SMS | TXT Messages

Modified on Tue, 21 May at 11:51 AM

Set-Up

To enable SMS messaging from Discover, you will first need to create an account at twilio.com (pricing is available on their site) and purchase a phone number.

Once you have set up your account in Twilio, navigate to Discover > Centre Settings > Twilio/SMS and enter your details (Twilio Account Sid, Sender ID and Auth Token).

For a successful Twilio setup:

Remove any spaces from the phone number
Make sure you are using a Paid account. You cannot send SMS to just any number with a trial account

You can use one Twilio account for as many services as you like, although please keep in mind, you will have one bill from them per account and potentially you may want separate bills for expense purposes.

Sending SMS

SMS/TXT messages are sent via the Bulk Communications menu, selecting SMS as the method.

If you are wanting to send a Test Message using the Test SMS, this will only send to your mobile (the User logged in - from your staff record).

Note that the country code is NOT required, but is accepted, on the contact details. Discover adds the country code if it is missing for the actual sending of the communication.

Reviewing activity/logs

Discover will email you when you send a bulk SMS message with the list of who it tried to send to.

If you wish to check which were successful or not you will need to log into your Twilio account and check the Usage and Logs - this will list all message attempts and their status.

Within the Log, it will show if Delivered or Failed - if failed you can click on the status and see the details and reason.

If the status says Delivered but the Recipient is saying that they didn't receive the message, this is likely an issue with their Phone provider, possibly blocking the TXT.

Twilio can be contacted for further assistance.

Troubleshooting

Recently, mobile phone providers have been tightening their rules for blocking spam SMS/TXT messages, as a result, for a lot of NZ Vodafone customers of your centre/service may not receive your Bulk Communication > SMS/TXT messages that you send via Discover/Twilio.

Twilio can have your services whitelisted to prevent this issue.

In order to be eligible for this option you must:

Receive explicit opt-in from your parents/contacts/customers (end-users) before you send any messages to them. This means the all the parents, contacts and staff must specifically agree to receive messages from you, for example by checking a box on your website or on your Enrolment Agreement Form.
Provide all of the information requested below. This is necessary to apply for whitelisting of your traffic to NZ.
Acknowledge that Twilio reserves the right to remove your traffic from the whitelisted connection if we receive complaints related to your traffic from Vodafone or from end users, or if the messages you send to users do not match the use case you describe here.

You will need to submit a request to Twilio - From your Twilio account screen, click on the right dropdown menu and select "Submit a Ticket" for "Applying for Whitelist for Vodafone NZ"

Requested Information:

Company Name:
Twilio Account Manager (or "none" if you do not currently have one):
Twilio Account SID:
Type Of SMS Service (no marketing/promo traffic allowed): e.g. Appointment reminders, PIN, Emergency Closure notifications, etc
Service Description:
· Example: Providing order tracking/shipment updates by SMS
How Does the End User Initiate Service:
· Example: End user provides mobile number when completing Child Enrolment Form and checks a box to indicate they want to receive priority updates by SMS/TXT.
Your company's Customer Care email address: e.g. customercare@yourwebsite.example or most likely your Centre Administrators email address
Your company's Customer Care call number: must be 0800 for New Zealand
Web URL for your end-user Terms & Conditions: e.g. www.yourwebsite.com/terms-and-conditions , you should add to these about granting permission to receive SMS/TXT
· Note: If your Terms and Conditions cannot be viewed online, please provide a copy in PDF format.

Please note: Twilio needs all of the above information for you to be eligible to apply.

In Discover:

You will need to update your Enrolment Agreements and your Terms & Conditions to have parents, contacts & staff agree to receive SMS/TXT messages from you for the purposes of essential communication (no marketing or promotional message will be sent by SMS/TXT).
When sending SMS/TXT you need to ensure you are not sending promotional or marketing messages via this service. Ensure you are only selecting to send to the relevant recipients.

To help control your administration when sending messages - In your Centre/Service Settings you may wish to create a Category for "SMS/TXT Granted" (or similar), then you can add this category to children where you have received permission for the Contacts to receive SMS/TXT.

Then, when running the Bulk Communication > sending an SMS/TXT, you must add that to your Categories selection.