Learn how to set up SMS messaging and get leads to opt in to your texts — so you can be sure you’re sending your messages to people who actually want to get them.
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SMS messaging
- How to get an SMS number to text from
- How to create a text message
- How to up an automated welcome text
- How to get contacts to opt in to text messaging
- How to change the default country code
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Transcript
Text messages get seen fast, which makes SMS great for time-sensitive things like discounts, purchase confirmations and appointment reminders. But only text people who've opted in. Here's how to set up SMS in Ontraport the right way, from getting a number to having real conversations.
First, get a number. Click your profile icon, then Administration, then SMS, and click Buy number. Give it a reference name, pick a country, and add an area code if you want one. Click Search, choose a number, and click Buy number. SMS works on every account level, and on Plus and above your first number is included. Your number's country decides which countries you can text, so to reach another region, buy a number there.
If you text US or Canadian numbers, you have to register a Sender Profile, wherever your business is based. Carriers will likely block unregistered messages, and you're still charged for them. You fill out Ontraport's Sender Profile registration form, choosing Sole Proprietor, Low Volume or High Volume, and Ontraport submits it for you. Review can take a few weeks, so do this early. We recommend registering even if you don't text the US or Canada.
Next, the account owner picks an SMS plan. Click your profile icon, then Account, and add an SMS plan under Plan settings. You're billed by message segment, not by message, and you can set a daily spend limit as a safety net.
To write a text, go to Contacts, then Messages, then New message, and choose New SMS. If Contacts is the only object in your account, you'll find Messages under Automations instead. Name it, write it, and save. Each segment holds 160 characters, and a message can run up to 1,600, but keep it to 320 or fewer for the best delivery. Merge fields, emojis and special characters all use up characters, and the editor counts as you type. Paste links as full URLs, and skip link shorteners, because carriers filter them. From US and Canadian numbers, you can also add an image.
Your sender compliance message, set in your sender profile, goes out automatically with the first text each contact gets. It tells them what they signed up for and how to opt out. Contacts can reply Stop, Unsubscribe, Cancel or Quit to opt out, and text START to opt back in.
There are two ways contacts can opt in. One is to fill out a form that includes an SMS field, which is the field type for a phone number that can receive texts. The other is to text your number first. If they text their email address, alone or after their first name or full name, they're opted in to your email and SMS marketing.
Now welcome every new subscriber automatically. Build an automation with two triggers: SMS Received from contact, and Contact submits a form, set to your opt-in form. Then add a Send an SMS element. In its settings, choose your message under "Send contacts this SMS," choose your number under "Send from this number," and click Done.
You can also reply automatically. Add "SMS contains" conditions to the SMS Received from contact trigger. For example, when someone texts "free ebook," send them the download. These conditions aren't case-sensitive, so add a few variations. For a head start, there's a prebuilt "SMS lead capture and nurture" map that collects leads at live events.
For personal back-and-forth, use Inbox. It needs an Inbox plan, and each user who works in it needs a license. Hover over Inbox, click Settings, then Channels, and add an SMS channel with your number and the inbox it routes to. Use the same number your welcome automation sends from. Then when a contact replies, Inbox opens a conversation with the full context.
To start one yourself, go to Inbox, click New, pick the channel and contact, and click Start. The thread and the contact's record sit side by side, and your team can assign, reply and close conversations together.
To text a group, use an automation instead of a broadcast. Carriers' spam filters can discard texts that go to many people at once, and they may even block your number. If you do send an SMS broadcast, you can track it in Broadcast History, and you have five minutes to cancel it there.
So: get a number, register your Sender Profile, choose a plan, collect opt-ins, automate your texts, and handle conversations in Inbox. Next up: email deliverability tips, so your emails reach the inbox too.
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