Configure Twilio Numbers for SMS Use in TrackDrive

In Twilio - Locate Your Twilio API Key and Auth Token

NOTE: You should not buy the numbers you want to use from Twilio in the Twilio Platform.  If you did already, that is ok, TrackDrive can import your Twilio Numbers and the configuration necessary to have inbound calls to those numbers reach the TrackDrive Platform and also configure the numbers for SMS send/receive thru Twilio with API access to stats in TrackDrive.

In order to easily use Twilio Numbers in TrackDrive for SMS, you must first Integrate your Twilio account with your TrackDrive Account.  You will find your Twilio API Key and Auth Token by using the Top Menu Options of Account/API keys and tokens as Pictured below:

You can see the Account SID, but the Auth Token is hidden for security reasons.  Click the eyeball icon to view the Auth Token.

In TrackDrive - Integrate Your Twilio Account

To access the configuration screen to Integrate Twilio with TrackDrive, use the menu selections Integrations/Manage Integrations and click on the Twilio Button.  The following screen will appear:

Name: This is a free form field that you can key any name for your Twilio Account Name; however, since you can have more than one Twilio Account Added, perhaps name it as Twilio - Account Number or some other description you will recognize if you do integrate more than one Twilio account.

Default Provider: To avoid paying double charges on inbound calls, it is best to keep TrackDrive as your default number provider.  It is most likely you will leave this toggle in the Off pos

Account SID: Paste the value you copied from the step above.

Auth Token: Paste the value you copied from the step above.

Click the "Connect" button and you are now ready to buy DIDs in TrackDrive from Twilio by simply picking Twilio as the provider as you purchase numbers either one at a time or on the Bulk Number Order Tab.  Since you will most likely be using the Bulk Order feature to buy numbers, only that method is described below.

 In TrackDrive - Create a Number Pool for your SMS Sends

Access the Number pool maintenance using Setup/Number Pools and click on Add a Number Pool.  The Add Number Pool screen is pictured below:

Tracking Type: Select Phone Number tracking for this option

Name: Name the pool so that anyone would know what it is used for.  Commonly "Offer Name - Pool Purpose - Number Provider

Offer: The Offer is a required field, select the Offer the Number Pool is to be used for.

Traffic Source: Most likely, you won't have an SMS pool per Traffic Source, and the Numbers would be shared no matter who you get your data from.  If sharing the pool, leave the Traffic Source field blank.

Number Limit: We will be manually filling this pool with numbers so we can force which area codes we purchase numbers for.  Set this value to “1” for SMS Pool configuration.

Token Hold Time: This field is Not Applicable to SMS Pools, and that value can be left at one.

Number Stockpile: This field is Not Applicable to SMS Pools, and that value can be left at one.

Track Unique Visitors: This field is Not Applicable to SMS Pools, and that value can be left at one.

Always Credit Traffic Source: If you do setup SMS pools per Traffic Source, you would toggle this value to “Yes”, however, it is important that if you don't do the Pool by Traffic Source for SMS, that this is not on, as that would credit all calls to No Traffic Source on calls.

Manage Extra Tokens: Since the call flow in the offer will route to buyers by “call_type”, if you set the token as “call_type=sms” then all calls that come in on SMS delivery numbers will be marked as SMS calls so that you can route the calls to buyers who have approved SMS traffic.

SMS Settings/Campaign Registry ID: This field is reserved for when TrackDrive numbers are in use; however, these numbers are from Twilio, and the Campaign Registry tasks are done in Twilio as described below.  This field must be left blank for a Twilio SMS Pool configuration.

Provider: Select the Twilio Provider.

Country: Campaign Registry is limited to US/Canada.  Just pick USA for the country as we are manually filling the number pool and can put in whatever numbers we want.

Toll Free/Local: Pick local for the number type.  NOTE: Campaign Registry is only related to Local DIDs, Toll Free SMS approval is a different process, and you will have to ask your Twilio Representative about being approved for Toll Free SMS Delivery.  If you do add Toll Free numbers into your pool they will be used based on the rest of the configuration in this pool setup.

Area Code: We will be manually filling this pool with numbers, so you can leave this field blank

Auto Rent Numbers: Make sure you have this on “No”, or when you save this pool, it will go buy a random DID from Twilio and we want to fill the pool with numbers of our choosing.

Prefer to Dial from Matching Area Code: Toggle this to “Yes”.  In our Bulk Order of numbers from Twilio described in the next section, we will be buying numbers to accommodate this setting.
 

Use Any Area Code in State: Set this to “Yes” as we only need one DID per state and if we buy a number in a state the lead will match up and use the same area code to send messages.

Area Code Matching: You will not have to map area codes that you don't have delivery numbers for.  Leave this section of the number pool configuration blank.

Push the Create Number Pool button to add this pool.  We will fill this pool with the numbers you want to use to send SMS in the next section

In TrackDrive - Purchase the Numbers from Twilio

NOTE: While is might make logical sense to buy the numbers you want to use from Twilio in the Twilio Portal, make sure you are buying them from Twilio on the TrackDrive platform so that we can configure the number settings in Twilio for you as we purchase the numbers.

NOTE: TMobile charges $2,500.00 for Campaigns with more than 49 numbers in the Sender Pool.  The instructions given below intentionally are set to buy a max of 49 numbers so you don't have to pay this extra fee during setup. We have left Alaska and Hawaii off the list, but if you would prefer one of those states vs another in our sample file, the CSV for those are:

1,AK,1907,-9,Alaska

1,HI,1808,-10*,Hawaii

Download the CSV file that is setup to buy 1 Number per state from the Capital City Area Codes for each state here. The data on this file is ordering 1 Number Per Capital City except for the states of AK and HI.
 

Access the “Bulk Number Orders” screen using Setup/Numbers and then click on the Bulk Number Orders tab or the Bulk Order button.

Name: Name the Bulk Order Job something logical so the bulk orders listing will be obvious what the bulk order was being made for.

Telephone Provider: N

Description: Many times this can be same as name, but if you like to make a brief name and then spell out the job more in the description, you may do that.

Offer: Use the drop down select box to pick the offer you are purchasing the numbers for.

Number Pool: Use the drop down select box to pick the number pool you setup in the step above.

Traffic Source: Unless you are setting up an SMS Pool per Traffic Source, leave this field blank.

Fallback to Any Prefix in State/Province?: In this example in the next step, we are going to use the CSV file with 49 area codes in it that we want to use to get numbers.  In the case that exact area code can't be purchased, you will want to check this box so that TrackDrive will look for Numbers in the other area codes for that state.

Click the Next Step button to do the next step of selecting which area codes you want. Since you haven't selected the first area code you want, an inline box will open assuming you want to manually enter some area codes, cancel that popup, as we are going to use a CSV file instead.

Click on the Quick Configure with CSV button.  A Window will popup to allow you to put in the CSV file. In this example, we are using the Capital City area codes for each state, less AK and HI.

When the CSV Configuration screen opens, highlight all the default information that is in the box, and replace it with the data from the CSV file downloaded above.  Then click Import CSV, this will perform the actions as if you selected those area codes one by one in the New Prefix manual setup.

When done correctly you should end up with the Order Settings showing the area codes we will attempt to get DIDs for from Twilio.

At this point, you just click the “START Purchasing Numbers” button and the process will begin.  This screen doesn't have to keep active as it will purchase numbers in background, but you can reference this job to check on the status and which states it could not find a Number for and then ask Twilio if they can get you number if any are missing that are important.

In Twilio - Onboard Your SMS Campaign

Access the Twilio SMS Onboarding menu item using the Develop/Messaging/Onboarding.  This is an installation wizard that will walk you thru setting up your Brand, first Campaign, and a SMS Deliver Service which will have the list of Numbers we purchased above associated as Senders (delivery numbers) for the Service.

Brand Registration: This section is pretty straight forward.  You are required to have a valid FEIN (Federal Employer Identification Number).  To ensure you do not get delayed in approval, you should make certain that the Company Name you use, matches exactly how you have registered with the IRS to get your FEIN.  You can only register one brand per Twilio account, but you can have many campaigns associated with that brand.

Campaign Registration: After successfully registering your campaign, the Onboarding Wizard will continue to setting up your first campaign.  The following screen will appear 

Available A2P Campaign use cases: There are many options available to you.  Some will auto approve, while others need a manual review by Twilio for approval.  In this example, we are following up after a form is submitted to try to get the initial phone contact with a lead.  For this reason, Customer Care was the best selection.

Messaging Service: Since an SMS Campaign is going to be associated with the group of numbers we purchased in TrackDrive above, each Campaign will have its own Messaging Service.  This means for each new campaign you setup in Twilio, you will always select “Create new Messaging Service” in which we will associate those numbers.

Campaign description: This is basically a place to explain to both CampaignRegistry.com and for the Twilio Staff for manual reviews of a new campaign, what this campaign will be used for.  Be descriptive as possible.

Sample message #1: Campaign Registry requires at least 2 sample messages that you want to send to your leads.  The example pictured is: “[first_name], Thank you for submitting your quote for a free Medicare Insurance Quote. We will be calling your shortly from [trackdrive_number].  You may also call us at your convenience.” 

Sample message #2: Example: “[first_name], we have tried to contact you by phone and email a few times after your Request for Quote you submitted on 03/09/2023.  Please feel free to call us at [trackdrive_number] when you have about 15 minutes to discuss your options.”

Message contents: Select if the messages on this campaign will have embedded links and/or embedded phone numbers in the message.

How do end-users consent to receive messages?: Typically, the use of SMS on TrackDrive is used for the Lead to Call Automation technology, and describing how you get your leads and consent to send messages to your leads is obtained.  It is always good to list some or all the sites you have forms, especially if you have a campaign type that needs manual review.

Opt-in Keywords: This area is used to describe what Keywords are used that allow consumers to opt in to receive SMS messages from you.  If you don't opt in consumers via a text message request, leave this section blank.

Opt-in Message: If you do allow SMS Opt-In via a text request, show an example of how you reply to the request confirming they have opted in successfully.

Click the Create button to make the Messaging Campaign.  A window will pop up for you to agree to the pass thru fees assessed by campaignregistry.com (billed to twilio and then passed thru to you on your Twilio bill).  You are also agreeing to the Vetting Fee assessed by Twilio for the campaign setup and review.  You will notice that your SMS sends are rate limited per second (MPS=Messages Per Second).  If your messaging needs require more MPS, you will have to speak to your Twilio account manager.

In Twilio - Register Phone Numbers to use on the Campaign

TrackDrive has already purchased your Twilio Numbers to use on this campaign.  In this step, we will associate those numbers to the Campaign Delivery but adding Senders to the Messaging Service that was automatically created by Twilio in the Campaign Setup since we said we want a new Messaging Service for the new Campaign.

After agreeing to the fees associated with the new campaign setup, you will see a summary page of your setup of that campaign, this is for information only, and to continue to configure the numbers used for the campaign, click the Continue button on the bottom right of the screen.

Your number inventory in Twilio will show on the next screen, simply put a checkbox next to all the numbers that belong to this campaign.  At the time of this document, Twilio does not have a checkbox for Show Available Numbers, but TrackDrive has requested this so that only available numbers will show.  If the only numbers in your Twilio account are the numbers purchased above, simply checkbox all numbers and click the Register button to associate the numbers you selected to the Messaging Service.

The numbers are ready for testing in TrackDrive.  To test you can manually add a lead to an Offer on TrackDrive.  Once your test lead is in the system, you can edit that lead and there is a section to send a manual SMS message to the test lead.  If you don't see your test, reach out to your TrackDrive Support Team for review of your setup.