Learn how to apply to use Neon CRM's Text-to-Communicate feature. This help guide will cover how to use Text-to-Communicate once your toll-free number is verified. Functionality is releasing June 29, 2024.
Once the "Set-up Texting" step is complete, you can find your Text-to-Communicate features under "Texting" in the navigation bar. Reminder that it may be under "View More," but you can reorganize your navigation for what maters to you!
Recommended Reading Before You Start
Content
- Setting up Texting Audiences
- Creating and Managing Texting Campaigns
- Insights from Texting Statistics
- Viewing all Text Messages Sent and Received
- FAQ
Setting up Texting Audiences
Texting Audiences are an important step in sending mass communications using SMS or MMS to your constituents. You can find Texting Audiences using the navigation of Texting > Text Audiences.
From there you will see a list of your text audience list.
You can create a new audience by selecting the "New Audience" button. You will be asked for an audience name before you can proceed.
Once you've define the audience name, it will preform similarly to the Email Audience options. Instead of adding emails, you would be adding phone numbers.
For Audience Sources, you can add one or many sources from another audience or a live report. You can also directly add recipients one at a time using the "Add Recipient" button.
You may also exclude recipients via a live report. Please note that SMS and MMS messages can only be sent to constituents and supporters that have provided affirmative consent. We will automatically exclude constituents that have not provided their consent using our Data Privacy and Consent feature.
Creating and Managing Texting Campaigns
Once you've set-up a Text Audience, you're ready to create and send a Text Campaign. To do so, navigate to Texting > Texting Campaigns. From here you can view your existing Text Campaigns or create a new one using the "New Text Campaign" button.
Once you've selected the New Text Campaign, a full page builder will open. This is similar to the Email Campaigns builder but modified for texting functionality.
You will need to create a name for your text and click "save".
From there you will select your audience using the "Select Audience" option. Once defined, click "save."
Now you're ready to "Add Content" to your text message. Once selected, you will have an option to:
Attach Media Files
Upload images, short videos, or short audio files (no larger than 525 KB total). You will select the "Click to upload" image to select your desired content. Please note that by adding an image or video, this will become an MMS text message.
Define Message Content
You are able to define your message and include tokens, links and emojis. These can be used in SMS or MMS message segments. Once you're happy with the content, click "save."
If you add a link to a CRM Form, from your CRM library, or a hyperlink, we will automatically shorten the hyperlink for you to reduce characters! While there are other URL shortening tools (bit.ly), these are normally seen as "spam" and it is recommended to use our shortening option to prevent spam blocking.
Now you should be able to see a version of the Text Campaign that you can save as a draft or schedule and send.
You can send it immediately or you can schedule it for the future.
When you're ready, press "Send" or "Schedule."
Insights from Texting Statistics
Now that you've sent your Text Campaign to your Text Audience, you likely want to know how it performed. To do that, navigate to Texting > Texting Statistics. From here you will get an overview of the recipients who have clicked content in your texts, recipients that were undeliverable, and number of recipients that opted-out as well as a list for each of your Text Campaigns.
By selecting the name of the Text Campaign, you can see a preview of what that message looked like from a tablet or mobile device.
| Table Field | Description |
| Text Campaign Name | The name of the text campaign created by a user. |
| Attempted | The number of message segments that were attempted in the campaign. |
| Sent | The number of message segments that were sent. |
| Clicks | The number of click-throughs to the link provided in the text campaign. |
| Undeliverable | The number of message segments that were undeliverable. This could be due to the number no longer being in service. |
| Audience | The audience that the campaign was targeting. |
| Delivery Started | The date that message segments started sending for the campaign. |
| Delivery Completed | The date that the message segments completed their process for the campaign. |
| Status | The status of the campaign sending. These options could be Draft, Processing, Success, or Failed. |
When you click on the blue number under "Attempted" you will be taken to the "Text Messages" page with a filtered view. This brings us to the next section of this article.
Viewing all Text Messages Sent and Received
You can see a listing of all the text messages sent and received by navigating to "Texting > Text Messages."
| Table Field | Description |
| Account Name | The constituent account that sent or received a text message |
| Phone Number | The phone number used to send or receive the text message |
| Message Direction | Sent or Received |
| Text Type | Account or Campaign |
| Message Type | SMS or MMS |
| Text Campaign Name | If a text campaign was used, the name of that campaign will display |
| Sent/Received | The date the message was sent or received |
| Status | The status for the message segments. This could indicated Received, Queued, Sending, Sent, Failed, Delivered, Undeliverable. More details for each are available in the FAQ below. |
| Note | If the message failed, this will include the reason for failure |
| Message Segments | The number of message segments used in sending the message of the defined Message Type |
By selecting the phone number, the Text Message experience will appear highlighting the specific message in the history that was selected.
FAQ
Why is the system sending confirmations for opt-in and is that charging me?
Confirmation of opt-in is required for the SMS/MMS Phone Number. The initial message does charge one SMS message segment. For clients that leveraged the Data Privacy and Consent feature prior to the launch of Text-to-Communicate, this initial message was waved. Additionally, phone numbers added to Neon CRM via the Import Manager do not receive an opt-in message.
Why are my email and texting audiences separate?
Email audience target constituents with email addresses on file while the texting audience targets constituents with SMS/MMS Number and SMS Consent granted.
I have been using a custom field to collect consent for texting. Is that sufficient?
We're glad you've been collecting the information! In order to use Text-to-Communicate, you must utilize the Data Privacy and Consent functionality. If you are seeking to migrate your data from your custom fields to our Data Privacy and Consent functionality, please reach out to crmsupport@neonone.com to request a data service.
Why am I being told I've reached my budget? How can I send the messages I need to send?
To prevent your organization from spending more than you want to on texting, there is a "budget" set by you! The budget is not what Neon One charges our clients as we charge based on actual usage within our Terms and Conditions. The budget is the upper limit that Neon CRM will allow to protect your organization from spending more than you desire on text messages.
All users will get a notice when the budget reaches 50% usage and 90% warning message so that updates to the Budget can be made by users with Financial Authority. To update the budget, a user with the Financial Authority permission can access Global Settings > Communication > Texting > Text Messages to increase the value. Once saved, you'll be able to send additional messages in alignment with the defined budget.
How do I manage who has Financial Authority for my organization?
You can update the permissions tied to the user group the users you want to restrict or grant access. You can do this from User Groups page under the Advanced Settings header for the Financial Authority permission.
I don't want everyone to be able to view, send or read text messages. What do I do?
You can update the permissions tied to the user group the users you want to restrict access. You can do this from User Groups page under the Communications header for the following permissions:
- Text Audiences
- View Text Campaigns
- Edit Text Campaigns
- Send Text Campaigns
- View Text Campaign Stats
- View Account Text Messages
- Send Account Text Messages
Where can I send a text message from in the system?
You can send text messages through the constituent's account or through a Text Campaign. Future additions such as texting from the volunteer, event, or workflow pages are in our roadmap.
I want to include a hyperlink in my message and have a shorter link to reduce character usage. Is there any reason I shouldn't use another solution?
When you are drafting new text messages in Neon CRM, use the hyperlink tool to quickly add a link to a Neon CRM form, external URL, or file attachment. Neon CRM will automatically shorten your URL as it is added, to reduce the number of characters used by the link in your message. We recommend taking advantage of Neon CRM's URL shortening service, since it retains your organization's name in the URL. However, you are welcome to use other URL shortening services if preferred. If you use other services, there are a few things to be aware of:
1. Using an external URL shortening service will remove Neon CRM's ability to track clicks/taps on the links included in your text messages. This data will not be possible for your Neon CRM system to collect if the URL has been altered, so you will not see click-through data on the Text Statistics page.
2. Many well-known URL shortening services are disallowed by mobile carriers due to their common association with spam messages.
Commonly disallowed URLs shorteners include:
- bc.vc
- bit.ly
- budurl.com
- clicky.me
- goo.gl (Google Drive links are also disallowed)
- Is.gd
- Ic.chat
- ow.ly
- s2r.co
- soo.gd
- tiny.cc
- tinyurl.com
Best practice to avoid spam reports and blocking is to use the URL provided by Neon CRM, but if you prefer another option we recommend using a branded shortened URL (for example, some major brands have done this - ESPN (es.pn), Nike (swoo.sh), and the New York Times (nyti.ms)) or a shortening service that will allow you to use your organization's domain name for the URLs (a .com, .org, or .gov URL).
How can I send foreign characters and emojis?
Emojis and foreign characters (i.e. Korean, Japanese, Arabic, or Cyrillic alphabet languages) are supported in text messages. However, due to the way that these characters are encoded to create the text message, they impact the number of characters that can be included in text message segment. If your message is encoded to be able to include an emoji or foreign character, the length of a SMS Message Segment is apx. 70 characters.
How can I send or receive media files?
Up to 10 media files can be included for each MMS message, with an overall file size limit of 525KB. This means that only very small video or audio files will be possible to send via text, but you can typically include one or more images.
Supported file types are: .wav, .ac3, .amr, .png, .jpeg, .gif, .bmp, .mp4, .avi, and .txt.
What happens if I send a long message?
If you are drafting a message and exceed 1,000 characters of text, you will see a warning from Neon CRM that your message will be converted into an attachment. When you send a message with this status, a preview 160 characters of the message will be visible to the recipient, and the full message will be viewable via an attached .txt file. To avoid this formatting, we recommend reducing the size of your message or sending multiple messages. Although MMS can support up to 1,600 characters, many phone carriers will automatically convert text over 1,000 characters into an attachment. Neon CRM will make this change automatically for you in order to preserve formatting, rather than allowing this adjustment to be made by the receiving phone.
Can I start a group message with multiple constituents?
No, group messaging isn't supported for toll-free numbers.
Will my number use any automated actions, like if the constituent sends STOP or HELP?
Yes, three auto-responses are supported:
STOP will opt the constituent out of SMS/MMS Messages.
START or UNSTOP will opt the constituent in to receive SMS/MMS messages. Please note: If the constituent has previously sent a STOP message, the only way for them to opt back in is by sending a START or UNSTOP message. It is not possible to opt them back in as a user inside Neon CRM.
HELP will send a short response including the contact address or email for your organization and opt-out details. This message is not editable.
The Text Message page shows a status for each message. What do each of the statuses mean?
| Status for Messages Sent by You | Description |
| RECEIVED | Neon CRM has received your request to send a message. This is the initial status when sending a message to indicate the message has been accepted for sending. |
| QUEUED | Neon RM has successfully received the message and queued it prior to being sent. |
| SENDING | Neon CRM is in the process of sending your message to the downstream carrier. |
| SENT | Neon CRM has sent the message and the carrier has accepted the message. This can be a final delivery status for messages when no delivery receipt was received from the carrier. |
| FAILED | The message could not be sent. The error code associated with this message will provide more information about the specific reason for this final failure delivery status. |
| DELIVERED | We have received a delivery receipt from the downstream carrier confirming successful delivery. This represents a final successful delivery status. |
| UNDELIVERED |
The delivery receipt received from the carrier indicated the message was not deliverable. The error code associated with this message will provide more information about the specific reason for this final failure delivery status. |