Lately I have been working on scenarios that involve text messages getting sent out as part of a Journey interaction, and I have to say I found it quite interesting.
But I also realized that using the Marketing Cloud SMS capabilities requires a fair bit of setup & administration around MobileConnect, which you can find parked under the Mobile Studio. So in this series, I am going to drill down into MobileConnect, so that you can get started with the right setup & configurations that you need to send & receive SMS or MMS messages via Marketing Cloud. So here we go…
Chapter 1 – The Long & Short (Codes) of MobileConnect
Short & Long Codes are specific phone numbers, issues by wireless carriers, that are used to send out SMS/MMS messages to other wireless providers. Basically, when you send out a text message using MobileConnect, the receiver will see that short/long code (you can also mask it with a custom name, in case you don’t want them to see the number).
What’s the difference between Short & Long codes?
To keep it simple, Short codes are 5-6 digits long, and are primarily used to send out text messages in the United States. On other hand, Long codes generally are 10 or more digits long, and support text messaging to the rest of the world. Do take note that you can also use Short codes for other countries too, except US. Ideally, Short codes are specific to a country, while Long codes can support multiple countries
How to get Short & Long Codes for your Marketing Cloud org?
You need to go through your SFMC Account Executive for this. There is a process to obtain these codes and it can take from a couple of days to a couple of weeks to get these codes, so it is advisable to kick start this process way in advance. Once this process is completed, you will be able to see the Short/Long Codes provisioned under MobileConnect –> Administration
Clicking on the codes will also show you the Supported Countries, so that you can choose the right short/long code, depending upon the region where you want to send out the text message
It is also important to setup Keywords associated to your Codes. These keywords are important as your mobile subscribers will be using them to:
- Give their consent/Opt-In to your Mobile messaging list
- Opt-Out/Unsubscribe from your Mobile messaging. Do take note that MobileConnect treats this as a Global Unsubscribe request. This is done using the “Create STOP Keyword” function
- Request for help by using HELP keywords. This is done using the “Create HELP Keyword” function
You can also refer to this useful article on the Salesforce Marketing Cloud Knowledge base about Keywords & Codes
The next chapter in this series will cover Mobile Contact Management, where I am going to talk about the steps for adding and managing Contacts to MobileConnect, what are the key attributes that you need in your Mobile Contact List, how to manage Contact Opt-in for Mobile messaging and more. So stay tuned and keep learning!
