Two-way SMS

Deepen subscriber engagement and loyalty with a conversational experience between a subscriber and your brand.

 

How it works

Enter subscribers into a flow using the SMS Sent Entry then add a Wait step. The Wait step is where you can configure two-way communication with your subscribers. Enter up to six keywords that subscribers can use as a reply. Each keyword branches the flow, so you can create customized paths for each keyword response. By default, each branched set includes a configurable time-out option, as well, if a subscriber doesn’t respond.

Note: Keywords are not case sensitive, but the reply must exactly match the keyword.

 

Reserved keywords

Some keywords, like STOP, are reserved. The following is a full list of the reserved keywords for two-way SMS:

  • CANCEL
  • END
  • OPT OUT
  • QUIT
  • REVOKE
  • STOP
  • STOPALL
  • UNSUBSCRIBE

 

Create a two-way flow

Follow these steps to create a two-way flow:

  1. Create a new Lifecycle Optimizer flow.
  2. Add the SMS Sent Entry.
  3. Add and configure a Wait step:
    1. Set the Wait type to Wait for SMS.
    2. Set the Received From number.
    3. Set the Wait for... time.
    4. Add one to six SMS keywords responses in the Wait for... section.
      Note: Each keyword can only be used once per step but can be used multiple times across a flow.
  4. Build the rest of your flow.
  5. Save your work.

 

Double opt-in with two-way SMS

You can use the two-way SMS feature to create a double opt-in flow. There are two ways to accomplish this:

  • Use the Double Opt-In Recipe
  • Create your own flow

The recipe is available in the Recipes section of Lifecycle Optimizer.

Create a flow

  1. Create a new flow in Lifecycle Optimizer.
  2. Select the List Joined Entry and configure the step.
  3. Add the Send SMS Primer Action and configure the step.
  4. Add a Wait step. Use the following configuration:
    1. Set the Wait type to Wait for SMS.
    2. Set the Received From number.
    3. Set the timeout period in the Wait for... section.
    4. Set the existing keyword to yes.
  5. Add additional Send SMS Primer Actions and Wait steps for up to 5 days after the initial send. After 5 days have lapsed, you can no longer contact a subscriber.
  6. Save your flow.