TextIt now supports quick replies, a feature that enables you to provide contacts on IP messaging channels such as Facebook Messenger, Viber, Telegram or LINE a predefined set of responses. 

Whereas simple text is the foundation of any mobile messaging experience, quick replies allow you to enhance the experience by presenting a collection of options to the message recipient. When one of these options is tapped, the set is replaced with a single text message which is then sent to your flow. 

Usage

To add quick replies to a message, simply click the dialog icon beneath TextIt's message composition form. 

These options will then appear for anyone who interacts with that flow. You can even test them yourself in the simulator. 

Quick replies are handled just like regular text, so you can continue to structure your RuleSets as you normally would.

Considerations

Text messages seem like a sure thing, right? We tend to send them off without thinking twice about their status or delivery order. We expect them to be delivered moments after we sent them exactly as they were authored. As it turns out, SMS isn't so simple under the hood. So in this article we're going to discuss steps you can take to troubleshoot common SMS issues. 

Message Splitting

Texts are split into a series of messages at the carrier level when they exceed their character limit (160 characters for messages that contain only the GSM character set; 70 characters for messages containing one or more non-GSM characters, like emojis 👍). Here's a tool you can use to determine whether or not your message will be split, and how many segments it will be split into. 

Delivery Order

Once a message is split, it's at risk of being received out of order. For example, if the last segment in the series is smaller than the first two, it may get to the end user first since the shorter message is sent the fastest. You can get around this by pre-splitting your messages in your flows and applying a label to indicate the order in which they should be read. 

Undelivered Messages

Android Relayer Channels

If you have an Android device, TextIt's Android channel enables you to send and receive messages anywhere you can acquire a local SIM card. Simply download the TextIt Android application on your phone and connect it to your account, and you're good to go. 

• the phone doesn't have a steady internet connection

• the phone doesn't have a strong cellular connection

• the Nyaruka TextIt Android app is toggled to "paused"

Log into your account, navigate to your account page, and then click your Android channel to view performance stats: 

Twilio Channels

To view your error and sending logs, navigate to your account page and click your Twilio channel: 

Others

If you suspect your channel is have trouble delivering messages, click into the log we provide you. You'll find receipts for each request we made, and if an error has occurred you'll see an error code you can bring to your channel provider's attention. 

If you aren't sure where to look or you aren't able to identify the issue, let us know! We're hear to help 

Questions? Comments? Let us know! We value your feedback. 

Have you ever wanted to retrieve additional information about a phone number? Perhaps you'd like to know whether a number is a land or mobile line. Maybe you'd like to know the caller's name or carrier. If you have a Twilio account, you've got access to an API that gives you access to all of this information and more. In this article, you'll learn how to use TextIt's webhook step to retrieve information about a number within a flow. 

Webhooks

A webhook is an HTTP callback: a POST request that occurs when something happens (a simple event notification). A web application implementing webhooks will POST a message to a URL when something happens, and this is exactly what TextIt does when a contact reaches the 'Call Webhook' step in a flow. We can use this special step to make requests to Twilio's Lookup API. 

Setup

First, you'll need a Twilio account. Next, grab the Account SID and Auth Token from its settings page. We'll be plugging these values into the new 'Headers' section of the webhook step. (New to TextIt? Use this guide to connect a Twilio number to your account and start sending). 

Credentials in hand, head over to base64encode.org to apply a special type of encoding that Twilio expects for this sort of request*. Simply input your Account SID and Auth Token separated only by a colon, e.g. ADa19ehc8fb23d2515:d09a32e56d8512685, and click the 'Encode' button. 

*Twilio uses a form of authentication called 'Basic Auth'. Basic Auth requires incoming user credentials to be base64 encoded. 

Copy the output and navigate to your TextIt account. Create a flow, select the 'Call Webhook' RuleSet, click the blue 'Additional Options' link, and create a header whose key is 'Authorization' and value  is 'Basic' plus your encoded Twilio credentials: 

Finally, manipulate to the URL to suit your needs. The expression @contact.tel_e164 will resolve to the active contact's number, but you can change it to another number if necessary. You can also change the 'type' query parameter to be 'caller-name'. 

https://lookups.twilio.com/v1/PhoneNumbers/@contact.tel_e164?Type=carrier

Results

Considerations

• Twilio does impose a small, pay-as-you-go fee for carrier and caller name lookups, more here. 

• You can also pass basic auth credentials through the URL itself, e.g. https://ADa19ehc8fb23d2515:d09a32e56d8512685@lookups.twilio.com/v1/PhoneNumbers/@contact.tel_e164?Type=carrier

Questions? Comments? Let us know! We value your feedback. 

From research study delivery to customer interaction, SMS messaging has become one of the most effective ways for organizations of every kind to both collect and disseminate information. Use this short guide to ensure that your organization's SMS messaging system adheres to best practices as dictated by the United States telecommunications industry.  

SMS traffic in the United States is governed by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), which dictates how and when enterprises and consumers can exchange messages. If your organization complies with the TCPA, you're probably in good shape, but you may be wondering, "is there anything else I should be considering?"  That bit is dictated by CTIA – The Wireless Association, an advocacy group representing the U.S. wireless communications industry as a whole. This guide serves to break CTIA's messaging recommendations into a short, clear guide to engaging in consumer-oriented messaging while simultaneously preventing the transmission of unwanted messages.

P2P vs A2P

P2P

P2P covers low-volume messaging, whether the participants are (a) individual wireless consumers or (b) wireless consumers and consumers of cloud-based messaging services or enterprises (e.g. TextIt). These exchanges must conform to the CTIA's "typical human operation" classification, which covers situations in which: 

• No more than 60 messages are sent per minute. 

• No more than 1,000 messages are sent per day. 

• No more than 200 unique recipients are reached in total. 

• The average ration of incoming to outgoing messages is typically 1:1, with some wiggle room. 

When wireless messaging traffic meets these classification criteria, it is considered to not exhibit the characteristics of unwanted messaging. 

A2P

At this time, CTIA views A2P to be all messaging traffic that does not meet its P2P criteria. It's both the type of traffic that the TCPA governs and the subject of this guide. At minimum, A2P traffic should: 

• Seek the consumer’s express consent to receive informational and/or marketing messages.

• Give the consumer the ability to revoke consent.

The CTIA sees the following use cases as appropriate for A2P traffic: 

• Enterprises texting multiple consumers simultaneously. 

• Call center scenarios 

• Alerts and notifications 

Best Practices

Send via Short Codes

Incorporate Toll-Free Numbers

• Your contacts don't incur a fee when sending to a toll-free number. 

• They send 3 messages per second as opposed to standard numbers, which send at a rate of 1 message per second. This cuts down on the time it takes to deliver message broadcasts, and generally improves the speed of two-way interactions.  

Bundle your Numbers

Twilio provides a message service feature called Copilot that enables you to dedicate multiple Twilio numbers to a single TextIt channel, and improve SMS delivery with phone number intelligence features like: 

• Scaler - distribute messages across a group of phone numbers to reach large audiences in a short amount of time.

• Geo-Match - create a local experience by automatically using local phone numbers that match country and area codes to your end-user's personal number.

• Sticky-Sender - send messages with the same recognizable phone number to create a consistent experience and maintain conversation history.

• Reroute - if you're using a short code, you Twilio will automatically revert to standard long-code phone numbers when a carrier is unable to receive messages from short codes.

TextIt now supports outbound media on telephony channels like Twilio, and IP messaging apps like Facebook Messenger and Telegram. This addition rounds out our effort to fully support the exchange of media on our most popular channels, whether incoming or outgoing. 

This week, we're excited to introduce outbound media support. A popular request in recent months, this feature will enable you to add more context to your interactions with images and videos that extend your service's communication potential well beyond 160 characters. 

Getting Started

To add an image or video to a message, simply open up the action editor and click the paperclip icon.

Then, upload your file and continue building! Outbound media actions can be added to both messaging and voice flows. 

Considerations

• Outgoing media is displayed in-app for Facebook Messenger, Telegram and Twilio channels, but converted to a link for others. 

• Twilio only supports MMS in the US and Canada, and will convert a picture message into an SMS with linked media when sending to MMS-incompatible numbers.

• Twilio will also automatically resize the images you send to meet your contacts' carriers' requirements. 

• Image attachments are limited to 500KB while video attachments are limited to 20MB. 

Have a use case for outgoing media? Want to request support for a different channel? Let us know! We hope to improve this feature with your feedback. 

Facebook Messenger’s new Checkbox Plugin enables you to authenticate Facebook users with a discrete checkbox that fits naturally into any form. It could be used for just about any form-based use case, but it’s value for TextIt users is collecting opt-ins and contacting website visitors. Once a visitor completes the form, TextIt will message them via Facebook Messenger and add them to your contact list. 

To set it up, navigate to the Triggers page, create a trigger and select the ‘Start a flow when Facebook refers a Contact’ option. In addition to FB Messenger channel and flow, you’ll need to enter a referral id unique to this plugin, e.g. 'textit'. 

Finally, add the plugin to a form on your site. You’ll need to include the optional ref parameter and make sure its value matches the referral id you gave TextIt.

You’re good to go! Any time a visitor clicks your plugin, they’ll receive a message via Facebook Messenger.

Questions? Comments? Let us know. Your feedback is important to us. 

When Nexmo released their new voice API, we jumped at the chance to support it. Nexmo, like Twilio, is a great tool for organizations and developers who want to provide SMS & IVR (voice) communication channels. 

Why Voice?

TextIt’s voice flows allow you to build structured voice interactions that utilize phones' keypads and voice recording functionality. In particular, voice workflows are handy for three reasons:

• They allow you to send and receive voice messages with improved tone, character and length when compared with text messages.

• They're synchronous: contacts are actively engaged with your flow for the duration of the call.

• They enable you to communicate at scale with those who can’t read or write, expanding your organization’s reach.

Use Cases

TextIt’s voice flows can be used to create automated call centers capable of triaging calls and directing clients to the appropriate team member. Alternatively, they're great for outbound communication campaigns: In June of last year, we brought attention to the polio-eradication efforts of UNICEF, the WHO, and the Federal and Provincial Emergency Operation Centers on Polio in Pakistan. In this context, UNICEF's Pakistan Innovations team built voice workflows to disseminate polio knowledge-check surveys designed to equip community leaders with the information they need to affect harmful anti-vaccination discourse and raise awareness within illiterate communities.

Which Service Should I Use?

That’s entirely up to you, as number pricing and availability vary between the two services. First, visit Twilio and Nexmo’s pricing pages to determine whether or not voice-enabled numbers are provided in your country. Learn how to add a voice-enabled Twilio number here. 

Using Nexmo Voice

The process is simple and painless. First, signup for a Nexmo account and add a voice-enabled number.

Next, login to your TextIt account, navigate to the channels page and select Nexmo. 

If this is the first time you’re connecting a Nexmo account to your TextIt account, you’ll be prompted to enter the API key and secret listed on your Nexmo account’s settings page. Once you’ve connected your accounts, all you need to do is select your number, create a voice flow and start sending.

Questions? Comments? Let us know! We value your feedback. 

Sending Email from TextIt

TextIt’s Send Email action is vital to self-service chatbots and standalone messaging workflows alike, as it allows you to notify yourself, your team, or even the active user when a certain condition is met, e.g. a support request is submitted. A chatbot can’t handle every situation, and we don’t believe it should. While they’re great for tedious tasks like registering a user, processing a purchase, checking the weather or booking a flight, a human touch is essential to providing a flexible, reliable and amicable service. After all, more than 8 out of 10 (85%) consumers not only want to be able to receive information but also reply to businesses or engage in a conversation. 

Using your own Address

By default, TextIt sends emails from no-reply@textit.in. If you’d like to add your own address, simply navigate to your account’s settings page and click the email icon.

Here we’re using a Gmail-hosted email address. You’ll want to plugin your email address, host URL, credentials, port and encryption preference. In the example above, encryption needs to be set to TLS because that’s the protocol Gmail’s SMTP port 587 uses.

Gmail-Specific Considerations

If you want to link a Gmail address to TextIt, you’ll need to switch the ‘Allow less secure apps’ setting in your Gmail account’s ‘Connected apps & sites’ page to ‘ON’:

https://myaccount.google.com/security#connectedapps

Note that a standard Gmail account is limited to 500 emails per day. Learn more about Gmail’s limits here:

https://support.google.com/mail/answer/22839?hl=en

BANGS Shoes is a fashion brand with a unique mission: help people help themselves. Their model is simple, but powerful: sell sleek, classic shoes to fund entrepreneurs around the globe. To date, they’ve invested in 480 entrepreneurs in 58 countries including the USA. We spoke with Hannah Davis, BANGS Shoes’ founder, to learn more about TextIt’s role in their business.

BANGS Shoes

BANGS invests 20% of net profits to help hand-selected entrepreneurs around the world start businesses. Kiva, a nonprofit organization that allows people to lend money via the Internet to low-income entrepreneurs and students in over 80 countries, vets entrepreneurs and handles both loan dissemination and repayment. When a loan is repaid, BANGS re-invests the money in a new entrepreneur. This process increases financial independence, boosts local economies and promotes personal development.

Why TextIt?

Proudly based in Asheville, North Carolina, BANGS Shoes sells exclusively through their website. They use social media and a brand ambassador community to build their brand, which targets adventure-loving, socially-conscious men and women between the ages of 18 and 24.

They initially visited college campuses to build and support their brand ambassador community, but switched to TextIt when it became apparent to Hannah that, in her words, "we needed a way to communicate with our Ambassadors that didn't require a change of behavior." TextIt enables Hannah to send out notifications to her ambassadors, then personally handle each of their responses. It has enabled her to build a personal relationship with each one–something that's very import to her.

Between social media and TextIt, Hannah's approach has paid dividends. BANGS Shoes' ambassador program has grown by 2,000% since 2012.

Have a question for us? Please, get in touch.