Enabling and Configuring SMS / Text Messaging

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SMS messaging, or texting, in CERVIS works by having CERVIS send SMS messages through your existing Twilio messaging account. There is a $300 one-time activation fee to activate SMS messaging on your CERVIS account. After this there are no additional fees to use the SMS functionality within CERVIS. However, there will be fees with Twilio for each message you send (for more information about messaging rates and pricing please refer to their website HERE). Essentially, you will pay CERVIS once to activate the feature and then you will have ongoing fees with Twilio based on your service agreement with them and the amount of messages you send. Please contact CERVIS Customer Support at support@cervistech.com to enable SMS on your account.

To set up a Twilio account and configure it to work with CERVIS, please follow the steps below:

Setup a Twilio account

If you don't already have a FREE account with Twilio, then you will need to sign up for one through their website at https://www.twilio.com/try-twilio.  

If you are a non-profit, you should also look into their "Impact Access program" at https://www.twilio.org/benefits where they offer discounts and free message credits for those organizations with confirmed eligibility.

Purchase a Phone number

Once you have your Twilio account, you will need to purchase a phone number to send SMS / Text messages from. Phone numbers through Twilio typically cost around $1 per month for each number you purchase. If you will be sending out a high volume of messages, or messages to recipients in many different parts of the country, you may want to consider buying multiple numbers. If you're not sure how many numbers you need, we recommend starting with a single number, as you can always add additional numbers in the future.

To purchase a phone number, please follow, the steps and corresponding screenshots below:

1. Sign in to your Twilio account (if you're not already signed in): https://www.twilio.com/login
2. Click on the "Phone Numbers" tab on the left side of the screen
3. Click on the "Buy a Number" option
4. Search for a number with "SMS" capabilities in your desired area code
5. Click the "Buy" button next to the number you want to buy

Create a Messaging Service

A Twilio Messaging Service is a higher-level “bundling” of messaging functionality around a common set of senders, features, and configuration that allows you to send messages from Twilio by using your CERVIS account. To create a messaging service in your Twilio account, please complete these steps:

1. Sign in to your Twilio account (if you're not already signed in): https://www.twilio.com/login
2. Click on the "Programmable Messaging" tab on the left side of the screen
3. Click on the "Messaging Services" option
4. Click the "Create Messaging Service" at the bottom of the page
5. Enter "CERVIS" as the Messaging Service Name
6. Click the "Create" button

Add Your Twilio Phone Number into your Messaging Service

In order to use your Twilio messaging service to send messages from within your CERVIS account, you will first need to add the phone number, that you purchased in the steps above, to your Twilio messaging service. To accomplish this, please follow these instructions:

1. Sign in to your Twilio account (if you're not already signed in): https://www.twilio.com/login
2. Click on the "Programmable Messaging" tab on the left side of the screen
3. Click on the "Messaging Services" option
4. Click the name of the messaging service you created above
5. Click on the "Sender Pool" option
6. Click on the "Add Senders" button
7. Set the "Sender Type" to "Phone Number" (or one of the other options if you are doing a more advanced configuration)
8. Click the "Continue" button
9. Place a checkmark in the checkbox next to the number (or multiple numbers) that you created previously.
10. Click the "Add Phone Numbers" button

Enable and Configure SMS Message Replies

When you send out a message from your CERVIS console, by default, any replies to that message will be discarded. If you would like to receive the content of any message replies, you will need to configure message replies in your Twilio account by following these steps:

1. Sign in to your Twilio account (if you're not already signed in):  https://www.twilio.com/login
2. Click on the "Programmable Messaging" tab on the left side of the screen
3. Click on the "Messaging Services" option
4. Click the name of the messaging service you created above
5. Click on the "Integration" option
6. Click on the radio button next to "Send a webhook" under the "Incoming Messages" section of the page
7. Enter the URL "https://www.cervistech.com/acts/sms_response.php?provider=twilio&org_id=xxxx" into the "Request URL" field (NOTE: You must replace the “xxxx” at the end of the URL with your Organization ID that can be found in System Configuration of your CERVIS Console under the “Organization Information” section.)
8. Click the "Save" button down at the bottom of the screen

Once you have completed the steps above, the system will send an email message, containing the content of the SMS message reply, to your primary organization email and primary contact email any time someone replies to an SMS message that you send (these are the default addresses that will receive a copy of the message, but this can be customized later in the instructions below).

The reply email that you receive will look similar to the example below:

Register your Organization as a "Trusted Sender" for improved message deliverability and increased message throughput

In the face of ever-increasing phone and SMS SPAM, mobile carriers in the United States (Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, AT&T, etc) have increasingly experienced tighter scrutiny over who is allowed to send messages over their mobile networks. As a a result, mobile carriers in the U.S. have implemented additional requirements for organizations (both businesses and non-profits) wishing to send SMS traffic to recipients on their mobile networks. These new requirements are grouped together in the mobile network industry in what they are calling "A2P 10DLC". 

"A2P 10DLC" stands for "Application-to-Person 10-digit long code messaging" and is the latest offering from U.S. carriers to help support the growing ecosystem of businesses and non-profit organizations texting their customers while protecting end users from unwanted messages. 10-digit long codes (which are the same thing as standard 10-digit phone numbers) have traditionally been designed for Person-to-Person (P2P) traffic only, causing businesses to be constrained by limited throughput and heightened filtering. The launch and support of A2P 10DLC across all carriers in the United States provides good actors, such as CERVIS customers, with increased deliverability and throughput, but also requires additional registration to build trust with carriers. There are also associated fees with this registration process and also a very small increase in per-message carrier fees.

In some circumstances, organizations sending a very small amount of SMS message traffic (less than 15,000 messages per month) may not need to register as a "trusted sender", but we would highly recommend doing so to ensure your messages make it to your intended recipients on a consistent basis.  Registering your organization will be completed directly in your Twilio console under the "Trust Hub" section of your Twilio dashboard and  documentation on how to register your organization can be found directly on the Twilio support site here: https://www.twilio.com/docs/sms/a2p-10dlc/onboarding. If you have any questions about whether or not your organization should register or about the associated fees, please contact your Twilio account representative.

Configure CERVIS to Send Messages via Twilio

Now that you have your Twilio account set up, you will need to copy your authentication from your Twilio account and input it into your CERVIS console.  Please follow these steps to complete the setup:

Retrieve Authentication from Twilio

1. Sign in to your Twilio account (if you're not already signed in): https://www.twilio.com/login
2. Click on the "Console Dashboard" tab on the left side of the screen
3. Locate and copy your Twilio "Account SID" for input into your CERVIS console
4. Locate and copy your Twilio "Auth Token" for input into your CERVIS console (if this value is not being displayed, click the "Show" option to view it)
5. Click on the "Programmable Messaging" tab on the left side of the screen
6. Click on the "Messaging Services" option
7. Locate and copy your Twilio Messaging Service "SID" for input into your CERVIS console

Input Twilio Authentication Information into CERVIS

1. Sign into your CERVIS console
2. Click on the "Edit System Configuration" option under the "System Management" section of your CERVIS Main Dashboard.
3. Scroll down to the bottom of the CERVIS system configuration page and expand the "SMS Gateway" section. If you do not see the "SMS Gateway" section in your CERVIS system configuration, you will need to contact CERVIS Customer Support to enable this functionality. There is a $300 one-time activation fee to activate SMS messaging on your CERVIS account.
4. Input your Twilio Account SID into the "Twilio Account SID" field in your CERVIS System Configuration
5. Input your Twilio Auth Token into the "Twilio Authentication Token" field in your CERVIS System Configuration
6. Input your Twilio Messaging Service SID into the "Twilio Messaging Service SID or Phone Number" field in your CERVIS System Configuration
7. OPTIONAL: If you would like to specify a custom list of individuals who will receive an E-mail notification any time a recipient of an SMS / Text message replies, please enter a comma separated list of E-mail addresses in the "Send SMS Replies To" field in your CERVIS System Configuration. If this field is left blank, SMS message replies will be sent to the main contact address and the primary organization address for your account 
8. Click the "Update Configuration" button in your CERVIS System Configuration to complete the SMS setup in your CERVIS Console

Sending SMS / Text Messages from within CERVIS

After completing these steps, SMS is now enabled in your account and you can manually send out SMS messages or configure your events to send SMS reminders. For instructions on how to send SMS messages, review the knowledge base article linked HERE.