TextIt Blog

Attaching a PDF URL to a Message

We've added a new feature that allows you to attach a PDF URL in addition to Image, Audio, and Video URLs.

Attaching your PDF URL

Once you've entered the flow editor, create a 'Send Message' action. Click on the 'Attachments' tab at the top of the message node:

Choose 'PDF Document URL' from the dropdown menu:

Paste the PDF URL in the text field and click 'OK' to save. That's it!

You can then test out your link in the Simulator. You can click on the attached document and it will open in a browser window.

As always, be sure to test out your link in real messages before sending to your contacts!

Want to learn even more about using TextIt? Check out our Help Center.

Questions? Comments? Let us know!

New Messaged Contact Pricing!

As you know, we launched our new unlimited messaging plan on September 1st. Billing on the new plan was based on the total number of contacts in your account at the end of each month. Over the past month we've received feedback from some of our customers that they'd like to be billed based on the number of messaged contacts in their workspace instead of the total number of contacts. This would more accurately represent the value they are getting from TextIt on a monthly basis.

After considering the pros and cons we've decided those customers are right and our subscription plan now only counts contacts who have sent or received a message (or IVR call) during each subscription period. For example, if you have 15,000 contacts in your workspace, but only message 600 of them during a month, then you will only be billed $25. Each workspace will still come with 1,000 messaged contacts included and each additional messaged contact will still be billed at $0.01 per month.

We've already made this change on our side and all plans have already been upgraded to this plan. You will now enjoy a lower monthly bill and the ability to build up a contact list in your workspace that you can refer to in the future.

As always, if you have any questions, reach out via the support widget on the website!

New Billing Plan w/ Unlimited Messaging Launches TODAY!

As you’ve been hearing over the past month, starting today, we’re moving to a monthly subscription plan that includes unlimited messaging. Instead of pricing based on the number of messages you send, pricing will be based on the number of contacts you maintain in your TextIt workspace. Each TextIt subscription will include 1,000 contacts, unlimited messaging and be only $25 per month. Each additional contact above 1,000 will cost just $0.01 per month.

Switch over to subscription from the billing page on your workspace, which you can find on your workspace settings page.

This will let you more easily predict the costs of your projects and let you build awesome interactive flows without worrying about how many credits they will use at scale.

New Design

We’ve also launched a new, fresher design of the website. This includes a lot of small improvements that we think will lead to a smoother and cleaner experience for you. We spent a lot of time testing things out, but with any big change sometimes a few things sneak through, so if you see anything amiss, do reach out!

TextIt.com

Finally, we are moving from https://textit.in to https://textit.com. Both will work for you for the foreseeable future, but we’ll start redirecting you to the .com in the next few weeks.

What’s Next

If you have existing credits, you can still use them until they expire. However, once you run out of those credits, you’ll have to switch to our new monthly plan. If you’d like the benefits of unlimited messaging immediately, you can convert the value of any remaining credits you have on your billing page.

If your account has no credits, we will be converting you to our free trial plan soon and you’ll have 90 days to evaluate the product with up to 100 contacts.

Covid-19

We've helped organizations deliver over 20 million Covid-19 related messages on TextIt and we are excited to continue that support moving forward. We’ll offer discounted pricing for anyone using TextIt for Covid-19 projects with a plan that includes 10,000 free contacts and half price contact pricing for just $25 per month.

Deleting Contacts

It is important to note that if you delete any contacts, they cannot be recovered.

To delete a contact, they must first be placed in the 'Archived' folder. You can manually delete individual contacts or send an entire group through a flow to update their status to 'Archived' for easy bulk deletion.

Manually Delete Contacts

To permanently delete an individual contact, first navigate to the "Contacts" tab in your account:

You'll see a list of all your contacts on this page. To delete a contact, check the box to the left of their name. Then, click the 'Archive' button. This will place the contact in the 'Archived' folder:

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Next, navigate to the 'Archived' Folder and again, check the box to the left of the contact's name.

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Finally, you can delete ALL checked contacts at once by clicking the 'Delete All' button.

You'll be asked if you're sure to delete ALL the contacts whose names you've checked. Remember that contact deletion is FINAL and no deleted contacts cannot be retrieved!

Delete an Entire Group of Contacts

To place multiple contacts in the 'Archived' folder for bulk deletion, you'll need to change their status from 'Active' to 'Archived', which is easily done in a flow.

Create your contact group. Remember that you can identify dormant contact who haven't interacted with you lately via the 'Last Seen On' contact field via a contact search.
Start the group in a flow that contains the 'Update the Contact' action that will update their status. All contacts who are started in this flow will automatically be placed in the 'Archived' folder and can then be deleted.

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Contact Status

Aside from archiving, you can also place a contact in the 'stopped' or 'blocked' folders.

Stopped contacts have opted-out from receiving your messages and are removed from all groups. You cannot send them any messages, but they can opt back in by messaging you.

Blocked contacts are contacts that will not receive outgoing message and all of their incoming messages are automatically archived. They are removed from all groups.

Want to easily identify dormant contacts to be deleted? See our guide.

Want to learn even more about using TextIt? Check out our Help Center.

Questions? Comments? Let us know!

Archiving Contacts in a Flow for Easy Deletion

In order to delete contacts, they must first be placed in the 'Archived' folder in the 'Contacts' tab.

You could manually move contacts into the 'Archived' folder, but what about many at once? Do this with a flow.

Add any unwanted contacts to a group. For dormant contacts, remember that you can use the handy 'Last Seen On' contact field to search for contacts who you've not interacted with lately and add them to a smart group via a contact search.
Once your group is ready, simply start them in a flow using the 'Update the Contact' action which will change their status from 'Active' to 'Archived'.

In our example below, we've created a group of contacts called 'Dormant' and added the 'Update the Contact' action in a flow that will automatically place all contacts who pass through the flow into the 'Archived folder:

We'll then start the flow and select the group 'Dormant':

That's it! All contacts who are started in this flow are now in the 'Archived' folder and are ready for deletion. To delete all contacts in the 'Archived' folder, just click the 'Delete All' button:

Want to learn even more about using TextIt? Check out our Help Center.

Questions? Comments? Let us know!

Contact Statuses- What are They?

A contact's status can be set to Active, Stopped, Blocked, or Archived. Learn what each status means in this guide.

A contact's status will affect their group membership and whether they can receive outgoing messages or send incoming messages.

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Active contacts maintain all of their group memberships and will both receive your outgoing messages and be able to send you incoming messages.
Stopped contacts have opted-out from receiving your messages and are removed from all groups. You cannot send them any messages, but they can opt back in by messaging you, changing them to 'Active'.
Blocked contacts are contacts that will not receive outgoing message and all of their incoming messages are automatically archived. They are removed from all groups. This status is useful for spammy or unwanted behavior.
Archived contacts are removed from all groups and will be ignored forever. The difference between 'Archived' and 'Blocked' contacts is that these archived contacts are ready for deletion. To delete a contact, they must first be placed in the 'Archived' folder in the 'Contacts' tab. Updating a contact's status to 'Archived' allows you to easily place an entire group in this folder for bulk deletion.

Note that you can easily identify dormant contacts by using the 'Last Seen On' contact field in a search and then place those contacts in the 'Archived' folder via a simple flow. This will help you easily delete groups of contacts that you no longer wish to maintain in your workspace.

Want to learn even more about using TextIt? Check out our Help Center.

Questions? Comments? Let us know!

Using the 'Last Seen On' Contact Field

Using the 'Last Seen On' field in a campaign or a contact search is helpful in identifying contacts who've last communicated with you relative to a date.

You can use this field to find contacts who've been unresponsive or dormant and reach out to them or delete them from your database.

Searching with 'Last Seen On'

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Using a query with last_seen_on, you can search for contacts who were last seen relative to a specific date.

You can use the following operators to perform a search on all contacts present in your account:

last_seen_on = "date" to search for an exact date

last_seen_on > "date" to search for all contacts seen after a date

last_seen_on < "date" to search for all contacts seen before a date

last_seen_on >= "date" AND last_seen_on <= "date" to search for contacts last seen between two dates

last_seen_on != "date" for contacts not last seen on an exact date

last_seen_on = "date" OR last_seen_on = "date" for contacts last seen on multiple specific dates

With the resulting contacts, you can create a new group. In the example below, we searched for contacts who were last seen before a specific date.

We'll click "Save as Group" to create a new group with just these contacts:

Last, we'll name the group. Here, we've identified contacts who haven't interacted with us in several months, so we'll name the group "Dormant":

Using 'Last Seen On' in a Campaign

What if we wanted to follow up with contacts who haven't interacted with us recently? We could do this from within a campaign without having to search for contacts or creating a dynamic group. Here's how:

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In the example above, we've created a campaign event that will send a message to all contacts 90 days after the 'Last Seen On' field, which is the date they last interacted with us.

Sending a message or flow to contacts who've been dormant is helpful in reminding them to follow up with you or to weed out contacts who can be deleted.

Questions? Comments? Let us know!

TextIt Update: New Billing Plan (Unlimited messaging!)

Over the years we’ve heard from you that you’d love a way to use TextIt without having to pay for each interaction. Well, we’re excited to share with you that we’re switching to a simple, affordable, subscription plan that makes that possible!

Starting September 1st, we’re moving to a monthly subscription plan that includes unlimited messaging. Instead of pricing based on the number of messages you send, pricing will be based on the number of contacts you maintain in your TextIt workspace. Each TextIt subscription will include 1,000 contacts, unlimited messaging and be only $25 per month. Each additional contact above 1,000 will only cost $0.01 per month.

This will let you more easily predict the costs of your projects and let you build awesome interactive flows without worrying about how many credits they will use at scale. We’re also rolling out new features to help you delete contacts you are no longer using.

What’s Next

If you have existing credits, you can still use them until they expire. However, once you run out of those credits, you’ll have to switch to our new monthly plan. If you’d like the benefits of unlimited messaging immediately, we’ll also let you convert the value of any remaining credits you have starting on September 1st.

If your account has no credits, we’ll convert you to our free trial plan on September 1st and you’ll have 90 days to evaluate the product with up to 100 contacts.

Covid-19

We've helped organizations deliver over 20 million Covid-19 related messages on TextIt and we are excited to continue that support moving forward. We’ll offer discounted pricing for anyone using TextIt for Covid-19 projects with a plan that includes 10,000 free contacts and half price contact pricing for just $25 per month.

Updating a Contact's Status in a Flow

You can use the 'Update the Contact' action in a flow to change a contact's status to either active, stopped, or blocked.

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A contact can have 3 possible statuses:

Active - The contact will receive your outbound messages and can send incoming messages.
Stopped - The contact is removed from all groups and will no longer receive your messages. The contact is ignored until they send an incoming message, opting them back in.
Blocked - The contact is removed from all groups and will be ignored entirely, but not deleted. The contact will neither receive outbound messages nor be able to send incoming messages.

Stopped Contacts

Some channels, like Twilio, have built-in opt-out keywords. If the contact sends any of them to your channel, we will automatically place them in the 'Stopped' folder in the 'Contacts' tab. The contacts are removed from all groups and you will be unable to send them any outbound messages. The contact can opt back in to receiving your messages with the provider's re-subscribe keywords at any time. They will not be automatically re-added to groups.

Using the 'Update the Contact' action in a flow to change a contact's status to 'Stopped' is helpful when a channel does not have automatic opt-out keywords and helps you to track opt-outs yourself. Any time the contact sends you an incoming message, they'll be removed from the 'Stopped' folder and made 'Active' unless still opted-out by your channel provider, like Twilio.

Blocked Contacts

Sometimes, a contact can abuse your service or send offensive messages. While you can manually block a contact if you notice spammy behavior, it can also be useful to build rules in your flows that detect abusive language.

If a contact sends unwanted language, you can use a 'Wait for Response' to detect certain words. If found, you can automatically block the contact. This can come in handy when contacts can automatically trigger a flow with an assigned keyword published on a website or advertisement.

Want to learn even more about using TextIt? Check out our Help Center.

Questions? Comments? Let us know!

Adding an Email or Zendesk Ticketing Service

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You can easily pass a contact's communications off to a live human agent via email or our Zendesk integration. This is an easy way to better respond to help requests, process refunds, provide more detailed one-on-one information to contacts, and so many more use-cases.

Adding a ticketing service provides an advantage over the 'Send Email' action as the communications between your agent and contact will remain on TextIt and can be viewed as incoming and outgoing messages on the platform.

Adding an Email Ticketing Service

Email ticketing is a super simple way to handle your live agent responses. It takes just moments to set up.

First, integrate the email address to which all new tickets will be forwarded. Your agent's responses will also come from this email address. Navigate to your account page by clicking on your organization name in the top right corner:

Click the gear icon and choose 'Add Ticketing Service':

Next, click the 'Email' section:

Add your email:

Find the verification email which you'll find in your email inbox and connect the code:

That's it! You're now ready to set up the email ticketing action in a flow.

Setting up email ticketing in a flow

To begin your email ticketing pipeline, create a flow that will collect any text or fields you'd like to forward to your agent. In the simple sample flow above, we ask the contact to send us free text describing their issue & collect it with a 'Wait for Response' node.

Once we've collected all the responses we'd like, we add the ticketing action:

In the body of the email, we'll reference the free text the contact sent using @results.issue, using the name we gave to the flow result in the 'Wait for Response' node.

When a contact passes through the flow, a ticket will automatically be forwarded to the email address we integrated to our TextIt account. In your email, you can respond to the contact's request:

All further messages between the agent and the contact will also been seen in your TextIt account. Here's the contact's message history page showing the agent's email message and the contact's response:

Adding a Zendesk Ticketing Service

Zendesk is a CRM company that builds software designed to improve customer relationships. The platform provides support, sales, and customer engagement software that allows you to integrate live agent chatting, self-service, call center communications and more into a single platform.

After creating your Zendesk account, you'll integrate it into TextIt. Navigate to your TextIt account page, click the gear icon, and choose 'Add Ticketing Service' from the dropdown menu:

Click on the Zendesk section:

Type in your subdomain name and then click 'Allow' on the following page to give TextIt permission to access your Zendesk account.

Follow the steps on the integration page:

Click the link to redirect to Zendesk's app marketplace and search for 'TextIt'. Install the app.
In your Zendesk Channel Integrations page, you should now see the TextIt app added.
On this page, click the TextIt app in the list and add an account. You'll need the secret key found on the integration page in TextIt.