Hours of Operation allow account and organization admins to specify the time-frame messages can be sent by agents. This prevents messages from being sent or delivered outside of the timeframe specified in the settings of an account or organization.
For more information about the different admin roles, see What are the different Hustle admin roles?
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- What are hours of operation and how do they work?
- How do I set up hours of operation?
- What time zone is used for hours of operations?
- How do hours of operations work for agents outside of sending hours?
- What happens if an agent is in a conversation outside of hours of operation?
- What happens if a contact calls an agent outside of hours of operation?
What are hours of operation and how do they work?
An organization's hours of operation are the timeframe, set in place by org admins, when messages can be sent through Hustle. All accounts, organizations, inboxes, and groups have hours of operation on by default, and the default timeframe for all timezones is 8am - 8pm.
If account admins do not want organizations to be able to set their own hours of operation, admins can disable this in Account Overview > Account Settings > Hours of Operation.
This feature prevents messages from being sent or delivered outside of those hours of operation.
For example, if you launch a broadcast at 7:30pm and your hours of operation close at 8pm, any messages that do not get sent before hours of operation close will be put on hold and sent the following day when hours of operations start again.
Please Note ✨: While Hustle can control when we deliver a message, at that point we hand it off to phone carriers. In most cases, messages are delivered by the carrier immediately, but there are a number of reasons there could be carrier-specific delays that are outside of Hustle's control, for example:
• If a contact's phone were powered off at the time of delivery, or in an area of poor service
• If the carriers experienced delays due to network congestion
• Timezone differences
How do I set up hours of operation?
To enable Hours of Operation for your Organization:
- From the Admin Panel, click Settings.
- Click the Hours of Operation tab.
- Check the box Check and save to enable hours of operation for this organization.
- Enter the Start time and End time for Hours of Operation > Save.
• Hours of Operation applies to all groups within your organization; admins can't enable Hours of Operation for specific groups.
• Enabling or disabling Hours of Operation will immediately apply to every active goal in the org. This could prevent some groups from sending messages to groups of contacts that span multiple time zones if those contacts end up outside the specified end time. To disable Hours of Operation, we recommend setting them to 12AM - 12AM.
What time zone is used for hours of operation?
The time zone Hours of Operation follow is based on the location specified within group or inbox settings. When adding a group, admin are prompted to specify a location. When creating an inbox, they will have their timezones set based on the area code.
This is the time zone Hours of Operation will use. Please keep in mind if a contact is in a different time zone, this could result in them receiving a message at a later local time.
For example, if you're located in California but have a group location set in New York, Hours of Operations would follow the Eastern time zone not the Pacific time zone.
How do hours of operations work for agents outside of sending hours?
When Hours of Operation are enabled, agents can't send messages to contacts until the Hours of Operation re-open. Agents can still receive messages but won't receive notifications or incoming calls, or have the ability to respond to messages when this feature is enabled and it is outside of hours.
Workflow tab
On the Workflows tab outside Hours of Operation, workflows are closed and will be available when Hours of Operation re-open, which is displayed for each upcoming goal.
Workflow on the mobile app outside of Hours of Operation.
For more information on how to use the Hustle web and mobile app, see:
An agent can continue to view conversations, apply tags, opt-outs and other actions on the contacts page, but will be prevented from sending messages. An alert at the top of conversations wull let agents know when they can resume texting.
What happens if an agent is in a conversation outside of hours of operation?
If an agent tries to send a message outside the Hours of Operation, the keyboard and send button won't be available. Additionally, the message area will be inactive.
What happens if a contact calls an agent outside of hours of operation?
The contact will receive a pre-recorded voice message letting them know the agent is unavailable and to try again at a later time.