Text Messaging: Setup w/Twilio
We use a company called Twilio that does all of the sending of text messages from within The Customer Factor, so below are the various steps to get set up with Twilio so you start communicating with your customers with text messages.
First, please visit Twilio and click the "Signup" button at the top right:
Enter all required information in each field as shown below (e.g First/Last Name, Email address, and 16+ Character PW) then tick the "Twilio Terms of Services" checkbox before clicking the "Continue" button.
On the next screen, you'll be asked to check the email that they've sent to verify your account.
Simply click the attached link from the email then log in to your account to continue.
The next verification step is through your phone number. Select the country where you at to auto-populate the area code and insert your phone number then hit "Send code via SMS". Enter the verification code that you received via SMS then click "Submit" to continue.
Please take note of the recovery code as you can use that in the future to access the account.
Next, you will arrive at this page and all you have to do is select the following options shown below and click the "Get Started with Twilio" button to proceed to the main dashboard.
That will take you to the main dashboard:
Click the icons shown above to copy the entire "Account SID" and "Auth Token" then paste them into the Account SID/Auth Token fields in The Customer Factor (Text Message Automation screen).
After doing this head back to Twilio and get a phone number. Keep in mind that the sending phone number will be a number you get from Twilio, so it will NOT be your phone number. So back in Twilio, click on what you see here:
Let's say you would like to search for a better phone number, not just a random phone number. First, enter your area code into the "Search by digits or phrases" field and click "Search".
Several results will display, but If you don't like any of them you can click "Refresh Results" at the bottom of the screen and you'll see another bunch of phone numbers. Eventually, you'll find a phone number that looks good to you. Again, it will not be a number that you'll be communicating back and forth with. It's just for sending text messages from:
After clicking the "Buy" button, a small window will appear. Tick the agreement checkbox and continue by clicking the "Buy +1 xxx xxx xxxx" button, as shown above.
Click the "Configure +1 xxx xxx xxxx" button and you'll end up on the "Configure" page where you can copy your Twilio phone number:
And paste it into the phone field in The Customer Factor (Text Message Automation screen) as shown below.
Make sure to click "Update" in The Customer Factor as shown above so that everything you copied from Twilio is saved.
We're almost done! :)
This next step is really important. By default, if you send a text message to someone and they reply, it ends up in Twilio, so normally you would have to log into Twilio every day to check your replies. But that takes too much time, so we have a nice alternative. So back in Twilio (you should still be on the screen where the phone number displays) scroll down further until you get to the "Messaging" area:
In the messaging area, please remove the demo URL from the field to the right of "A Message comes in" and the Webhook dropdown:
Then insert the below URL instead:
http://www.thecustomerfactor.com/twilio_sms_reply.php?PhoneNumber=xxxx
Next, replace the "xxxx" in that URL with your cell phone number starting with a 1 followed by the phone number, and please avoid including any spaces or dashes. So you should end up with something like this for example:
http://www.thecustomerfactor.com/twilio_sms_reply.php?PhoneNumber=18506573245
Then click the blue "Save" button at the bottom left and you're all set! Going forward, when anyone replies to any text message you send, the reply will go to Twilio and Twilio will redirect that reply directly to your cell phone number.
Finally, the last step:
Right now you only have a trial account. We recommend testing with a trial account, so go into your CF account, insert yourself as a prospect or customer and make sure your cell phone number is inserted into your profile. Right from within your profile screen you can go down to the "Emails, Text messages, and Letters area" and select "Send a text message" as shown:
Send yourself a text message and within 2 to 3 minutes it should arrive. Once it does and you've confirmed everything works as it should then go back into Twilio and click the "Upgrade" link at the top next to the account balance:
You'll need to insert your credit card information. Each text message sent is just .0075 cents so, at less than a penny per text message, it's something anyone can afford. The minimum you can fund your account with is $20 but that could last you a few months.
And there you go! It took longer to write above how to get set up with Twilio than it takes to get set up with Twilio. In another article, we'll discuss how to benefit from automating text message sending and sending broadcast text messages.
Have a great day!
