Learn Relay in 20 Minutes

1. Getting Started

What is Relay?

Relay is your team texting inbox. It replaces Whippy (or whatever you were using before) with a purpose-built platform for staffing offices. Think of it as a shared text message center where your whole team can see every conversation with every candidate, send blasts, and automate follow-ups.

Here's what Relay does that your phone can't:

• Shared inbox — everyone on your team sees every conversation. No more "did anyone text that guy back?"
• Campaigns — blast hundreds of candidates at once with personalized messages
• Automations — set rules that text people automatically (welcome messages, follow-ups, STOP handling)
• Lifecycle templates — pre-built playbooks for placements (assignment confirmation, first day check-in, etc.)
• Internal notes — leave notes for your team inside a conversation that the candidate never sees

How to log in

First look at the dashboard

When you log in, here's what you'll see:

• Sidebar (left) — your main navigation. Inbox, Contacts, Campaigns, Automations, Lifecycle Templates, Settings.
• Inbox (center) — list of conversations, newest on top. This is where you'll spend most of your time.
• Conversation panel (right) — click any conversation and the full thread opens here. Type your reply at the bottom.

2. Inbox

My Inbox vs Shared Inbox

You have two views at the top of the inbox:

Urgent / Open / Closed / Unassigned

Conversations are sorted into tabs:

• Urgent — flagged as high priority. These need attention NOW. Red badge.
• Open — active conversations that still need follow-up.
• Closed — done. Candidate placed, question answered, no further action. You can reopen these anytime.
• Unassigned — nobody owns this conversation yet. New inbound messages land here. Grab them.

Opening and replying to a conversation

Click any conversation in the list. The full text thread opens on the right.

Internal notes

Sometimes you need to tell your team something about a candidate without the candidate seeing it. That's what internal notes are for.

Assigning conversations

Every conversation should have an owner. That way nothing falls through the cracks.

Once assigned, it shows up in that person's My Inbox. Unassigned conversations sit in the Shared Inbox until someone grabs them.

Marking conversations as urgent

See a hot candidate who needs to be contacted TODAY? Flag it.

• Open the conversation, click the flag icon or Mark Urgent.
• It moves to the Urgent tab and gets a red indicator so nobody misses it.
• Click again to remove the flag when it's handled.

Closing a conversation

When you're done with a conversation (candidate placed, not interested, etc.):

• Click Close in the conversation header.
• It moves to the Closed tab. If the candidate texts back, it automatically reopens.

Using templates for quick replies

Templates are pre-written messages you can insert with one click instead of typing the same thing over and over.

3. Contacts

Viewing all contacts

Click Contacts in the sidebar. You'll see every candidate in your system in a table view:

• Name
• Phone number
• Category (what kind of work they do)
• Status
• Last contacted date

Searching and filtering

Got 500 contacts and need to find one? Use the search bar at the top.

• Search by name — type "John" and it filters instantly.
• Search by phone — paste in a number to find exactly who texted you.
• Filter by category — use the Category dropdown to see only "Warehouse", "Forklift", "General Labor", etc.
• Filter by status — show only "New" contacts, or only "Assigned" ones.

Filters stack. You can search for "warehouse" contacts who are "idle" and see just those.

Contact status

Every contact has a status that tells you where they are in the pipeline:

4. Campaigns

What is a campaign?

A campaign is a blast message sent to many contacts at once. Instead of texting 200 people one by one, you write one message, pick your audience, and send it. Relay sends it out as individual texts so it looks personal, not like a mass email.

Use campaigns for:

• New job order blasts ("We have 15 warehouse spots starting Monday...")
• Reactivation ("Hey, we haven't talked in a while. Are you looking for work?")
• Event invites ("Open interviews this Friday 9am-2pm...")

Creating a campaign

Using variables

Variables let you personalize each message even though you're sending to hundreds of people. When the message goes out, the variable gets replaced with the candidate's actual info.

Example message with variables:

Reviewing results

After a campaign sends, click into it to see results:

Replies from the campaign show up in your Inbox as normal conversations. Just reply like you would to any text.

5. Automations

What are automations?

Automations are rules that do things automatically so you don't have to. Instead of remembering to text every new applicant, or manually handling every STOP message, you set up the rule once and Relay handles it forever.

Think of automations like this: "When THIS happens, do THAT."

The natural language builder

Relay has a plain-English automation builder. Instead of clicking through complicated menus, you just describe what you want.

Building a workflow manually

If you prefer to build step by step, here's how automations work under the hood:

Trigger (When this happens...)

Condition (Only if...)

Optional. Narrow down when the automation runs.

• Message contains "STOP"
• Contact category is "Warehouse"
• Contact status is "New"

Action (Then do this...)

• Send a text message
• Assign the conversation to a team member
• Change the contact's status
• Add an internal note
• Wait (delay for X minutes/hours/days before next action)

Draft vs Active

When you create an automation, it starts as a Draft. This means it won't run until you activate it. This is a safety net so you can build and review before anything fires.

Automation examples

STOP handler

New applicant welcome

No-show follow-up

6. Lifecycle Templates

What are lifecycle templates?

Lifecycle templates are pre-built playbooks for the key events in a candidate's journey. When someone gets placed on a job, there's a predictable sequence of touchpoints they need: confirmation, reminders, first-day check-in, ongoing check-ins, and eventually an end-of-assignment follow-up.

Instead of remembering all of that (you won't), lifecycle templates handle it automatically. Pick a template, set a start date, and Relay sends the right message at the right time.

Pre-built templates

How to apply a template

Creating custom templates

The pre-built templates cover the common cases, but you can create your own:

7. Settings

Team members

Click Settings → Team to manage who has access.

• Add a team member: Enter their email, pick a role (Admin or Member), and send the invite.
• Remove: Click the X next to their name. They lose access immediately.
• Roles:
  • Admin — full access. Can manage team, settings, automations, everything.
  • Member — can use inbox, contacts, campaigns. Cannot change settings or manage team.

Phone lines

Your office phone number(s) are listed under Settings → Phone Lines. This is the number candidates see when you text them.

• Most offices have one number. If you need a second, contact support.
• The phone number is tied to your messaging provider (Whippy). Don't change this unless you know what you're doing.

Quiet hours

Quiet hours prevent any automated messages from going out during off-hours. Candidates won't get blasted at midnight.

8. Best Practices

The blast message formula

After sending thousands of blasts, here's what works:

1. First person, always. "Hey, this is Matt from the staffing office" not "You are receiving this message from..."
2. One sentence of urgency. "We just got 15 spots starting Monday" or "These are filling fast."
3. One CTA. Not three. One. "Reply YES" or "Tap here: [link]". Pick one and commit.
4. Keep it under 160 characters if possible. One SMS segment. Longer is fine but shorter gets more replies.

Good example:

Bad example:

The first one sounds like a real person. The second sounds like spam. Candidates can tell.

Avoiding list fatigue

If you blast the same list every week with the same kind of message, responses will drop. Here's how to keep your list healthy:

• Import fresh contacts regularly. New applications, indeed leads, walk-ins — keep adding people.
• Vary your messages. Don't send the exact same text every time. Mix up the wording.
• Target by category. Don't blast warehouse jobs to forklift operators. Be specific.
• Clean opted-out contacts. Relay handles STOP automatically, but if you see a lot of failures, check your list for bad numbers.
• Don't blast more than twice a week to the same group unless you have genuinely new orders.

Automations that save the most time

If you set up nothing else, set up these three:

1. STOP handler — legally required and Relay sets it up by default, but double-check it's active.
2. New applicant welcome — the faster you respond to a new applicant, the more likely they show up. Automate the first text so it goes out in minutes, not hours.
3. Assignment confirmation — use a lifecycle template. The #1 way to reduce no-shows is confirming details in writing.

Getting the most from lifecycle templates

• Apply "Start Assignment" to every new placement. Every. Single. One. This is your no-show prevention and retention playbook.
• Run "Reactivation" monthly on idle contacts. People who worked for you before are your best candidates.
• Customize check-in timing for different client needs. A high-turnover warehouse job might need daily check-ins for the first week. A stable office placement might only need weekly.
• Read the responses. Lifecycle messages generate replies. Make sure someone is reading the inbox and following up. The messages are only useful if you close the loop.

Relay Docs — Built for staffing offices that move fast.

Questions? Contact your Relay admin or email support@relay-messaging.com