Questo articolo è attualmente disponibile in inglese e spagnolo. Puoi fare riferimento a questa documentazione mentre arriva nella tua lingua.
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 set up 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: SMS Channel Configuration
To send SMS through Connectif, you must have an account with one of our connectors. Currently, we offer the Instasent connector, for which you only need to enter the API Token from your Instasent account to send messages.
1. Go to Store Settings in the left-hand menu.
2. In the tab selector, go to "Channels > SMS".
3. Enter the API key provided by your SMS provider.
4. Copy the link to obtain SMS bounce information from Instasent and paste it into the Callback URL field of the API key configuration in your API Tokens panel on Instasent.
5. Click Save.
STEP 2: Review 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 to which text messages will be sent.
6. Go to the contact's record
If you need more information on how to access a contact's record and review fields, check out 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, stored in E.164 format, always starting with the "+" symbol. This field can be synchronized in the following ways:
- By editing the contact on the contact editing page.
- By importing contacts.
- Using a workflow.
- Using the special tag 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 number. These values will be used for the "Send SMS" node, and are:
- Active: The contact's phone number will be used to attempt an SMS send.
- Bounced: No attempt will be made to send an SMS to this contact as the phone number has bounced.
- Paused: No attempt will be made to send an SMS to this contact as 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, considering whether mass or transactional sends are performed, and are:
- Subscribed: The contact's phone number will be used to attempt to send an SMS for both mass and transactional sends.
- Not Subscribed: The contact's phone number will be used to attempt to send an SMS only if a transactional send is performed, meaning the contact will not receive mass notifications.
- None: Functions similarly to the "unsubscribed" status, but no information is available about whether the user is subscribed. This is the default value and can be modified in the "Custom Fields" section of Connectif.
STEP 3: Using SMS Synchronization Nodes
3.1. The "Send SMS" Node
This action-type node is used to send an SMS to contacts who reach this part of the workflow. In the node's interface, all aspects of the message to be sent and the recipients are configured step by step.
10. In step 1 of the node configuration, SMS, select the SMS-type content to be used.
Learn how to create an SMS with the Connectif SMS Editor in this article.
11. In step 2, Configuration:
- Specify whether the send will be to a contact or if it's an alert. If it's an alert, the SMS will be received at a specified phone number that will always be the same, regardless of the contact's phone number.
- Configure whether the SMS is Transactional (typically triggered by an event) or Newsletter (mass SMS).
- Set the Sender Name that indicates the SMS sender, limited to 11 characters by SMS protocol specification.
12. In step 3, Variables, associate any variables in the SMS text with the contact fields.
If you need more information on using variables, review this article.
3.2. The "SMS Received" Node
This condition-type node is used to check whether the contact has received one or more SMS sent through Connectif.
13. In the node's interface, configure:
- Whether it is a specific SMS.
- How many times the contact has received it.
- Whether it is a newsletter or transactional.
- The time interval or specific date of receipt.
STEP 4: Managing SMS Unsubscriptions in Connectif
All SMS messages of the Newsletter type must include the option to unsubscribe from SMS lists. To do this, in the SMS Editor, you must insert an unsubscribe variable and associate it with the value "{{unsubscribe}}".
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 to send it, click on the settings 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, associate the Literal value with the variable created for the SMS.
18. In the text field of the literal value, type {{unsubscribe}}. This will allow Instasent to assign the appropriate unsubscribe link for each country automatically.
Note that the text "{{unsubscribe}}" takes up 15 characters and will be transformed depending on the delivery country:
- In the USA and Canada, it is transformed into "Stop to opt-out" with a length of 15 characters.
- In France, it is transformed into "STOP au #sms#" with a length of 13 characters.
- For other countries, it is transformed into a link like "nosms.to/xxxxxxx" with a length of 16 characters.
18. Click Apply.
4.2. Verifying SMS Unsubscription in the Contact's 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 updating their newsletter subscription status. You can verify this as follows:
19. In the Contact's profile, go to the Activity tab and check for the activity Unsubscribe from SMS in their profile.
20. In the Profile tab, navigate to the section Contact Status and, under SMS Subscription Status, verify that it says "Unsubscribed."
Success!
Your SMS Integration configuration in Connectif is now ready.
Keep Learning!
To make the most out of your Connectif account, we recommend continuing with the following articles:
-
Onboarding, to become proficient 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.