the wording your consent is recorded against.

Once it's on, the line underneath reads "On since {date}. Reply STOP to any message to turn this off." and the sub-text confirms the number: "Send scheduled reports and answers to {your number}".

Nothing arrives straight away. There's no welcome text. The first message you get is the first scheduled report that's due.

What you actually get

The switch's own wording — "scheduled reports and answers" — undersells one part and oversells another, so here's what really lands:

• A short summary, not the report. You get the headline finding in a couple of sentences, then a link. Tables and charts don't survive a text message, so the full report lives behind the link.

• The link opens the report in UpSmith. You'll need to be signed in on your phone. The link doesn't expire.

• Only reports you're a recipient on, with SMS ticked. This switch is your consent. It isn't a request to text you everything — each recurring report has its own recipient list, and each person on it has an Email and an SMS pill. Someone has to tick SMS for you on that report. See Recurring Reports.

• The first text to your number ever carries "Text STOP to opt out at any time." After that it doesn't — the footer appears once, not on every message.

If a report runs but Jenny couldn't write a summary, you'll get the plain fallback: "Your {report name} report is ready." and the link.

Texting Jenny back

You can reply to a report text and ask about it — "why is that down?", "break that out by tech" — and Jenny answers from the same data the report ran on. She keeps that context for follow-up questions rather than making you start again.

Two things worth knowing:

• The thread stays open for about a week. Reply within seven days and you're continuing the same conversation. After that your text starts a fresh one.

• She may not reply instantly. If you're already mid-conversation with her, a report due in that moment waits its turn rather than cutting across.

The number it comes from

These texts come from UpSmith, not from your company's number. It's a different number from the one your agents text your customers on, and usually different from the one your agent alerts come from. Save it in your phone the first time, or the second report will look like a stranger texting you a link.

Turning it off — and the difference that matters

There are two ways, and they are not the same. Pick deliberately.

• Flip the switch in your profile. The clean, reversible way. The line changes to "You turned text messages off on {date}." and you can turn it back on whenever you like.

• Reply STOP to a message. This goes to your mobile carrier, not just to UpSmith. Your carrier blocks our texts to that number, and the switch in your profile stops working — it goes grey and reads "You replied STOP, so your carrier is blocking our texts. Text START to the number we text you from to turn them back on."

So: if you just want a quieter month, use the switch. Only reply STOP if you want it properly off.

To undo a STOP you have to text, not click. Send START, UNSTOP, UNBLOCK or OPTIN back to the number that texted you. Replying "yes" does not work — it's too easily an ordinary answer to a question, so it isn't treated as turning texts back on.

Words that count as STOP: STOP, STOPALL, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END, QUIT, OPTOUT. Capitals don't matter and a trailing full stop is fine. HELP gets you help and changes nothing.

Two traps worth knowing

• Changing your phone number turns texting off, silently. Your agreement is recorded against one specific number. Put a new one on your profile and the line changes to "You changed your number. Turn text messages back on to confirm {new number}." Nothing tells you — no email, no banner. If you've switched phones recently and the texts dried up, this is why.

• On a shared office phone, STOP is everybody. If two people have the same number on their UpSmith profiles and one of them replies STOP, texting goes off for both accounts. Use personal mobiles for this.

This is not the same as your agent alerts

There are two separate text switches in UpSmith and people mix them up constantly.

• Text me from Ask Jenny — in your own profile, set by you. Covers your scheduled Ask Jenny reports and answers to questions you text her.

• The SMS channel on the Notifications page — covers alerts your agents raise: an escalation needing a person, an appointment booked or cancelled. An admin can switch that one on for you, and it's per-organization, so it can be on in one brand and off in another.

Turning one off doesn't turn off the other. If you're getting texts you don't want, check which kind they are before you go looking for the switch. See Notifications — Who Gets Told What.

Troubleshooting

The switch is greyed out. Either there's no valid mobile number on your profile — the line will say "Add a phone number above to turn on text messages." — or you've replied STOP at some point, in which case you'll see the carrier-blocked notice and need to text START back.

You turned it on and nothing has arrived. Check three things. Is a recurring report actually scheduled, and are you on its recipient list with the SMS pill ticked rather than just Email? Has it run since you turned texting on — the first text is the first report due, not a confirmation. And is the number on your profile a mobile?

You got an error turning it on. "Add a valid phone number before turning on text messages" means the number on file can't be read as a real phone number — check for a missing digit or an extension stuck on the end. "Texts to this number are blocked after a STOP reply. Text START to turn them back on." is the carrier block.

The texts stopped and you didn't turn anything off. Open your profile and read the line under the switch. If it says "You changed your number…", that's it — flip the switch back on to confirm the new number.

You're getting texts you didn't ask for. If they're agent alerts rather than reports, that's the Notifications SMS channel, which an admin can turn on for you. Ask them to switch it off, or turn it off yourself if you're an admin.

Someone on your team isn't getting their report texts. You can add their number for them, but you can't agree on their behalf — the page says so: "We won't text this number until they turn on text messages themselves." Send them to their own profile.

Common questions

Does this cost anything? Not from us. Standard message and data rates from your carrier apply, as the agreement on the page says.

Can I get a report by text and by email? Yes. The two are separate pills on the report's recipient list — tick both.

Can I pick which reports come by text? Yes, per report, on each report's recipient list. This switch is the master consent; the report decides.

Can I stop texts overnight? There's no quiet-hours setting. Reports go out when their schedule says, so if a 6am report is waking you up, change the report's schedule rather than looking for a mute.

Will the whole report fit in a text? No, and it isn't meant to. You get the headline and a link. If you need the tables on your phone, open the link.

Can I test what the text looks like before committing? Not today — sample sends go by email only. You'll see the real thing on the next scheduled run.

Who can see that I turned this on? It's recorded against your account with the date and the number, which is what lets us show carriers that you agreed. An admin looking at the Notifications page can see whether you've turned texting on, but not read your messages.

Where to go next

• Recurring Reports — Create, Edit, and Hand Them Off — building the reports that get texted, and setting their recipients

• Sharing a Recurring Report — giving a teammate access to one

• Ask Jenny — what she can and can't do for you

• Notifications — Who Gets Told What — the other text switch, for agent alerts

Texts not behaving the way this says? Email support@upsmith.com with the number you're expecting them on and the name of the report.