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How to Setup a 2-Way SMS Number

4 min , 18 sec read

Overview:

This Koopid How To covers adding a 2-way SMS number to your provider, where you can send two-way communication between your company and customers through your Koopid experiences.

Getting Started:

First you need to identify from the providers below, which vendor you will go with to setup a 2-way SMS number where customers can reach you and you can respond to customers.

Currently 2-way SMS can be setup on your Koopid provider using one of the following providers:

Vonage (formally known as Nexmo) – https://dashboard.nexmo.com/

Avaya OneCloud CPaas (formally known as Zang) – https://cloud.zang.io/

Vonage (Nexmo)

  1. Visit https://dashboard.nexmo.com/sign-in and sign-up for a new account.

  2. When you first login you will be presented with a Dashboard that has a menu on the left with a number of options, and your API key and API secret will be listed in the center of the page.

  3. Start by going to the Numbers option in the left menu and either Buying a new number or Porting your number over.

  4. Once you get your number setup, open a new browser window, go to the Koopid platform and log in. Then toggle to Expert mode and navigate to the Configuration > Channels page.

  5. From the Channels page, select the SMS channel option in the main window.

  6. On the SMS channel page you want to fill in the fields using the following information:

    1. Start by Adding a New Account by clicking the button at the top of the page

    2. On the Add Account page add a Name to easily recognize this SMS phone number being setup.

    3. Next, select the Experience you want to launch when this number is reached. (If you don’t have an experience build yet that you want to tie your number to, you can leave this field blank and come back later).

    4. For the SMS Vendor field select NEXMO from the drop-down menu.

    5. Now back in the Vonage/Nexmo window copy your API key, and then paste it into the API Key field on your Koopid provider.

    6. Add a colon, and then copy your API Secret from your Vonage/Nexmo Dashboard, and paste that after the colon in the API Key field on your provider.

      Ex: APIxKEYXXXXXX:APIxSecretXXXXXX

    7. For the vendor API URL field use the following address:

      https://rest.nexmo.com/sms/json

    8. For the Business Number and Name fields – enter the phone number setup earlier without a + before the area code in both fields.

      Ex: 1xxxxxxxxxx

    9. Once all the fields on your SMS configuration screen on your Koopid provider are filled out, click Save at the top of the window.

  7. Next, for 2-way SMS you need to reach out to Koopid and have us setup a webhook for your new number setup with Avaya OneCloud. To do this send an email with the subject: SMS 2-way WebHook Request to Thiru at thiru@koopid.ai, and in the body of the email include the vendor you are setting a number up with (Vonage/Nexmo), your Provider ID (found in any of the deployment URLs when you go to the Manage menu, and select the deploy icon for any of your experiences on the deployment screen after provider=), and the new SMS phone number to be setup.

  8. When you get a response with the Webhook URL, log into your Vonage/Nexmo Dashboard, go to the Settings page found in the left menu under your username.

  9. On the Settings page paste the URL webhook that you were sent into the Delivery and Inbound messages fields.

  10. For the HTTP Method select Post-JSON from the drop-down, and hit SAVE

  11. Once this step is complete, if you selected an experience from the drop-down in your SMS channel configuration on your Koopid provider, you can send a test text message using one of the intents setup for the workflow to the SMS number, and you should receive a reply message.

  12. If you have any questions or issues, please email Thiru at thiru@koopid.ai and let him know your Provider ID (from step 7), the phone number you are setting up and the vendor you are using, and the problem you are having, and he will help you troubleshoot further.

Avaya OneCloud CPaas (Zang)

  1. Visit https://cloud.zang.io/ and sign-up for a new account.

  2. When you first login you will be presented with a Dashboard that will include a top menu bar, and will list your Account SID and Auth Token in the center of the page, which you will need to create your API key in a few steps.

  3. Start by going to the Numbers option in the top menu bar and either Buying a new number or Porting your number over.

  4. Once you get your number setup, open a new browser window, go to the Koopid platform and log in. Then toggle to Expert mode and navigate to the Configuration > Channels page.

  5. From the Channels page, select the SMS channel option in the main window.

  6. On the SMS channel page you want to fill in the fields using the following information:

    1. Start by Adding a New Account by clicking the button at the top of the page

    2. On the Add Account page add a Name to easily recognize this SMS phone number being setup.

    3. Next, select the Experience you want to launch when this number is reached. (If you don’t have an experience build yet that you want to tie your number to, you can leave this field blank and come back later).

    4. For the SMS Vendor field select Avaya OneCloud/CPaaS from the drop-down menu.

    5. Now back in the Avaya OneCloud/CPaaS window copy your Account SID, and then paste it into the API Key field on your Koopid provider.

    6. Add a colon, and then copy your Auth Token from your Avaya OneCloud/CPaaS Dashboard, and paste that after the colon in the API Key field on your Koopid provider.

      Ex: AccountSIDXXXXXX:AuthTokenXXXXXX

    7. For the vendor API URL field use the following address and add the Account SID from the step above to the URL where {{AccountSid}} is listed

      https://api.zang.io/v2/Accounts/{{AccountSid}}/SMS/Messages.json

    8. For the Business Number and Name fields – enter the phone number you setup earlier without a + before the area code in both fields.

      Ex: 1xxxxxxxxxx

    9. Once all the fields on your SMS configuration screen on your Koopid provider are filled out, click Save at the top of the window.

  7. Next, for 2-way SMS you need to reach out to Koopid and have us setup a webhook for your new number setup with Avaya OneCloud. To do this send an email with the subject: SMS 2-way WebHook Request to Thiru at thiru@koopid.ai, and in the body of the email include the vendor you are setting a number up with (Avaya OneCloud), your Provider ID (found in any of the deployment URLs when you go to the Manage menu, your Account SID and AuthToken from earlier, and select the deploy icon for any of your experiences on the deployment screen after provider=), and the new SMS phone number to be setup.

  8. When you get a response that the webhook has been setup, if you selected an experience from the drop-down in your SMS channel configuration on your Koopid provider, you can send a test text message using one of the intents setup for the workflow to the SMS number, and you should receive a reply message.

  9. If you have any questions or issues, please email Thiru at thiru@koopid.ai and let him know your Provider ID (from step 7), the phone number you are setting up and the vendor you are using, and the problem you are having, and he will help you troubleshoot further.