Creating an SMS channel

1. Open the Channels list: click the Channels tab.

2. Click New Channel.

   

3. In the Add Channel panel, select:

   • SMS

4. Provide:

   • Name — descriptive name of the channel.

   • Description — a description of the channel, including its purpose and the name of the channel it is targeting.

5. Select the service (at the bottom of the dialog). To use the Medallia Twilio account, chose Auto; otherwise, to the Company's Twilio account, choose Twilio.

   

   Important: Once you click Save, the Service option cannot be changed. Verify your choice before continuing.

6. Click Save.

7. Click the channel you just created to reopen it.

8. Make note of the phone number automatically generated by the system. Respondents will need to send a text message to this number to subscribe to the channel.

   

SMS properties

Channel type

Choose SMS when creating the channel; you cannot change this after saving the channel.

Channel name

(required) Unique name of the channel. For usability, make the name descriptive and include the category in the name to differentiate the channel from similar channels.

For example, here are two channels for Orion Retail: one for SMS and one for Facebook:

Channel description

Text description of the purpose of the channel. Mention any restrictions like blackout dates and availability windows.

Channel ID

Unique identification code assigned to this channel by the system.

Status

Whether or not the channel is active (enabled to process conversations) or not.

Types

Types of connections available to this channel.

Availability windows

Availability windows identify when the channel is available to send feed-based invitations. Use the availability windows to pause the channel during times when people might not be receptive to the invitation, such as on weekends or at night. Note, this does not affect feedless surveys, which can be taken at any time.

The day and time are based on the respondent's timezone, as specified in the timezone information included in the raw invitation provided by the company, and processed by the import specification. See Import specifications for details about the import process.

When a window opens, messages are sent at random times within the next hour; they do not all go at at the opening of the window.

Important: Select a window that is greater than 1 hour/60 minutes. Selecting a window that is less than 1 hour can cause invitations to be sent during the restricted window.

Tip: Use availability windows for channels that contact or push the conversation to respondents. For passive channels — like web pages or social media — use them as needed by your company.

This example disables the channel on weekends, and between the hours of 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m.

Blackout dates

Blackout dates are specific days of a year when the channel does not send feed-based invitations. Use the dates to pause invitations to the channel on days when respondents might not be receptive, such as holidays. Messages scheduled to be sent on blackout dates are sent after the blackout expires. Note, this does not affect feedless surveys, which can be taken at any time.

Tip: Use availability windows for channels that contact or push the conversation to respondents. For passive channels — like web pages or social media — use them as needed by your company.

This example disables the channel on the U.S. holidays of the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving in 2018.

Opt-out keywords

Words or phrases respondents may send requesting their intention to opt-out of receiving future conversations from the company, on all channels. After receiving the opt-out instruction, the channel sends a message to the respondent acknowledging the request.

Note: A channel must have at least one opt-out keyword. The default keyword is 'stop'.

Each entry may be a single word, such as 'stop', or a multi-word phrase such as 'opt me out'. The text is case-insensitive: 'stop', 'STOP', and 'Stop' are all recognized when the word is 'stop'.

Opt-out message

Text message to send to the respondent after the channel receives an Opt-out keyword from the respondent.

Service

The service providing SMS access to the channel. Select the service when creating the channel. Once chosen and saved, this property become read-only and cannot be changed. The services are:

• Auto — Use the Medallia Twilio account.
• Twilio — Use the Company's Twilio account

Phone number

Respondents send a text message to this number to subscribe to the channel.

Default Conversation Throttle

The conversation throttle limits how many Default conversation messages, for a specific Conversation, can be sent to the same recipient within a time window. This prevents infinite "ping-pong" loops with auto-responders or answering machines, thereby reducing accidental spam, controlling costs, and protecting customer trust.

For example, by default Medallia Conversations sends no more than 3 Default Conversations to the same recipient with a 90-second time period. Instead of making a 4th attempt, the recipient is blocked for 24 hours from receiving a Default Conversation. After 24 hours, Medallia Conversations again tries to send default Conversations to the recipient.

To view a list of the blocked recipients, see Blocked Records.

Channel settings

Channel settings are advanced, custom channel configuration options. Each setting is a key/value pair.