Enable Two-Way SMS Conversations with Iterable

In this article, we'll guide you through integrating your Iterable account to enable Two-Way SMS capabilities (Conversations) within SmarterSends. This process will involve configuring values within SmarterSends and setting up Outbound SMS Campaign within Iterable. If any of the following does not make sense or you'd simply like our team to configure it for you, please reach out to our team and we'll get you setup quickly.

1. In your Iterable account, create a new SMS Campaign and set it to be an API-Triggered campaign.
2. Name your Campaign - "SmarterSends SMS - Outbound" or something descriptive.
3. Configure the content by clicking "Start from Scratch". Give the Template a name, select your desired Message Type (We suggest Double Opt-In for full compliance), select your Sender.
4. For the content, we are going to use some handlebars along with your company identifier so that your customers always know who the message is from:
   SmarterSends: {{msg}}
5. Set your conversion events and attribution mode. 
6. Set the Quiet Hours, Send Rate Limit and Ignore Frequency Cap settings to match your needs. We suggest leaving Quiet Hours on, no send rate limit and to Ignore the frequency cap to better ensure that the real-time conversation is maintained.
7. Once all settings are configured, you can Enable the Campaign. 
8. If you are going to enable your team to send MMS messages (with images), you'll need to clone the campaign you just created and make 2 changes to the campaign
   1. Set the name to "SmarterSends SMS - Outbound with Media"
   2. In the Media URL field, type {{mediaUrl}}
   3. Activate this campaign and note the Campaign ID for the next step.
9. In your SmarterSends account, select Integrations -> Two-Way SMS.
10. Select Iterable in the Two-Way SMS Provider drop-down.
11. Paste the Campaign ID of your Iterable Campaign into the Campaign ID field.
12. Add the Campaign with Media ID of your Iterable campaign to the Campaign with Media ID field.
13. Enter the keyword your customers will use to initiate a conversation with your SmarterSends users e.g. Service. Be sure your Default Reply mentions this keyword so your customers know how to get in touch.
14. Add/Update the Acknowledgement message text. This message is automatically sent to your customers after we receive the Service Keyword set above.
15. Enter the attribute name used for your customer's First Name e.g. first_name
16. Enter the attribute name used for your customer's Last Name e.g. last_name
17. Enter the Group Identifier attribute we will use to route conversations to the correct Group within SmarterSends. We'll assign identifiers to groups in a moment.
18. Select the Default Group if a conversation is initiated with a customer that has a Group Identifier value that does not match an assigned value or their identifier is blank.
19. Select the User Assignment Rule
    1. Oldest Recent Activity - This will assign the user (in the correct group) who has been inactive the longest, based on their most recent conversation activity helping ensure idle team members are re-engaged first.
    2. Least Active Conversations - This will assign the user (in the correct group) who is currently handling the fewest active conversations, ensuring no one is overloaded. An active conversations is one that is not Closed or marked as Spam.
    3. Longest Time Since Assignment - This will assign the user (in the correct group) who has gone the longest without being assigned a conversation. This helps ensure fair distribution and prevents the same people from receiving new conversations repeatedly.
    4. Let Users Self-Assign - New conversations remain unassigned until a team member chooses to claim them, allowing users to pick up conversations based on availability and context. This rule is not compatible with the User Isolation feature.
20. Define the number of days for your SLA (service level agreement). Conversations will be escalated if they remain awaiting a reply for this many days.
21. Define the number of days at which to send a reminder to the assigned user that the conversation is awaiting a reply.
22. Define the number of days to consider a conversation Stale e.g. awaiting a customer reply.
23. Choose to use Business/Week days or all days for the above values.
24. Enable/Disable MMS for outbound replies. Inbound messages do not support MMS/Image attachments.
25. Save the Integration
26. Now in SmarterSends, select the Groups menu item.
27. Click the Manage Group Content Areas button
28. Add a New Content Area with a name that matches the Group Identifier Attribute you set above. Typically this would be set as a Text content area type.
29. For each Group that should be assigned Conversations, set the value for the Group Identifier content area you just created by clicking into each group and setting the value.

That's it. You've enabled Two-Way SMS Conversations.

When a customer subscribes to your short code and receives your Default Auto Reply, they'll know to reply with your Service Keyword to initiate a conversation with your team members. Once they reply with that keyword, a conversation will be created in SmarterSends, assigned to the correct Group and user based on your settings above.