Claim Replies for Peer-to-Peer Texting Campaigns

Also known as: shared reply pool, reply claiming, claiming conversations, batch replies, broadcast mode

Claim Replies lets your agents pick up incoming text replies from a shared pool when they're ready, rather than having replies automatically assigned to them. It's built for large organizations, volunteer shifts, and busy reply periods where a shared queue works better than one-to-one assignment.

What is Claim Replies?

In a peer-to-peer (P2P) texting campaign, contacts often text back after receiving your initial message. Claim Replies changes how those incoming replies reach your agents.

Instead of assigning each reply to a specific agent, replies wait in a shared pool. Any eligible agent can then claim a batch of conversations and start responding.

Good to know: Claim Replies only changes how incoming replies are handled. Initial messages are still sent automatically in both modes.

Auto Assign vs. Claim Replies

When you create a campaign, you'll choose one of two reply-handling modes:

How to turn on Claim Replies

1. Create a new P2P texting campaign.
2. Go to the Script step.
3. Under Initial message and reply handling, select Broadcast mode.
4. Configure the Reply batch size and Claim expiry.
5. Save and launch your campaign.

Broadcast mode settings

When you select Broadcast code, two settings appear:

Reply batch size

This is the number of conversations an agent can claim at once.

• Options: 10, 25, 50, or 100
• Default: 25

Choose a smaller batch size if you want agents to focus on fewer conversations at a time. Choose a larger one for experienced agents handling high volumes.

Claim expiry

If an agent claims a conversation but there's no activity for this amount of time, the conversation returns to the shared pool so someone else can pick it up.

• Options: 15 minutes, 30 minutes, or 1 hour
• Default: 30 minutes

How the expiry timer works: The timer is based on the last interaction, not the moment the conversation was claimed. The timer resets whenever:

• The contact sends a message
• The agent sends a message
• The conversation is read

If a campaign is paused, expiry timers freeze. They resume from where they left off when the campaign restarts.

Who can claim replies?

There's no separate setting for this. Agent eligibility comes from the Agent step of your campaign, where you already choose:

• All agents
• Specific agents
• Teams
• Assign agents later

Only agents added through the Agent step can claim replies in that campaign.

What agents see

In Claim Replies mode, agents don't receive replies automatically. Instead:

• The Pending tab stays empty because conversations aren't pre-assigned.
• The Chats tab shows a Claim Replies button. After an agent finishes their first batch, the button changes to Claim More Replies.

When can an agent claim?

The Claim Replies button is active only when all three of these are true:

1. The pool has replies waiting.
2. The agent is eligible for the campaign.
3. The agent has no active claimed batch.

When an agent clicks the button, they receive conversations up to the batch size, starting with the oldest unread replies. If fewer replies are available than the batch size, the agent gets whatever remains.

Agents must respond to their current batch before claiming more.

What the button messages mean

When is a conversation "handled"?

A conversation counts as handled when the last message in the thread is from the agent. If the contact replies again after that, the conversation needs attention again.

Which replies enter the pool?

A reply enters the shared pool when:

• It hasn't been handled yet
• The conversation isn't temporarily locked to an agent (see below)

These conversations are excluded from the pool:

• Conversations marked Complete
• Contacts on your Do Not Text (DNT) list
• Contacts who were auto-opted out
• Profanity-filtered conversations (when moderator mode is on)

Excluded conversations still appear in the Manager Inbox, so you never lose visibility.

Lock-in window: If a contact recently interacted with a specific agent, their conversation stays with that agent for a short period before it can move to the shared pool. This keeps conversations consistent for contacts who are actively texting back and forth.

Manager tools

Manager Inbox

The Manager Inbox shows all unhandled replies, whether they're:

• Waiting in the pool (labeled Unassigned)
• Claimed by an agent (labeled with the agent's name)
• Assigned through Auto Assign mode

Returning an agent's conversations to the pool

Managers can manually move an agent's claimed conversations back to the shared pool. This is useful if an agent leaves mid-shift or claims more than they can handle. Returned conversations become available for other agents to claim, unless they're excluded by the pool rules above.

Auto Reassign

Auto Reassign is disabled while Claim Replies is on, since agents claim replies directly and there's nothing to reassign. If you switch the campaign back to Auto Assign mode and save it, Auto Reassign becomes available again.

Editing a live campaign

What happens when you switch modes

Auto Assign → Claim Replies

• Conversations already assigned to agents stay with those agents.
• New eligible replies enter the shared pool from that point on.

Claim Replies → Auto Assign

• Claimed conversations stay with their current agent until responded to.
• Pool conversations become eligible for standard reply assignment and Auto Reassign.

Frequently asked questions

Do initial messages still send automatically with Claim Replies? Yes. Claim Replies only changes how incoming replies are handled. Initial messages send automatically in both modes.

What happens if two agents claim at the same time? The first claim gets processed first. The second agent receives whatever conversations remain. If none remain, they see the "No replies to claim right now" message.

Can an agent claim more replies before finishing their current batch? No. Agents must respond to their current conversations before claiming another batch.

What happens to a claimed conversation if the agent stops responding? After the claim expiry period passes with no interaction, the conversation returns to the shared pool so another agent can claim it.

Why is the Claim Replies button grayed out for my agent? Either the pool is empty, the agent has an unfinished batch, or the agent isn't eligible for the campaign. The message below the button explains which.

Can I change the batch size mid-campaign? Yes. The new batch size applies to future claims. Existing claimed batches aren't affected.

Why can't I see Auto Reassign? Auto Reassign is hidden or disabled while Claim Replies is on. Switch the campaign back to Auto Assign mode (while paused) to bring it back.