SMS Text Feature Setup

Xenegrade will help you set up your SMS Text feature. Here are the steps needed to complete the set up process.

• Do you already have a Twilio SMS account? Most likely we can use those credentials to connect your XenDirect with Twilio for SMS texting.
• Create a Twilio account and add funds to the account to cover messaging costs and other fees. Xenegrade will help you through this process. There are a few decisions you must make before you create this account. See Twilio for current SMS messaging rates.
  • How often will you send text messages? This will help you determine how much funds to place on account.
  • Determine if you are sending text messages to U.S. numbers only or will need to include numbers outside the U.S. Note that replies to text message also incure a per message rate charge. XenDirect does not support replies to SMS text except STOP replies. However, Xenegrade cannot prevent clients from replying to text messages.
  • Will you use a standard 10-digit phone number as your to sending number or do you plan on using SMS short codes? There is a cost difference between the two with short codes costing more. Most Xenegrade organizations use a 10-digit standard number. That number is selected when you set up your account.
  • You will identify a "campaign" name and purpose when setting up the account. This campaign is required by law to help identify your organization as the sender and separate your campaign from spam senders and those that abuse sending text messages. Xenegrade will help you with this.
• Once the account is setup, we can obtain the required credentials from the account and plug them into XenDirect. That will immediately enable SMS text services within your XenDirect.
• You should review what users have permission to access the SMS Text feature and send messages. We suggest limiting that access to only a few users.

That is the full set up process. As options are added to the SMS Text feature, we will share those with you. And of courses, if you have suggestions for expanding the SMS Text feature, let us know.