TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

Overview

You can draft your script in a Google Doc and then import it directly to your text campaign. In order for Spoke to import your script correctly, you’ll need to use specific formatting, which we’ve outlined below. 

 

See ➡️ here ⬅️ for an example script. We recommend you make a copy of that document and build your script from there. 

 

You will need to share the Google Doc with Spoke for the upload to work. Either make the doc accessible to anyone on the internet, or give editor privileges to this link: 
customer-imports@scaletowin.com.

 

Once your doc has these sharing permissions, copy the sharing link and paste it into the Script Import tab of your campaign. Then, click Import.

 


General Formatting Guidelines

 

The formatting for your Google Doc replicates the structure of scripted responses in Spoke. 

 

Interactions

 

Initial

Here’s the script for the first message sent to a voter. Make sure it includes opt out language, like stop=end, and avoid public link shorteners.

Question?

  • Answer

  • Here’s a script corresponding to an answer to the question I asked in my first script.

  • Follow up question?

    • Answer to follow up question

    • Script corresponding to the answer I’m tracking to this follow-up question.

 

Canned Responses

  • Canned Response 1

  • Here’s the script of my first canned response.

 

In the condensed example above, the script is divided into two parts: Interactions and Canned Responses

 

Scripts added to the Interactions section correspond to the scripts added in the “Script” section of a Spoke campaign; scripts added under the Canned Responses heading correspond to the “Canned Responses” section.

 

  • Style Interactions and Canned Responses as Heading 2. 

  • Style everything else as Normal Text

  • (To style words, select the text, then click Format > Paragraph styles. Click on “Normal Text” or “Heading 2”, then click “Apply ‘text style’”.) 

  • There is a blank line (press enter twice) after the word Interactions. There is another blank line before the Canned Responses section.

 

Please do not add text above Interactions - this should be the first word in the document. (The name of your document will not affect the upload, but don't add the name in the document itself.) 

 


Interactions: Initial Message

 

At minimum, the script you upload must contain an initial message. 


Interactions [Header 2]

Initial [Bold, Normal Text]

Here’s the script for the first message sent to a voter. Make sure it includes opt out language, like stop=end, and avoid public link shorteners. [Normal Text]

 

The example above shows the formatting to add an initial message. 

  1. The first line is the Interactions header, followed by a space.

  2. The next line contains only the word Initial in bolded Normal Text

  3. The following line contains your initial message Script in Normal Text.

 

Each of these lines is on the same indentation level - we created them by simply clicking the Return or Enter key. None of these lines are bulleted.

 

Note: You can only add one initial message to your document. Script variants must be added directly in the tool.



Interactions: Branched Scripts

If you plan to add scripted responses to your campaign using the branching script format, you will continue to fill out the Interactions section.

Step 1: Add your first question

Branched scripts are grouped around an initial question, which serves as an internal prompt for texters and is not sent as a script to contacts. The question is added immediately beneath the script for the initial message as bolded and italicized normal text.


Interactions [Header 2]

Initial [Bold, Normal Text]

Here’s the script for the first message sent to a voter. Make sure it includes opt out language, like stop=end, and avoid public link shorteners. [Normal Text]

Question? [Bold, Italics, Normal Text]


The question is on the same level as the script it follows. The first question in a branched script should not be indented or bulleted.

Step 2: Add responses to your question

Once you have added your first question, you can add responses that will appear as answers for texters to save and populate scripts for them to send.

 

Interactions [Header 2]

 

Initial  [Bold, Normal Text]

Here’s the script for the first message sent to a voter. Make sure it includes opt out language, like stop=end, and avoid public link shorteners. [Normal Text]

Question?  [Bold, Italics, Normal Text]

  • Answer  [Bold, Normal Text, bulleted one level below the Question]

  • Here’s a script corresponding to an answer to the question I asked in my first script. [Normal Text, bulleted on the same level as the Answer]

  • Follow up question? [Bold, Italics, Normal Text, bulleted on the same level as the Answer]

 

Responses are bulleted (one bullet per line), indented forward by one level beneath the Question to which they collect answers. Press the “tab” key to create an indent. Additionally:

 

  • The Answer (the data you will collect) should be bolded Normal Text

  • The corresponding Script (the message texters will send) should be one line below the Answer and in Normal Text

  • If your answer will be followed by another question, the follow-up Question should be added one line below the Script and formatted in italicized bolded Normal Text

Step 3: Add responses to a follow-up question

This same logic applies if you want to have responses branching off your follow-up Question. All responses linked to a Question should be indented forward by one level beneath the Question they answer.

 

Interactions [Header 2]

 

Initial  [Bold, Normal Text]

Here’s the script for the first message sent to a voter. Make sure it includes opt out language, like stop=end, and avoid public link shorteners. [Normal Text]

Question?  [Bold, Italics, Normal Text]

  • Answer  [Bold, Normal Text, bulleted one level below the Question]

  • Here’s a script corresponding to an answer to the question I asked in my first script. [Normal Text, bulleted on the same level as the Answer]

  • Follow up question? [Bold, Italics, Normal Text, bulleted on the same level as the Answer]

    • Answer  [Bold, Normal Text, bulleted one level below the follow up Question]

    • Here’s a script corresponding to an answer to my follow-up question. [Normal Text, bulleted on the same level as the Answer to the follow up question]

 


Canned Responses

 

Canned Responses are added beneath the Canned Responses heading (styled in Heading 2, without bullets or indentation). 

 

  1. Each Canned Response is bulleted (indented once from the header).

  2. The title of the Canned Response is bolded and on its own line.

  3. The script for the Canned Response is unbolded and on its own line as well.

 

Other than the initial message, you do not need to add scripted responses in the Interactions section to add canned responses. Here is an example of a script with only an initial message and canned responses:

 

Interactions [Header 2]

 

Initial [Bold, Normal Text]

Here’s the script for the first message sent to a voter. Make sure it includes opt out language, like stop=end, and avoid public link shorteners. [Normal Text]

 

Canned Responses [Header 2]

  • Canned Response 1 [Bold, Normal Text, bulleted one level in]

  • Here’s the script of my first canned response. [Normal Text, on the same bullet level]

 

Enter as many Canned Responses as you like following that format. Canned responses will display to your texters in alphabetical order based on the title you’ve entered.

 

Note: You can only add tags to your canned responses within the tool, i.e. you will need to go to the “Canned Responses” section in Spoke to map canned responses to tags.



Uploading your script

To upload your script, you’ll need to share the Google Doc with Spoke. You have two options:

 

 

Once your doc has these sharing permissions, copy the sharing link.

 

 

Paste the link you copied into the Script Import tab of your campaign. Then, click Import.

 

 

After it uploads (only takes a few seconds), you can check your Script and Canned Responses tabs to make sure that everything is there, and also open each text box to see how many segments each response will be.

 

If you want to make any changes to the script while the campaign is still in draft mode, you can do this in the Google Doc and import it again, or you can work directly in the tool and save your changes. 

 

Note: You can only upload a new Google Doc before starting your campaign. Once the campaign has been started, you can still edit your scripts manually in the Scripts tab of the campaign.

Troubleshooting error messages

 

If there are formatting issues in your Google Doc, Spoke will display an error message telling you where it ran into a problem.

 

 

Error Message

Troubleshooting Steps

Error from last attempt: Cannot read property 'length' of undefined

Double check that Interactions and Canned Responses are styled in Heading 2. Everything else should be styled in Normal Text. Make sure that each line for an Answer, Question, and Script beneath the first question you ask is bulleted.

Retrieving Google doc failed due to access, secret config, or invalid google url

Spoke cannot access your Google Doc. Either share the Google Doc with customer-imports@scaletowin.com or make the doc accessible to anyone on the internet.

Interactions unexpected format. Look for ...

Search for the text that Spoke has directed you to “look for”. Double check that the AnswerScript, and Question are correctly styled and indented.

My canned responses aren’t uploading

Double check that the Canned Responses header is in Heading 2 and says “Canned Responses”.