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Channels

Send and receive SMS

How SMS senders are set up, how customers' texts reach the inbox, how segments are counted and charged, and how opt-out and the spend limits work.

Last checked For: Administrators and agents

Steps

  1. Know what it does

    Customers text your number and the message arrives in Workspace as a conversation, like any other channel. Agents reply from the same conversation. SMS is also used for meeting reminders, broadcasts and sign-in codes. SMS is charged per segment at your rate card from your balance, and can be switched off per account, team or person on Feature access.

  2. Connect the sender

    When your provider's reply arrives, open Channels and, under Connect a sender, enter the app id from the reply and choose Connect a sender. The sender then appears under SMS senders.

  3. Get an SMS sender

    Messages go out from an SMS sender: an alphanumeric sender (a name of up to 11 characters), a long number, a short code or a toll-free number. Many countries require a sender to be registered with their carriers before it can send, so your provider sets senders up. On Channels, under Ask for a sender, choose the Sender type, enter the Sender and the countries, and send the request: your provider is e-mailed and answers you by e-mail with an app id. Your requests are listed under Your sender requests.

  4. Check your senders

    Open Channels. Under SMS senders each Sender is listed with its Type and its Registration: the countries it is registered in. If you see No SMS sender is set up., nothing can be sent or received by SMS yet.

  5. Choose the right sender type

    Customers cannot reply to an alphanumeric sender: use a number when you expect answers. A sender that is not allowed or not registered for a country is refused for that country with This sender cannot send to the recipient's country. or This sender is not registered for the recipient's country.

  6. Route incoming texts

    Texts to your number go to the sender's queue and are offered to agents like any other conversation. See Create queues for calls and messages.

  7. Reply and count segments

    In Workspace, type in the composer of an SMS conversation. Below it you see how many segments the text uses, its encoding and the characters counted. A text in the standard SMS alphabet fits 160 characters in one segment and 153 per segment once split; a text with any character outside that alphabet, such as an emoji, fits 70, then 67 per segment. Characters such as € [ ] { } count twice. A text can be at most ten segments.

  8. Know what you pay

    Each segment sent is charged at your rate card, and the price depends on the destination country. The charge is reserved from your balance when the message is queued and taken when it is sent; a message that fails for good is not charged. Segments appear in your usage and on your invoice as SMS.

  9. Watch the spend gate

    Under SMS spend gate on Channels, Messages today and Spent today show today's sending against the daily caps your provider set, and State shows Sending when all is well. Too many messages too fast, or traffic that looks like SMS pumping, freezes SMS sending until your provider releases it.

  10. Respect opt-outs

    A customer who texts STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE, OPT OUT or a similar word is opted out of all SMS from you and their consent is recorded as withdrawn. START lifts it, and HELP changes nothing. These keyword messages stay on the conversation but are not given to an agent. Sending to an opted-out number is refused with This address or number has opted out or bounced.

Good to know

  • SMS has no spend policy yet. means SMS cannot be sent until your provider sets the daily caps.
  • Today's message cap is reached. and Today's spend cap is reached. stop sending until the next day.
  • Too many messages too fast: SMS is now frozen. and This looks like SMS pumping: SMS is now frozen. mean sending is stopped until your provider releases it. The State then shows the freeze.
  • Stopped by the kill-switch means SMS sending is stopped for your account.
  • SMS to this country is not set up. means no sender can reach that country yet.
  • That destination is blocked. and That destination is not on the allow-list. come from the destination limits your provider set for your account.
  • The text is longer than ten SMS segments. Shorten it before sending.
  • The contact has no address on this channel. means the contact has no mobile number.
  • The replies sent automatically to STOP, START and HELP are set on the sender by your provider.

Still stuck?

Write to hello@ringura.com, or use the contact page, and say which guide you were following.

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