SMS programs

You have the option of choosing different SMS programs to communicate with your customers. View the following table to see a list of common use cases for available SMS program.

SMS program types

See Creating an SMS Program for details about all of the programs offered.

I want to... Create this type of program
Get a one-time response from customers in response to a product, promotion, or service. Text for Info
Send ongoing marketing messages that include offer coupons, company news, offers, and so on. Text to Join
Collect email address opt-ins through text messages. Text for an Email
Build an advanced program to create custom interactive programs for surveys, quizzes, contests, or drawings. Multi-Step
Create a double opt-in message by using web forms. Multi-Step
Create a sweepstakes. Competition
Collect and automatically count responses by using polls or votes. Voting
Eliminate ambiguous consent with an additional opt-in confirmation. Text for Response

Setting up a program with the SMPP gateway

  1. From the navigation bar, select SMS>SMS programs and choose your desired program from the New SMS program drop-down.
  2. Select and fill in the details for your program. The Help message check box enables a drop down for additional details for your program.
  3. After determining the status for your program (Active or Inactive), select Save.

Text to Join program

Text to Join is an SMS program that is created by the marketer to build a list of mobile numbers that can be sent promotional SMS messages. This is required for both 1-way and 2-way messaging. For 2-way messaging, the marketer sets up a Mobile Originated (MO) keyword in the SMS Campaign Manager to capture the opt-in for the mobile user. After a mobile user texts in the keyword to the short or long code, the mobile phone number is added to the Acoustic Campaign database. You can then send them coupons, company news, offers, and other communications by using text messages.

Mobile users enter a keyword and receive a confirmation SMS message. You can send one-time or recurring SMS messages to contacts that opt-in to your program. After you create a Text to Join program, you cannot delete it. This security measure eliminates the risk of having orphan consent records. When a contact texts STOP, CANCEL, END, UNSUBSCRIBE, or, QUIT to the code, their mobile phone number is opted-out of all previously opted-in Text to Join programs on that code. If this code is shared by more than one organization and pod, the subscribed number is opted out from all Text to Join programs across all organizations and pods.

Text for Info program

Use a Text for Info program to make it easy for customers to interact with your brand by providing a one-time SMS response to a specific keyword.

If you are using a dedicated code, you need to set up and maintain SMS programs that process STOP and HELP keywords.

First, determine a keyword to use and a method of advertising the keyword and code (short or long) combination to engage your customers. After your customer texts the keyword to the code, they will receive a one-time SMS message that you previously configured.

A brand marketer can use a Text For Info program for numerous types of interaction, such as product, promotion, or service information.

In a retail setting, products on the shelf might have store signage that prompts the buyer to send a text to get detailed product information. For example, when customers are buying a large household appliance, a store may establish signage with each of the big ticket appliance items. This allows the potential buyer to get the product details at that moment.

Multi-step program

A multi-step SMS program is an advanced program type that allows the marketer to create complex interactions with configurable conditions and responses. This program type is used for various flows, including but not exclusive to surveys, quizzes, entries for contests or drawings, validations, and so on.

A marketer can set up Acoustic Campaign landing page forms to capture double opt-in for countries that require it through web forms.

Text for Response program

A Text for Response program enables you to create a double opt-in process to confirm a user's desire to join a text messaging list. A double opt-in is a secondary confirmation message after a user subscribes to your program that ensures the user consents. It is often not required; however, it eliminates ambiguous consent.

Using dedicated codes vs shared codes
  1. Using a dedicated code
    • If a Text for Response program is created with a dedicated code, the usage of a keyword is optional. The org user may choose to add one or more listeners to the program, and the user may respond with any of the listener(s) as text.
    • Please note that the “listener + code” combination needs to be unique so that SMPP can uniquely identify the program.
    • If the org user chooses to add keywords as an additional unique identification for the Text for Response program, the user must send a Keyword + Listener as the message text. And the Keyword + Code needs to be a unique combination.
    • Two unique combinations are possible in case of dedicated code:
      • Listener1 + Code, Listener2 + Code etc.
      • Keyword1 + Code + any listener, Keyword2 + Code + any listener.
  2. Using a shared code
    • A code can be shared at aggregator level (i.e. Karix) assigning a shared code to Acoustic and some other clients, OR a code can be shared with multiple orgs of the same client (i.e. Titan) sharing code with Titan Production and Titan Sandbox orgs.
    • If a code is shared (by either of the two options), the aggregator needs to have a mapping of the keywords against each org on their end. Therefore, the usage of keywords is mandatory.
    • The Text for Response program is created with a shared code and keyword. The org user may have the additional option of assigning listeners for separating affirmative and negative responses.
    • The only unique combination is Keyword1 + Code + any listener, Keyword2 + Code + any listener.

Text for Email program

The Text for Email program enables a mobile user to submit their email address with a keyword to the designated short or long code. Their email is then added to the marketer's database, and they receive an SMS confirmation of their submission.

Using SMPP for your Text for Email program

How it works
  1. A user submits their email address via the SMS channel.
  2. The SMPP Receiver listens to SMS and creates an Email Consent Status for the email to send to Engage.
  3. The SMPP sends the relative reply message to the user.
Text for Email example scenarios
  1. User opt-in scenario:
    • A user sends: XMAS abc@gmail.com to 56567
    • The SMPP sends the reply message to the user.
    • The SMPP hits Engage kafka topic to opt-in the email abc@gmail.com
    • If a Text-To-Join program is linked to Text-To-Email, the phone number is also opted-in for that program.
  2. User opt-out scenario:
    • A user sends: XMAS STOP abc@gmail.com to 56567
    • The SMPP sends the stop message to the user.
    • The SMPP hits Engage kafka topic to opt-out the email abc@gmail.com
    • If the Text-To-Join program is linked to Text-To-Email, the phone number is also opted-out for that.
  3. Help scenario:
    • A user sends: XMAS HELP abc@gmail.com to 56567
    • The SMPP sends the designated help message to the user.

Using mGage for your Text for Email program

How it works

  1. Select an email and then configure and automate the Text for an Email program. See Procedures below for details.
  2. Mobile users send an MO SMS to the code using this : [keyword] [space] [email address].
  3. Mobile users receive an MT SMS message if the marketer selects Yes for Send Response and sets up a Reply message.
  4. The user's email address is added to the SMS database and is marked as OPTED-IN for Email Channel.
  5. The autoresponder sends an email to the email address that the mobile user provided.

How to set up a Text for Email program with mGage

  1. First, automate the email. In Acoustic Campaign, choose the email template that you want to automate and then complete the template.
    1. In Setup as Autoresponder Based on Trigger Event, chooseCustom.
  2. Get the Autoresponder's mailingID. Go to the Auto responders tab on the Emails and Templates page. Hover your mouse over the email name to show the mailingID. Copy it.
  3. Complete and activate the Text for an Email template. See Basic Details and Message Details for a description of each field.

    When a mobile user texts the keyword and the email address, the autoresponder sends an email to the email address provided. The user's email address is added to the database and marked as OPTED-IN for Email Channel. In this case the mobile user texts 'COUPONS john@example.com' and receives an email at the email address that is provided and the SMS user sees that John’s email address added to the database or updated with the email consent status.

    Basic Details

    Name: Name your program.

    Campaign: Assign the program to a parent campaign.

    Program Duration: You can choose to have an ongoing program with no end date, Indefinite, or define the start and end dates.

    Start Time and Date: Choose a start time and date.

    End Time and Date: Choose an end time and date.

    Text to Code: In the Code list, click the short/long code.

    Keyword(s): Assign a keyword to your program. On a Shared code, if a wanted keyword is not available, the system generates an error message.

    Additional Keywords:

    Message Details

    Note: If you send a message that uses more than 160 characters (GSM 03.38 character set) and the carrier supports concatenated SMS, the longer text is sent as a concatenated message.

    Originator: The field shows when a non-US code is selected. Used only for countries that support Sender ID. Select the MT sender. IBM provisions this field for you. To request a custom originator ID, see How do I request a custom originator ID?

    MailingID: Enter the autoresponder's MailingID here.

    Send Response: Select Yes or No.

    Reply: In Send Response, if you select Yes, enter the MT SMS message that the mobile user receives after they join this program.

    Stop Message: The message the mobile user gets when they send the keyword [program name] STOP.

    Help Message: The Help message provides the mobile user with additional information or contact information to the customer service line.

    Advanced Options on the template

    Click Show Advanced Options.

    Basic Details

    You can set up more options, such as Time Slot and Secondary Keywords.

    Advanced Options

    Action Settings

    In Action Settings, choose one of the following Action options:

    • Save entries and forward to email
    • Save entries and forward .csv file to email

    OPT-IN end user: Select Yes to redirect the user to a Text to Join program.

Competition program

Engage audiences with SMS sweepstakes or contests using a Competition program. There are three types of competitions, including Question and Answer, Prize Draw, and Instant Winner.

First, the marketer configures the type of competition:
  • Question and Answer: This type of competition requires a call to action. A radio DJ might ask a question on air or a billboard, email, web banner, or store signage poses a question and instructs users to text in the answer. Question and Answer (keyword) is configured so each possible answer is a keyword and users only send in a keyword that corresponded to their answer.
  • Prize Draw: This competition is an entry collector. It accepts all entries into the program and enters them into the drawing. When a mobile contact sends an SMS text with the correct answer, it is counted as an entry. This type of program continues to run and collect entries until the end date. It allows you to set a unique reply when attempts are made to enter the competition after the end date is reached. At the conclusion of the program, the winner can be determined by using the SMS Campaign Manager or entries can be exported as a CSV file and the winners can be selected per the contest rules.
  • Instant Winner: The program can automatically identify the winners to the competition. There is no need to pick a winner at the end of the program. Instead, the odds are selected from a list of pre-defined odds ranging from 1 in 10 to 1 in 10,000.

After selecting the game type, the marketer then performs a call to action to inform mobile users about the new competition. Mobile users send a text message from their mobile phones and the SMS Campaign Manager processes the entries. After the competition ends, the winner pool is considered complete and the winner selection feature becomes available, except in Instant Winner games. Instant Winner entries are processed immediately and the winner is notified. Marketers then export data that shows details from the program, such as mobile users, incoming messages, and correct answers.

Competition is an advanced SMS program type. In the US, a client is required to have a dedicated short code and the short code must meet US carrier approvals to run a competition to collect entries by way of SMS. Therefore, this program type is not available by default and requires Provisioning to activate after the criteria for the client to use this program type has been verified. Contact Client Support to request access.

Voting program

Voting programs gather customer input and opinions by creating fun and engaging SMS polls. Collect mobile numbers with each vote and see what your audience has to say.

Use the Voting program to collect and count specific responses. This program type can be used for polls or votes and automatically tallies up the responses, which can either be a keyword or a text string. Tallying is based on exact matches to other entries.

Voting is an advanced SMS program type. In the US, a client is required to have a dedicated short code which must meet US carrier approvals to run this type of program via SMS. Therefore, this program type is not available by default and requires Provisioning to activate after the criteria for the client to use this program type has been verified. Contact Client Support to request access.