Text messages

Modified on Mon, 22 Jun at 5:29 PM

Text messages have a maximum of 918 characters

Messages over 160 characters will be sent as multiple text messages (up to 6) but appear as one to the recipient

You will be billed for however many text messages it takes to send your message

Templates containing more than 918 characters can be saved but may be truncated before sending

Final character count won't be known until variables are replaced with real values

Messages can be sent in any case (including all upper case)

If a message is all upper case, substituted variables will also be upper case to maintain consistency

Send Text Messages

Manually - From a lead, click New > Text message to free type or choose from a template
In Bulk - From search leads using bulk actions
Workflows - Send text messages automatically
Lead Actions - Set to trigger automatically at certain points (e.g. status change). Configure in Settings > Lead Groups > Lead Types > Edit > click to add an action

You can set up inbound text messaging to enable customers to reply
Reply messages display on the user's homepage (same as reply emails)
Reply texts are assigned to the user who sent the original message, not the lead's assigned user

Enable SMS Short Links on text message templates
To enable: Go to Settings > Templates and edit an existing template or create a new one
Select the tick box for "Short Links"

When sending a text from a template with SMS Short Links enabled, all links are shortened to a maximum of 13 characters in the format flg.to/xxxxxx
Click tracking is enabled - Set up a lead action to trigger on Text Message Clicked event
View engagement data in Reports: Text Delivery Summary or Text Delivery Detail

Send notifications to partners via text message
Set up alerts when a partner is referred a lead or when funds are running low
Configure in Partners > Settings > Lead Delivery Settings - tick options under "Enable Text message alerts"
Contact Partner or Contact User can be used as a lead type or workflow action
Text messages can be sent to the chosen partner or to the assigned (or specific) user

Set up a text message short code to create leads automatically
Potential customers send a text with a keyword (and their name) to a shortcode
Example: Keyword LOAN - customer texts LOAN JOHN SMITH to 607060
Creates a lead with the mobile number as contact telephone and name as John Smith
First and last names are optional - if omitted, system uses "Unknown Unknown"
Example: Texting just LOAN creates a lead with name "Unknown Unknown"

Capitalisation doesn't matter - LOAN and loan both work
Texting only the keyword creates a lead with "Unknown" for first and last name (be careful with duplication settings)
No spaces between keyword and name: LOANJOHNSMITH creates first name as JOHNSMITH, last name as Unknown
One space: LOANJOHN SMITH creates first name JOHN, last name SMITH
Receiving leads by text can use a normal phone number or keyword number
Note: The number receiving leads is different from the one receiving replies

Choose or obtain a short code text message number (e.g. 60-70-60) and a keyword
Once acquired, select which lead group to add these leads to
FLG will configure your account to receive leads by text message