Connectif's SMS channel allows you to communicate with your contacts through text messages for communications such as promotions, alerts, or transactional messages. To use it, you must configure an SMS provider and have the phone numbers and subscription information necessary to send messages.
If you are switching from Instasent to iBASIS as your SMS provider, learn what you need to consider when performing the migration in this article.
Implementation time: 15 min.
Difficulty: Low.
When to use it: When integrating your Connectif account.
STEP 1: SMS channel setup
1. Go to Store settings in the left sidebar menu.
2. In the tab selector, go to "Channels > SMS".
3. Select the SMS provider you want to use:
- “iBASIS”, follow the instructions in the article Setting up iBASIS in the SMS channel.
- “Instasent”, follow the instructions in the article Setting up Instasent in the SMS channel.
4. Once configured, click Save.
STEP 2: Reviewing SMS subscription statuses
SMS subscription is similar to email subscription, with two fields for each contact: _mobilePhoneStatus and _smsSubscriptionStatus. In addition, the _mobilePhone field contains the information for the phone number to which text messages will be sent.
5. Go to the contact profile.
If you need more information about accessing a contact's profile and reviewing the fields, see this article.
6. In the Contact fields section, review the contact's Mobile phone (_mobilePhone). This is a system field that indicates the contact's phone number. It is stored in E.164 format, always beginning with the "+" symbol. This field can be synchronized in the following ways:
- By editing the contact on the contact editing page.
- By importing contacts.
- By using a workflow.
- By using the special "Contact Information" tag.
7. In the Contact status section, review the contact's Mobile phone status (_mobilePhoneStatus). This field indicates the status of the contact's phone. These values are used for the "Send SMS" node, and are:
- Active: The contact's phone will be used to attempt to send an SMS.
- Bounced: An SMS will not be sent to this contact because the phone number has bounced.
- Paused: An SMS will not be sent to this contact because the contact has been paused.
8. In the Contact status section, review the SMS subscription status (_smsSubscriptionStatus). This field indicates the contact's subscription status. These values are used in the "Send SMS" node, taking into account whether messages are sent in bulk or transactionally, and are:
- Subscribed: The contact's phone will be used to attempt to send an SMS whether it is a bulk or transactional send.
- Not subscribed: The contact's phone will be used to attempt to send an SMS only if it is a transactional send, meaning the contact will not receive bulk notifications.
- Unsubscribed: the contact is not currently subscribed to SMS, but was subscribed in the past. They do not receive SMS messages.
STEP 3: Using the SMS synchronization nodes
3.1. The "Send SMS" node
This Action-type node is used to send an SMS to contacts that reach that part of the workflow. In the node interface, all aspects of the message to be sent and its recipients are configured step by step.
9. In step 1 of the node configuration, SMS select the SMS content to use.
Learn how to create an SMS with the Connectif SMS Editor in this article.
10. In step 2, Settings:
- Indicate whether the message will be sent to a contact or whether it is an alert. If it is an alert, the SMS will be sent to a specified phone number, which will always be the same, regardless of the contact's phone number.
- Configure whether the SMS is Transactional (a one-time situation normally generated by a trigger) or a Newsletter (bulk SMS).
- Configure the SMS sender according to the provider you use:
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If you use iBASIS, you can select one of the SMS Sender IDs configured and active in your iBASIS account as the sender.
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If you use Instasent, set the Origin name that identifies the SMS sender and is limited to 11 characters according to the SMS protocol specification.
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If you use iBASIS, you can select one of the SMS Sender IDs configured and active in your iBASIS account as the sender.
11. In step 3, Variables, associate the variables in the text to be sent in the SMS, if any, with the contact's fields.
If you need more information about using variables, see this article.
3.2. The "Has received SMS" node
This Condition-type node is used to check whether the contact has received one or more SMS messages sent through Connectif.
12. In the node interface, configure:
- Whether it is a specific SMS.
- The number of times the contact has received it.
- Whether it is a newsletter or transactional message.
- The time interval or specific date of receipt.
Success!
Your SMS Integration setup in Connectif is now complete.
Keep learning!
To take full advantage of your Connectif account, we recommend continuing with the following articles:
Onboarding, to become familiar with our interface.
SMS Editor, to learn how to create text messages with Connectif.
SMS subscribers, to segment your contacts subscribed to SMS.
Bulk SMS campaign, to send your first SMS campaign.