Quiet hours: SmartyTap docs

Quiet hours are the hours your texts should never arrive, like late at night. SmartyTap counts them in each customer's local time, not yours, so a customer in California and a customer in New York each get your text at a reasonable hour where they live. A text that would land inside quiet hours waits and goes out when quiet hours end.

Set your quiet hours

Open SmartyTap settings

In the Chargezen admin, go to SmartyTap > Settings > Settings. The page is called SmartyTap Settings.

Find Quiet Hours

Open the Traffic & Limits tab and scroll to Quiet Hours.

Choose the window

Set Start Time (when quiet hours begin, for example 9:00 p.m.) and End Time (when texts may go out again, for example 8:00 a.m.). A window can cross midnight.

Save

Click Save Settings. The help text on the page sums it up: texts are held during these hours in each customer's local time and sent when quiet hours end.

Pick the stricter window

The federal TCPA rule bars telephone solicitations before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. in the recipient's local time, and some states set a narrower window (Florida's is 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.). If you text customers in several states, choose a window that fits the strictest one. This is general information, not legal advice. See SMS compliance for the rules and their sources.

How SmartyTap finds each customer's time zone

For each text, SmartyTap checks these in order and uses the first it finds:

The saved time zone on the contact, then on the customer's profile.
The phone number. If no time zone is saved, SmartyTap uses the time zones the number could be in, which is one zone for most US area codes. When a number could be in more than one zone, the text waits until it's outside quiet hours in all of them.
Your workspace time zone, if neither gives an answer.

What happens to a held text

The text isn't dropped. SmartyTap queues it again for the moment quiet hours end in that customer's time zone. For a window that crosses midnight, that's the next morning.
Each customer is held separately, so one campaign can go out over a few hours as quiet hours end across time zones.
Replies the law requires, like the confirmation after someone texts STOP, never wait. See Opt-in and opt-out.

Turn quiet hours off for one message

Quiet hours are on for every text by default. For a message that truly can't wait, you can turn them off for that message only.

Open the text

In SmartyTap > Campaigns > All campaigns, open the campaign and click the SMS message card.

Open its settings

In the right panel, open the Settings tab and find SMS settings.

Clear Quiet hours

Clear the Quiet hours checkbox. The note changes to "Texts can go out at night in your customer's time zone. You're responsible for following texting laws where your customers live."

Check the review

Before you launch, the review shows a warning that quiet hours are off for that text, with an Open SMS composer button if you change your mind.

Use this rarely

Texting people at night is the quickest way to get complaints and opt-outs. Keep quiet hours on for marketing.

Quiet hours and send time

Quiet hours are a safety net; the send time is your plan. You choose each message's send time under Message send time > Edit timing, either in one time zone or in Each recipient's timezone. If a send time falls inside quiet hours for someone, quiet hours win and the text waits. When a message is set to Send right away after its time has passed, texts still wait until quiet hours end.

Troubleshooting and FAQ

Do quiet hours apply to email?

No. Quiet hours are for texts. Email goes out at the send time you choose.

Some customers got the text hours later than others

That's quiet hours working: those customers were in a time zone where quiet hours hadn't ended yet, or their number could be in more than one zone. Saving customers' time zones gives the most precise timing.

What is "Bypass Quiet Hours"?

An advanced switch on the Safety & Compliance tab of SmartyTap Settings that sends every text immediately, even during quiet hours. Leave it off unless your lawyer tells you otherwise.

Guides

On the product page

Learn more

Quiet hours