Connectif's SMS channel allows you to communicate with your contacts via 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 required to send messages.
If you change SMS providers and have active workflows configured with the previous provider, you must update their “Send SMS” nodes. Otherwise, the SMS sends from those workflows will stop working.
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.
6. Go to the contact profile.
If you need more information about accessing a contact's profile and reviewing the fields, see this article.
7. 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.
8. 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 will be 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.
9. In the Contact status section, review the SMS subscription status (_smsSubscriptionStatus). This field indicates the contact's subscription status. These values will be used in the "Send SMS" node, taking into account whether the sends are mass or transactional, and are:
- Subscribed: The contact's phone will be used to attempt to send an SMS for both mass and transactional sends.
- Not subscribed: The contact's phone will be used to attempt to send an SMS only for transactional sends, so the contact will not receive mass 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 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.
10. In step 1 of the node configuration, SMS select the SMS content to use.
Learn how to create an SMS with Connectif's SMS Editor in this article.
11. In step 2, Configuration:
- Indicate whether the send will be made to a contact or whether it is an alert. If it is an alert, the SMS will be received at a specified phone number, which will always be the same, regardless of the contact's phone number.
- Configure whether the SMS is Transactional (a specific situation normally generated by a trigger) or a Newsletter (mass SMS).
- Configure the SMS sender according to the provider you use:
-
If you use iBASIS, you can select one of the SMS Sender IDs configured and active in your iBASIS account.
-
If you use Instasent, set the Origin name that indicates the SMS sender and is limited to 11 characters by SMS protocol specifications.
-
If you use iBASIS, you can select one of the SMS Sender IDs configured and active in your iBASIS account.
12. In step 3, Variables, associate the variables in the text to be sent in the SMS, if any, with the contact 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.
13. 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 SMS.
- The time interval or specific date of receipt.
STEP 4: Managing SMS Unsubscriptions in Connectif
All Newsletter-type SMS messages must include the option to unsubscribe from SMS lists. To do so, in the SMS Editor, you must insert an unsubscribe 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.
4.1. Creating the Automatic Unsubscribe Link
If you use iBASIS as your SMS provider, you do not need to follow this step. Instead, include the word “STOP” in your SMS content so that your contacts can request to unsubscribe.
14. In the SMS Editor, create the unsubscribe variable wherever you want to place it.
15. Once you have created and saved the SMS, in the workflow used to send it, click the configuration of the "Send SMS" node.
16. Select the SMS you just created and configure the send, which must be of type Newsletter.
17. In step 3 of the node configuration, Variables, in the configuration of the "Send SMS" node, associate the Literal value with the variable created for the SMS.
18. In the literal value text field, enter {{unsubscribe}}. This way, Instasent will automatically assign the appropriate unsubscribe 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 U.S. 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 the remaining countries, it is transformed into a link in the form "nosms.to/xxxxxxx", with a length of 16 characters.
18. Click Apply.
4.2. Checking SMS Unsubscription in the Contact Profile
When a contact unsubscribes from SMS lists through the inserted link, Instasent notifies Connectif of this unsubscription by creating the activity in the contact profile and changing the newsletter subscription status. You can check it as follows:
19. In the Contact profile, go to the Activity tab and check that the Unsubscribe from SMS activity appears in the profile.
20. In the Profile tab, go to the Contact Status section and, under SMS subscription status, check that it is set to "Unsubscribed".
Success!
Your SMS Integration setup in Connectif is now complete.
Keep learning!
To make the most 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 SMS subscribers.
Mass SMS Campaign, to send your first SMS campaign.