Connectif's SMS channel allows you to communicate with your contacts through text messages for communications such as promotions, alerts, or transactional messages. To send SMS messages with Instasent, you must connect your account with this provider to Connectif.
In this article, you will learn how to configure Instasent as an SMS provider in your Connectif store.
If you send SMS messages with a sender name—for example, "MyBrand," "BankX," or "MyStore"—you must register that alias in the CNMC Alias Registry. Messages with unregistered aliases will be blocked and will not be delivered. If you need more information, review the official Instasent documentation.
Implementation time: 15 min.
Difficulty: Low.
When to use it: When integrating your Connectif account.
STEP 1. SMS Channel Setup
(In this section, you will learn how to connect your Instasent account to Connectif to send SMS messages.)
To configure Instasent as an SMS provider in Connectif, you must have an account with Instasent and its corresponding token.
1. Access Connectif and go to Store settings from the left sidebar menu.
2. In the tab selector, go to "Channels > SMS".
3. Select the “Instasent” connector.
4. In the “Enter your Instasent token” field, enter the API key provided by Instasent.
5. Copy the link to obtain SMS bounce information from Instasent and paste it into the “Callback URL” field in the configuration of the API key used in the API Tokens panel of your Instasent account.
6. Click Save.
After completing the setup and before sending an SMS message from Connectif, you must activate your Instasent account (these accounts are created in "Demo" mode by default). If you need more information about how to do this, review its official documentation.
STEP 2. Managing SMS Opt-Outs in Connectif
All Newsletter-type SMS messages must include the option to unsubscribe from SMS lists. To do this, in the SMS Editor, you must insert an opt-out variable (in this example, "sms_ubsubs"), which you must then associate in the Workflow in the "Send SMS" node with the value {{unsubscribe}}, as explained in the following section.
2.1. Creating the Automatic Opt-Out Link
(In this section, you will learn how to configure the automatic opt-out link for SMS messages sent through Instasent.)
7. Go to “Content > SMS”.
8. Click Create SMS.
9. In the SMS Editor, create the SMS content and add the opt-out variable wherever you want to place it.
10. Once you have created and saved the SMS, go to the Workflows area, locate the workflow from which you will send the message, and click (Edit node settings) for the “Send SMS” node.
11. Select the SMS you just created and configure the sending, which must be of the Newsletter type.
12. In step 3 of the node settings, Variables, in the settings of the "Send SMS" node, associate the Literal value with the variable created for the SMS.
If you need more information about using variables, review this article.
13. In the literal value text field, enter {{unsubscribe}}. This way, Instasent will automatically assign the appropriate opt-out link for each country.
Keep in mind that the text "{{unsubscribe}}" takes up 15 characters and will be transformed depending on the delivery country:
- In the United States and Canada, it is transformed into the text "Stop to opt-out", with a length of 15 characters.
- In France, it is transformed into the text "STOP au #sms#" with a length of 13 characters.
- For all other countries, it is transformed into a link in the format "nosms.to/xxxxxxx", with a length of 16 characters.
18. Click Apply.
2.2. Checking SMS Opt-Outs in the Contact Profile
(In this section, you will learn how to verify that the SMS opt-out has been correctly recorded in the contact's profile.)
When a contact unsubscribes from SMS lists through the inserted link, Instasent notifies Connectif of this opt-out by creating the activity in the contact's profile and changing their newsletter subscription status. You can check this as follows:
19. In the Contact record, go to the Activity tab and verify that the Opt out of SMS activity appears in their profile.
20. In the Profile tab, go to the Contact Status section and, under SMS subscription status, verify that it is set to "Unsubscribed".
Success!
You have configured Instasent as an SMS provider in Connectif.
Do you still have unanswered questions?
Remember that Connectif specialists are available to help you. To contact them, simply open a ticket with Support by clicking the blue “Help” button in your dashboard.
Keep learning!
To make the most of your Connectif account, we recommend continuing with the following articles:
SMS Channel Setup, learn how to use the Connectif SMS channel and send messages from your workflows.
SMS Editor, learn how to create and send text messages with Connectif.
SMS Subscribers, to segment your SMS-subscribed contacts.
Mass SMS Campaign, to send your first SMS campaign.