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Automation Example: Receive a Notification Whenever a Contact Replies to an SMS

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Andy
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20220921
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Pro-Marketer
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If you use our system to create & send SMS messages, you'll likely also be aware that (in most cases) we support SMS replies. When a contact replies to an SMS, their reply will either be saved on the report for the relevant SMS send, or can be configured to save into a field against that contact on your list.

If using the latter option (i.e. saving an SMS reply into a field), it's possible to receive a notification each time a contact replies to an SMS. In this guide, we'll show you how to build this!

sample-email.PNG

 

How-to Guide

Before you begin, you'll need to have / create a list in the system with the email addresses of the people that you wish to notify each time a contact replies to an SMS (for example, a Staff list with one or more staff email addresses on it).

 

Part 1: Configure Your SMS Replies

  1. Follow our guide to save your SMS replies into a field on your list. We recommend (and this guide will assume that you'll be) calling this field 'SMS Reply'.

 

Part 2: Create a Duplicate Field for the SMS Reply

Later on in this guide, we'll need to create an automation step to copy the SMS reply from one field to another. As such, you'll need to have a second SMS reply field...

  1. Follow our guide to add another new field to your list. We recommend (and this guide will assume that you'll be) calling this field 'SMS Reply (saved)'. When following the aforementioned guide to create your new field, use the Comment field type.

 

Part 3: Create the Notification Email for the Automation To Use

In a moment, we'll be building an automation to send a notification email when an SMS reply is received. Let's create that email...

  1. Follow our guide to create a new email (or just copy an existing one) and open the email message for editing.
  2. In the text portion of your message, click the Wildcard option on the floating toolbar to insert a wildcard into your email message. You'll need to select the field that contains your SMS reply. If you followed our naming convention from Part 2 above, this field will be called 'SMS Reply (saved)'. Insert this wildcard into your email.
    sms-reply-wildcard.PNG
  3. As we're going to be using this email as part of an automation, and because the email is going to a separate list (i.e. not the person who originally sent the SMS reply), we need to edit all of the wildcards in your email message to cater for this. Add the text campaign_ in front of your wildcards (as shown in the example).
    For more details, refer to the section "A Quick Note" in our Wildcards article. sms-reply-wildcard-complete.PNG
  4. Once complete, you can save & close the email.

 

Part 4: Setup the Automation

  1. Select Automation from the sidebar.
  2. Select the Advanced Automation tab.
  3. Click New Workflow.
  4. Give the workflow a name and click Save.
  5. Click New Step.
  6. In the first section, set the action as A trigger against the following list and then select the list that your SMS replies are going into (i.e. the list that contains the field you used in Part 1 of this guide).
  7. In the second section, select the trigger as Update Profile.
  8. Under the Filter your Contacts section, click Add/Edit.
  9. In the popup window, set the fields and criteria as follows...
    filter1.PNG
  10. In the third section, ensure everything is unchecked except the option titled Notify these contacts, with the message
  11. Also in this section, click Select contacts and choose the people that you wish to send your notification email to. This will likely be one or more contacts from your staff list (as mentioned at the start of this how-to guide).
  12. Just underneath this section, select the email message you wish to send your staff. This is the email you created in Part 3 of this guide. 
  13. Under the Change the following value(s) in the contact record section, click Add/Edit.
  14. In the popup window, set the fields and criteria as follows...
    changevalue1.PNG
  15. In the fourth section, set the timing as desired ('Immediately' is generally the recommended option).
  16. Click Save.

 

Ready to go? Activate Your Automation

  1. Select Automation from the sidebar.
  2. Select the Advanced Automation tab.
  3. Finally, click … next to the automation and choose Activate. Your automation is now active.

 

Testing Your Automation

Once active, you can test your automation by adding yourself to the list as a contact, creating & sending an SMS to yourself, then replying to it.

After a minute or so, you should see your SMS reply in the 'SMS Reply' field. Then, once the automation picks up the change, your reply will move across to the 'SMS Reply (saved)' field. And finally, a moment or so later, the automation will send the notification email.

 

Things To Be Aware Of

Any time a contact replies to your SMS, their previously saved SMS response will be overwritten. Furthermore, because our automation systems only runs every few minutes, there may be instances where an initial SMS reply is missed if any of your contacts send multiple SMS replies in a short space of time. In these instances, only the most recent replies will be stored & emailed.

 

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