Inbound SMS configurations

  • Last updated on August 31, 2022 at 4:21 PM

You can set up keywords on a dedicated VMN, our shared VMN or our shared short code (88440). 

To set up a new keyword configuration, click on “New Keyword” under the “Inbound SMS” section in the left hand navigation.

Here you can type in the keyword that you want to set up.

In this example, I have entered “KWTEST” as the keyword. When you click on “search” you can see the inbound number it is available on. For this demo, a dedicated VMN is set up and the keyword is showing as available on this number.

Select the inbound number you want the keyword to appear on and then click “Next” to begin the configuration.

Here we can give the keyword a description if needed but it is not required.

To set up actions, simply select the action from the drop down that you want to occur when someone texts your keyword to your VMN.

The actions are as follows:

1. Chat SMS with email - for more information on this, see the Chat SMS with email article here.

2. Send to Chat SMS - for more information on this, see the Chat SMS article here.

3. SMS Response - this allows you to set up an auto-response to be sent to the number that has texted the keyword in. This will incur credit spend. You can set up the sender ID and even add a short URL to this message.

4. Forward via SMS - this action allows you to forward any inbound SMS to a pre-set destination number. You can either use the original sender ID i.e. the number that text the keyword in) or replace the sender ID. You can choose from the dynamic fields on the right what you want to include in the forwarded message.

5.  Call an API - this option allows you to call an API outside of our system when an inbound SMS is received with your designated keyword.

6. Send an email - This option allows you to send an email when an inbound SMS is received with this keyword. You can add one or more addresses to send the email to, and you can use the dynamic fields on the right to enter the information you need in your message.

7. Look up in contact list - This option allows you to verify that the number that has texted in to the keyword exists (or not) in an existing contact list. You can then choose to create one or more actions depending on the outcome of the match.

8. Add to contact list - Add a number to your contact list if they text in to your keyword.

9. Add to blacklist - create your own branded opt-out by using this action to add any numbers that use it to your blacklist.

10. Do nothing - does exactly what it says and does nothing!

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