SMS

Web Chat SMS Application

Introduction

Web Chat is a browser-based tool that enables users to send and receive A2P (Application-to-Person) SMS messages. It allows multiple users to share a single SMS number and encourages compliance with 10DLC regulations required by mobile carriers.

To use Web Chat, ensure that your system meets the following requirements:

• A modern web browser (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari)
• JavaScript must be enabled in your browser
• You have acquired your SMS number and initial password from us and successfully completed the campaign registration process

User Account Types

Web Chat supports three different user types, each with varying capabilities:

1. Standard: A2P SMS messaging. Users are responsible for collecting consent outside of the system to send messages. No opt-in or double opt-in automation (responder contacts). No system enforced restrictions on text destinations. Use cases include PBX alerts, Notifications and 2 Step Verification.  
2. Marketing: Includes Standard features plus "Text to Join" automation and Campaign Announcements. Keyword responder contacts are maintained by the system. Only opted-in responder contacts can receive Announcement messages. Use cases include scenarios where conversational texting is desired as well as automation features (keyword responder).
3. Promotional: A2P SMS messaging restricted to system controlled subscriber contacts. Only numbers that have explicitly granted consent via a "YES" response to a double opt-in "Text to Join" keyword or consent request invitation are added as opted-in contacts. Only opted-in contacts can receive messages.

Logging In

Open your browser and go to [Web Chat Login]

Enter your Display Name (the name to be displayed as the sender in the shared message history).

Enter your SMS Number (your assigned 10DLC number).

Enter your SMS Password and click Sign In. You will be redirected to the Main Menu Home page.

Main Menu Overview

The Main Menu consists of several sections that allow users to navigate the application efficiently. 

Home (Message Inbox)

The home page functions as your message inbox.

The left panel displays a list of SMS contacts (mobile numbers). Clicking on a contact selects it.

The right panel display the conversation (message history) with the selected contact.

Options for Standard and Marketing users:

• Add Contact: Adds the contact number to your Chat Contacts.
• Delete History: Deletes the message history for the selected contact.
• Trash Icon: Delete a single message from the conversation history.
• Reply: Respond to the latest message in the selected conversation.

Options for Promotional users:

• Invite Contact: Adds the contact number your Subscriber Contacts. Sends the configured Consent Request Invitation (see Request Consent Setup).
• Delete History: Deletes the message history for the selected contact.
• Trash Icon: Delete a single message from the conversation history.
• Reply: Respond to the latest message in the selected conversation.

Settings

The Settings Page is divided into four sections: 

Account Usage:

Shows a summary of messages sent and received in the last 90 days. To view the message usage detail, click Message Detail. You'll be redirected to a page showing the message time, sender, receiver, segments, direction, type, and last message status. This page allows for exporting the message detail to a .csv file.

SMS Account:

Displays the logged in Display Name, SMS Account Number and Account Type. To change the account password, click Change Password. You will be prompted for the existing password along with your new password. NOTE: This changes the account password for the SMS Account Number. If you share this account, make sure you share the new password as well.

Organization Settings:

Define a Brand Name to optionally be prefixed to regular text messages. Optionally define a postscript to be appended to messages. When enabled, you will see a preview of your message while composing message text. The organization prefix and postscript can be used for alerts and notifications when not explicitly defined in PBX Alerts setup. NOTE: Automations and Announcements expect you to defined your brand and disclaimers in-line, and therefore are not effected by these settings.

Archive Message Inbox:

Create and download a compressed zip archive of the current message history in both .html and .csv format for each contact. The archive must be fully extracted to a local folder before being viewed. Navigate to the uncompressed local folder and open the index.html to view the contents of the archive.

Address Book

For Standard and Marketing users:

Manage your contacts and groups. Contacts appears in your various selectors throughout the app.

For Marketing users only: Chat Contacts and Groups only apply to New Chat Messages. They are not related to Automations or Campaign Announcements.

Chat Contacts

Displays a list of your chat contacts sortable by Contact Number, First Name, Last Name, and Company.

Options include:

• Delete Selected: Delete all rows with the check mark enabled (multi-select).
• Add Contact: Add a new Chat Contact to the contact list.
• Download: Downloads (exports) your Chat Contacts to a .csv file.
• Import: Uploads a .csv formatted file into your Chat Contacts. ( formatted as number, first name, last name, company )
• Edit: Edit the contact name or company fields.
• Delete: Delete a contact.

Adding or editing a contact allows you to apply a first name, last name and company to the number. This allows the system to derive a friendly name for this contact used in contact selectors and the inbox.

Chat Groups

Create and manage messaging groups.

The left panel displays a list of existing chat groups. Clicking on a group selects it.

The right panel displays group members for the selected group.

Options include:

• Add Group: Add a new group to your list of groups.
• Delete Group: Delete the selected group from your list of groups.
• Add Contact: Opens the contact pop to select a contact to add to the selected group.
• Red X icon: Removes the contact from the selected group,

For Promotional users:

Only contacts with a Opt-In Subscription State can receive messages from you. You cannot change the subscription state of a contact.

Subscriber Contacts

Displays a list of your subscriber contacts sortable by:

• Number: The contacts mobile number.
• Display: The display name derived from the contacts editable name and company fields.
• Keyword: The last "Text to Join" keyword received or "solicited" if initiated by a request consent invitation.
• Last Status Update: The date of the last subscription state change.
• Subscription State: The current contact state (Opt-In, Opt-Out, Request Pending)

Options include:

• Delete Selected: Delete all rows with the check mark enabled (multi-select).
• Expire Contacts: Prompts you to enter a date to delete all contacts with a Last Status Update date older then to the date you selected.
• Add Contact: Create a new contact by mobile number. See Adding Subscriber Contacts below.
• Download: Export your Subscriber Contacts as a csv file.
• Refresh: Query the system for the latest changes to your contact list (new "Text to Join" contacts or subscription state changes).

Click on a row to add/edit the name information for the contact. Editable fields are first name, last name and company. The system will derive a display name from these fields.

Subscriber Groups

Groups let you organize your subscriber contacts into distribution lists for Promotional Announcements. By default, groups are created by keyword and contain only the respondents who have opted in. Respondents who later opt out are automatically removed from groups.

The left panel displays a list of your existing subscriber groups. Clicking on a group selects it.

The right panel displays groups members for the selected group.

Options Include:

• Add Group: Create a custom group from any or all of your eligible subscriber contacts.
• Delete Group: Deletes the selected group.
• Refresh: Rebuilds the default groups. Any contacts previously removed will be re-added as well new contacts or changes to subscriber contact state. Contacts added to a default group from another keyword set are retained when refreshing default groups.
• Add Contacts: Opens a selection list of all available contacts to add to the selected subscriber group.
• Red X icon: Removes a contact from the selected subscriber group.

Adding Subscriber Contacts (Promotional users only)

Contacts must give you their permission (explicit consent) to receive messages from you before they can be added to your Subscriber Contacts. Consent is given by a YES reply to your configured Consent Request (see Automations Request Consent Setup). When a request is sent, the contact is created with their subscription state set as Request Pending. On receipt of the YES reply, the state is moved to Opt-In and the contact is available to receive messages. Only contacts with a Opt-In state can receive messages.

Options for initiating Consent Requests:

• Invite Contact: Clicking Invite Contact for a selected mobile number in your Home (Message Inbox) page.
• Add Contact: Clicking Add Contact from your Subscribers Contacts page.
• New Chat Message: Attempting to send a chat message to a recipient not in your subscriber contacts prompts you to Request Consent from that number.
• Responder Keyword Match: When you receive a "Text to Join" Double Opt-In keyword from a new contact (see Automations Responder Setup).

However the consent request is initiated, the contact MUST respond with a YES reply within 72 hours of the request or the contact is automatically deleted.

Automations

Web Chat allows automation using keyword-based responses and actions. The automation features and keyword action types available are dependent on your account user type.

Responder Setup

Responder Setup lists your existing keyword responders by keyword and their configured response.

Options include:

• Enable Auto Responder: Use the checkbox to enable or disable all keyword responders for your account.
• Add Keyword: Configures a new keyword responder.
• Pencil icon: Edit an existing keyword responder.
• Trash icon: Delete an existing keyword responder

Keyword Configuration:

Clicking New Keyword or Edit opens the keyword configuration dialog (Marketing user shown).

For Standard users

Enter the unique keyword to match (new keyword only). Select the action type to perform on a match to this keyword.

There are 2 available action types for Standard users:

• Opt-out: Typical out-out keywords include STOP, END, CANCEL, UNSUBSCRIBE, and OPTOUT. When an opt-out keyword is received, the system will send your configured response and add the message sender to your internal black list blocking your account from sending messages to this number. Your response should include your brand name and indicate they have been unsubscribed. Once a contact has been blocked, they must send another message to be removed from your blacklist.
• Conversational: Typical conversation keywords include INFO or HELP. When a conversational keyword is received, no action is performed other than replying with the configured response.

For Marketing users

Enter the unique keyword to match (new keyword only). Select the action type to perform on a match to this keyword.

There are 4 available action types for Marketing users:

• Opt-In: Text to join keyword. When an Opt-In keyword is received, the sender is added to your responder contacts as opted-in. The system will reply with the configured response.
• Double Opt-In: Text to join keyword. When a double opt-in keyword is received, the system responds with the configured confirmation response requiring the sender to reply YES. After the confirmation is received, the sender is added to your responder contacts as opted-in. The system will then send the configured keyword response. If the sender does not reply YES within 72 hours, the pending contact is deleted.
• Opt-Out: Typical Opt-Out keywords include STOP, END, CANCEL, UNSUBSCRIBE, and OPTOUT. When an opt-out keyword is received, the system responds with your configured response and will opt-out the sender from your subscribed contacts. In addition, the message sender is added to your internal black list blocking your account from sending further messages to this number. Once a contact has been blocked, they must send another message to be removed from your blacklist.
• Conversational: Typical conversation keywords include INFO or HELP. When a conversational keyword is received, no action is performed other than replying with the configured response.

For Promotional users

Enter the unique keyword to match (new keyword only). Select the action type to perform on a match to this keyword.

There are 3 available action types for Promotional users:

• Double Opt-In: Text to join keyword. When a double opt-in keyword is received, the system responds with the configured confirmation response requiring the sender to reply YES. After the confirmation is received, the sender is added to your subscriber contacts as opted-in. The system will then send the configured keyword response.  If the sender does not reply YES within 72 hours, the pending contact is deleted.
• Opt-Out: Typical Opt-Out keywords include STOP, END, CANCEL, UNSUBSCRIBE, and OPTOUT. When an opt-out keyword is received, the system responds with your configured response and will opt-out the sender from your subscribed contacts. In addition, the message sender is added to your black list blocking your account from sending consent request or further messages to this number. Once a contact has been blocked, they must send another message to be removed from your blacklist before you can initiate another consent request.
• Conversational: Typical conversation keywords include INFO or HELP. When a conversational keyword is received, no action is performed other than replying with the configured response.

Responder Contacts (Marketing users only)

Responder Contacts are created whenever you receive a keyword match from a sender. Only contacts with an Opt-In subscription state can receive Campaign Announcements. You cannot add new or change the state of your responder contacts.

Displays a list of your subscriber contacts sortable by:

• Number: The contacts mobile number.
• Display: The display name derived from the contacts editable name and company fields.
• Keyword: The last "Text to Join" keyword received or "solicited" if initiated by a request consent invitation.
• Last Status Update: The date of the last subscription state change.
• Subscription State: The current contact state (Opt-In, Opt-Out, Request Pending)

Options include:

• Delete Selected: Delete all rows with the check mark enabled (multi-select).
• Expire Contacts: Prompts you to enter a date to delete all contacts with a Last Status Update date older then to the date you selected.
• Download: Export your Subscriber Contacts as a csv file.
• Refresh: Query the system for the latest changes to your contact list (new "Text to Join" contacts or subscription state changes).

Click on a row to add/edit the name information for the contact. Editable fields are first name, last name and company. The system will derive a display name from these fields.

Responder Groups (Marketing user only)

Groups let you organize your contacts into distribution lists for Campaign Announcements. By default, groups are created by keyword and contain only the respondents who have opted in. Respondents who later opt out are automatically removed from groups.

The left panel displays a list of your existing responder groups. Clicking on a group selects it.

The right panel displays group members for the selected group.

Options Include:

• Add Group: Create a custom group from any or all of your eligible responder contacts.
• Delete Group: Deletes the selected group.
• Refresh: Rebuilds the default groups. Any contacts previously removed will be re-added as well new contacts or changes to subscription state. Contacts added to a default group from another keyword set are retained when refreshing default groups.
• Add Contacts: Opens a selection list of all available contacts to add to the selected group.
• Red X icon: Removes a contact from the selected group.

Request Consent Setup (Promotional users only)

Consent requests are an automation for obtaining consent. Whenever you manually add a new subscriber contact or attempt to send a chat message to a number not in your subscriber contacts, the system will send your configured consent request invitation. Use this page to configure your invitation and welcome response.

Important! Promotional users MUST complete Request Consent Setup in order to use the system.

Complete the following:

• Brand Name: This is your brand name from the settings page. Changes here also reflect your account settings.
• Request Consent Invitation: Enter the text to send as your consent request. The text should include your brand name and MUST specify reply YES to confirm. If the contact does not reply YES within 72 hours, they will be removed from your subscriber contacts and can be re-invited again.
• Request Consent Welcome Response: Enter the text to use for your welcome response. Your response should also include opt out language like 'text STOP at any time to opt out' or any other disclaimers you wish to include. If the sender replies YES to the consent request, the system will send the welcome response and move the subscriber contact state from Request Pending to Opt-in. The contact can now receive messages from you.

Manage Announcements (Marketing and Promotional users)

Campaign/Promotional Announcements are targeted messages to your subscribed contacts and groups. These announcements are managed separately from regular messages and do not appear in your message inbox. Instead each campaign or promotion you create is treated as an entity similar to a contact in your inbox with its own Announcement history.

Campaigns or promotions are a series of announcements focused towards a subset your subscribers. For example, a craft store may want to create a Beads and Accessories promotion for announcements targeted only towards respondents to the keyword BAUBLES. Another example would be a marina sending small craft advisories to the respondents of the keywords SCA or WEATHER.

The left panel displays a list of your previous campaigns. Clicking on a campaign selects it.

The right panel displays the announcement history for the selected campaign.

To delete a campaign, select it and click Delete Selected. This will delete the campaign and its announcement history.

To create a new campaign, click on the New Campaign icon. You will be prompted for a unique campaign name for this group of announcements. This opens the compose new contents page for your announcement.

Enter your announcement text. Be sure to format your message appropriately and that it conforms to SMS campaign regulations.

Your message should include:

• Company identification: Clearly identify your brand or company name on every message. Message frequency disclosure: Tell subscribers how often they can expect to receive messages, or message frequency varies.
• Data rate notice: Mention that message and data rates may apply.
• Privacy policy link: Provide a link to your web site privacy policy or set up a HELP keyword informing subscribers how they can obtain more information.
• Opt-out instructions: Clearly state how to unsubscribe such as Reply STOP to opt-out.

Enter your announcement following best practice guidelines for SMS Campaigns.

To create a MMS announcement, attach your file. The combined total size of all attachments cannot exceed 1.5 MB.

Select your announcement recipients from your responder contacts or groups. Click on the subscriber list to remove a contact or group.

Click Send to send your announcement.

New Chat Message

To send a message, select New Chat Message from the main menu.

Standard and Marketing users

Enter the 10 digit mobile number of the recipient and click Add, or you can select from your Chat Contacts and Groups. Click on a recipient to remove it from the Recipient List.

Compose your message content. If you have selected to prefix your brand and/or append a postscript on the Settings page, you will see a preview of your message as you type.

To attach files, click browse and select the files you wish to attached. The total combined size of all attached files cannot exceed 1.5 MB. Click on the attached file name to remove it from the message.

Click Send to post your message.

Promotional users

Promotional users can only send messages to subscribed contacts. Groups are not supported for promotional users. Click on Contacts to select the message recipient.

You can also enter the 10 digit mobile number of the recipient and click Add. If the number you entered does not exist in your subscriber contact list, your will be prompted to request consent. The system will send your configured consent request invitation to the recipient. You cannot send messages to this number while awaiting consent.

To attach files, click browse and select the files you wish to attached. The total combined size of all attached files cannot exceed 1.5 MB. Click on the attached file name to remove it from the message.

Click Send to post your message.