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WelcoYour alerts, by text.

SMS reply to email, sent back to whoever sent the alert

Welco turns an SMS reply to email. When the on-call person answers an alert text, the reply goes to the last sender that texted their phone. The morning crew opens the alerts mailbox and already knows who took the 4 AM alarm. Nobody logs in anywhere.

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  • Staff reply like any other text
  • No app to install
  • STOP and HELP are never forwarded

Works by email with

  • Pump & lift stations
  • Help-desk tickets
  • Microsoft 365 / Outlook
  • Google Workspace Groups

Replies by email

Try it: turn it off and on.

2

Without it: the answer stays on one person's phone

3

With it: the answer also lands in the team's inbox

On. The phone gets 3 texts.

With Replies by email off, the phone gets 2 texts: Welco: [Lift Station 6] High wet well alarm at 4:51 AM. Reply STOP to opt out. On my way, 20 minutes out With it on, it gets 3: Welco: [Lift Station 6] High wet well alarm at 4:51 AM. Reply STOP to opt out. On my way, 20 minutes out Emailed to ops-alerts@district.example.gov
Animation: Replies by email switched off and on. Without it: the answer stays on one person's phone. With it: the answer also lands in the team's inbox.

What a reply does for the whole team

  • Everyone knows who has it

    Nobody calls around at 5 AM to ask who saw the alarm. The answer is already in the mailbox.

  • Answers land where you already look

    Replies arrive as plain email in the shared alerts mailbox or the help-desk thread.

  • Field notes without a call

    A night operator can tell the day crew what they found in one short text.

  • A written record

    A supervisor can see who answered and when, right next to the alert that started it.

A boiler trips before school opens

Here is one early morning for a district maintenance team that sends building alarms through a shared mailbox.

  1. The building system emails a fault

    ALARM: Boiler 2 flame failure, Westside Elementary mechanical room

  2. The on-call maintenance lead gets the text

    Welco: [Westside ES] Boiler 2 flame failure at 5:38 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.

  3. The lead answers from the driveway

    Heading over, will relight and check the igniter

  4. The reply reaches the facilities mailbox

    Welco sends it to the mailbox that sent the alert, so the day staff see it with their first coffee.

    Reply from the on-call phone: Heading over, will relight and check the igniter

  5. The lead clears the alarm on the building system

    The reply informed the team, but the alarm itself is handled in the building system, as always.

Times are an example. A reply is passed on as email and doesn't acknowledge or clear anything in your system.

How to get text replies by email in 3 steps

  1. Send alerts from a mailbox people read

    Have the system send through a shared alerts mailbox, or from an address someone watches. That's where replies will land.

  2. Invite the people on call

    Each person joins with their own mobile and confirms with YES. On-call routing decides who gets which alert.

  3. Reply to any alert text

    There's nothing to set. A normal text reply becomes an email to the last sender that texted that phone.

Hear back from the on-call phone

Sign up, point your alerts at Welco, and replies come back as email.

7-day free trial, 15 message creditsCard required for verificationNo charge for 7 daysEmail reminder before billing

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A real example: the operator answers from the truck

A sewer district's alarm notifier emails through a shared ops-alerts mailbox. The on-call operator gets the text before dawn.

Alert email from ops-alerts@district.example.gov, subject “Alarm: LS6 Wet Well High”. Welco trims it to one text of 80 characters: “Welco: [Lift Station 6] High wet well alarm at 4:51 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.”

Text received: Welco: [Lift Station 6] High wet well alarm at 4:51 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.

Characters165801 credit

Animation: the alert email "Alarm: LS6 Wet Well High" is trimmed into one text: "Welco: [Lift Station 6] High wet well alarm at 4:51 AM. Reply STOP to opt out."

The operator replied, "On my way, 20 minutes out." The reply landed in the ops-alerts mailbox, where the morning crew saw who had it.

Where each reply goes

Replies round out the Welco feature list. These rules decide where each one ends up.

  • To the last sender

    The reply goes to whichever sender most recently texted that phone. If two systems text one person, it follows the latest.

  • Machine senders read nothing

    If that sender is a no-reply address, the reply goes there and nobody sees it. Send through a watched mailbox instead.

  • One reply per phone

    When an alert goes to several phones, each answer comes back on its own, so one alarm may bring three emails.

  • Matched by phone on a shared number

    With a dedicated number, staff can also text first without replying to an alert.

  • STOP and HELP stay with Welco

    Welco handles those replies itself and never forwards them. Like every text, they use message credits.

  • Hourly limits

    A stuck phone or a mail loop can't flood the mailbox with replies.

Frequently asked questions

Who receives the email when I reply to an alert text?

The last sender that texted your phone. Usually that's the mailbox or system that sent the alert. If several systems text you, the reply follows whichever texted most recently.

Will a STOP reply to an alert be forwarded to email?

No. STOP and HELP are handled by Welco and never forwarded. STOP turns off alerts to that phone until it texts START, so use it with care on an on-call phone.

Does replying to a text mark the alarm as handled?

No. Welco has no acknowledgement step. The reply is passed on as an email so people can see it, but the alarm in your system doesn't change. Acknowledge it in the system itself.

Do replies to alert texts use message credits?

Yes. A reply travels as a text, so it uses credits by the same rules as an alert, and that includes YES, STOP and HELP. A one-line note like on my way uses one credit. Long replies or emoji cost more, just as they do in alerts.

Can my team see replies from every phone in one place?

Yes, if your alerts come through one shared mailbox. Each reply lands there as an email, so anyone who reads that mailbox sees who answered. If different systems send the alerts, replies go back to each system's own address.

Can a help-desk ticket thread collect the on-call tech's reply?

Yes, when the ticket system sends the alert from an address it reads. The reply then arrives as an email to that address. See how help-desk ticket alerts reach the on-call tech.

Let the on-call reply reach the whole team

One text out, one email back, and everyone knows who has it.

Hear back by emailBook a demo

7-day free trial, 15 message creditsCard required for verificationNo charge for 7 daysEmail reminder before billing