Customers can reply to any text MakeTheQueue sends. Their reply lands on their waitlist entry so staff can read it and respond. A handful of one-character replies also let the customer take action without calling.

How replies show up

Inbound replies are routed automatically. There's no webhook to configure and no setup beyond enabling SMS on the queue. When a customer texts back, we match the phone number to their entry and store the message on the thread.

Read and reply from admin

  1. In the admin sidebar, click Waitlist.
  2. Find the entry and open its More menu.
  3. Click Send message to open the message drawer, which shows the full thread for that entry.
  4. Type a reply and send. Outbound messages go out on the same channel (SMS or email) the customer used to join.

One-character reply commands

In Settings → Notifications → Reply Options, you can enable short replies the customer can send back:

  • 1 or confirm accepts a Ready message or an appointment reminder.
  • 9 or cancel removes the customer from the waitlist or cancels the appointment.
  • more requests more time. If enabled, MakeTheQueue pushes the customer back by the number of positions you set in moreTimeRepositionCount and texts your moreTimeMessage back to them.

Each command has its own toggle, so you can enable just the ones that make sense for your business.

Common problems

  • Replies don't appear in the thread. The most common cause is the customer texting from a different phone than the one on file. We match replies by phone number, so a reply from an unrecognized number won't link to an entry.
  • Reply commands do nothing. The Reply Options toggles are off by default. Open Settings → Notifications → Reply Options and turn on the ones you want.
  • "more" reply is being ignored. Check that moreTimeRepositionCount is set to a positive number. If it's zero, the command does nothing visible.
  • Customer says they replied but you don't see anything. SMS replies can take a few seconds to arrive. Refresh the message drawer. If it's still missing, ask which number they texted from.

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