The SMS channel in Connectif allows you to communicate with your contacts via text messages, a powerful tool for promotions, alerts, and direct communications. In this article, you will learn how to configure and use the SMS channel in your Connectif account.
Implementation time: 15 min.
Difficulty: Low.
When to use it?: When integrating your Connectif account.
STEP 1: Configuring the SMS Channel
To send SMS messages through Connectif, you must have an account with one of our connectors. Currently, we offer the Instasent connector, which only requires entering the API Token of the Instasent account that will be used to send the messages.
1. Go to Store Settings in the left sidebar menu.
2. In the tab selector, navigate to "Channels > SMS".
3. Enter the API key provided by your SMS provider.
4. Copy the link to obtain bounce information from Instasent SMS messages and paste it into the Callback URL field in the API key configuration panel of your API Tokens in Instasent.
5. Click Save.
After configuration and before sending SMS messages from Connectif, you must activate your Instasent account (these are created in "Demo" mode by default). If you need more information on how to do this, check their official documentation.
STEP 2: Reviewing SMS Subscription Statuses
SMS subscription is similar to email subscription, with two fields for each contact: _mobilePhoneStatus and _smsSubscriptionStatus. Additionally, the _mobilePhone field contains the phone number information where text messages will be sent.
6. Go to the Contact Sheet.
If you need more information on how to access a contact's record and review the fields, check out this article.
7. In the Contact Fields section, review the Mobile Phone (_mobilePhone) of the contact. 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 edit page.
- By importing contacts.
- By using a workflow.
- By using the special "Contact Information" Tag.
8. In the Contact Status section, review the Mobile Phone Status (_mobilePhoneStatus) of the contact. This field is used to indicate the status of the contact's phone. These values will be used for the "Send SMS" node, and they are:
- Active: The contact's phone number will be used to attempt an SMS send.
- Bounced: No SMS send attempt will be made for this contact as the phone number has bounced.
- Paused: No SMS send attempt will be made for this contact as the contact has been paused.
9. In the Contact Status section, review the SMS Subscription Status (_smsSubscriptionStatus). This field is used to indicate the contact's subscription status. These values will be used in the "Send SMS" node, considering whether bulk or transactional messages are being sent:
- Subscribed: The contact's phone number will be used to attempt SMS sending, both for bulk and transactional messages.
- Not subscribed: The contact's phone number will only be used for SMS sending if it's a transactional message, meaning the contact will not receive bulk notifications.
- Unsubscribed: The contact is not currently subscribed to SMS, but was in the past. They will 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 this part of the workflow. In the node interface, all aspects of the message and recipients are configured step by step.
10. In step 1 of the node configuration, SMS select the SMS content to be used.
Learn how to create an SMS with the Connectif SMS Editor in this article.
11. In step 2, Configuration:
- Indicate whether the send will be directed to a contact or if it is an alert type. If it is an alert type, 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 one-time situation, usually triggered by an event) or Newsletter (bulk SMS).
- Set the Origin Name, which indicates the sender of the SMS and is limited to 11 characters as specified by the SMS protocol.
12. In step 3, Variables, associate the text variables to be sent in the SMS, if any, with the contact fields.
If you need more information on using variables, check out 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 type.
- The time interval or specific reception date.
STEP 4: Managing SMS Unsubscriptions in Connectif
All Newsletter-type SMS messages must include an option for recipients to unsubscribe from SMS lists. To do this, in the SMS Editor, you must insert an unsubscribe variable (in this example, "sms_unsubs"), which must then be associated in the Workflow with the "Send SMS" node using the value "{{unsubscribe}}", as explained in the following section.
4.1. Creating the Automatic Unsubscribe Link
14. In the SMS Editor, create the unsubscribe variable where you want to place it.
15. Once the SMS is created and saved, in the workflow for sending it, click on the configuration of the "Send SMS" node.
16. Select the SMS you just created and configure the sending type, which must be Newsletter.
17. In step 3 of the node configuration, Variables, in the configuration of the "Send SMS" node, associate the Literal value to the variable created for the SMS.
18. In the text field of the literal value, type {{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 country of delivery:
- In the US 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 other countries, it is transformed into a link in the format "nosms.to/xxxxxxx" with a length of 16 characters.
19. Click Apply.
4.2. Checking SMS Unsubscription in the Contact Profile
When a contact unsubscribes from SMS lists via the inserted link, Instasent notifies Connectif of this unsubscription by creating an activity in the contact's profile and changing their newsletter subscription status. You can check this as follows:
20. In the Contact Record, go to the Activity tab and verify that the activity Unsubscribe from SMS appears in their profile.
21. In the Profile tab, go to the Contact Status section and, in the 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 get familiar with our interface.
-
SMS Editor, to 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.