Use the Opt Out List to Stop Calls To a Phone Number in EmailToVoice.Net

Use the Opt Out List to Stop Calls To a Phone Number in EmailToVoice.Net

Customers of EmailToVoice.Net send alert phone calls or text messages to their employees. Sometimes, those employees leave the company or go on vacation. In these cases, the messages should be stopped permanently or temporarily. The most preferred method to stop calls from going to a specific phone number is to remove them from all lists. But, adding their number to the Opt Out List may be faster and more efficient.

The most expedient way to stop messages from being sent is to add the phone number to the account’s Opt Out List. The administrator can even set a time period.

Opt Out List

The Opt Out List is managed through the Customer Portal.

 

Opt Out a Phone Numebr

 

The administrator is provided with a list of message types on the OptOut Lists Management page. The choice should be made based upon what type of messages were being sent. The following can be used as a reference:

  • Choose Phone if the message was sent to PhoneNumber@tts.message-service.org
  • Choose Mobile if the message was sent to PhoneNumber@sms.message-service.org or PhoneNumber@linkinsms.message-service.org
  • Chose FAX if the message was sent to PhoneNumber@fax.message-service.org

The OptOut List will work if you are sending messages individually or if you are using the different methods available in EmailToVoice.Net for multiple destinations. There are many ways to send to multiple users in a single message.

Using Lists in EmailToVoice.Net

To learn more about sending to multiple destinations, read our Blog Post “Three Ways to Send to Multiple Recipients Through EmailToVoice.Net“.

Multiple Destinations in the TO Field

Multiple destinations can be specified in the TO field by separating them with a “#”. IE;:
2145551234#2145551235#2145551236@tts.message-service.org
OR, multiple destinations can be entered as multiple full email addresses:
“2145551234@tts.message-service.org, 2145551235@tts.message-service.org

NOTE: When stringing destinations in the TO field of the Email, there is a standard general length restriction of about 64 characters for the TO field.

Multiple Destinations in the Email Content

Multiple Destinations can be In the body of the message in the following format:
<Numbers>
2145551234
2145551235
2145551236
</Numbers>

NOTE: The destination phone numbers are included in the body of the message. So, the TO field should be: msg@tts.message-service.org

Multiple Destinations Using a Pre-Loaded List

Multiple Destinations can be through pre-setup lists by using the format:
<Lists>
My First List Name
My Second List Name
</Lists>

Business Communications using EmailToVoice.Net

EmailToVoice.Net is rich in features and capabilities for your Business Communications needs.

Make a voice phone call from any email interface

We convert your email content to voice so the recipient of your choice receives an easy-to-understand voice message on their phone – plus many more valuable features. We do not require that the receiving phone number be registered with us. You can send a phone call from your email to any landline or cell phone. No software to install. No expensive complicated Apps. Nothing new to learn.

Send Rich content SMS messages from any email interface

EmailToVoice.Net provides the ability to send a large amount of formatted data (16MB) using LinkInSMS to a cell phone as an SMS from monitoring software or business applications. Messages with the formatting requirements of an HTML Web Page can be automatically sent to just about any cell phone in the world as easily as sending an email using simple SMS, which is available everywhere in the world.

Contact Us if you would like to learn more.

Author

Director at EmailToVoice.Net: CISSP – Solutions Architect for Industrial IoT Alerts and Business Communications. LinkedIn
How to Modify an Active List that is Locked in EmailToVoice.Net

How to Modify an Active List that is Locked in EmailToVoice.Net

Changes to distribution lists used for alerts and business communications are necessary when employees leave the company or change positions. However, sometimes an administrator of EmailToVoice.Net will get the following error message when trying to make a change to a List in EmailToVoice.Net.

Sorry, this list is currently locked and cannot get modified as it is in use for job nnnnnnnn

Updating a list that is currently in use by messaging jobs is easy. It merely entails

  • downloading the list,
  • making the changes,
  • uploading the list under a new unique name,
  • renaming the production list to something new,
  • renaming the new list to the name of the production list.

Following are the steps in more detail

Login into the Customer Portal. Choose Manage Personal Lists in the menu on the left. Download the production list that needs to be updated

The downloaded file will be a comma-delimited file that can be updated in Microsoft Excel. Make the required changes to the downloaded file.

In the Customer Portal / Manage Personal Lists, click on Add List… Make the name of the list unique. Remember to click on the “This List is an escalation list” box if the recipients in the list are to be called in sequence until one answers. Learn more about our escalation list feature in our Blog Post “Escalation Lists Support Sequential Calling for Alerts in EmailToVoice.Net

 

Import the updated comma-delimited file into the new list

Select Modify List Details and rename the old production list to something unique. Then click on the Modify List Details for the new list and name it the exact same name as the old production list.

New TTS List Portal 4

Now, the updated list is the current production list.

You can learn more about List Management and the use of the Customer Portal in articles published in our Blog.

TIP: Alternative to Modifying the List

As an alternative to making a change to the list, you can in EmailToVoice.Net put the employee’s number that has left the company in the Opt-Out List. Then that number will never be called even though it is in distribution lists.

 

Opt out list No Call List

Business Communications is Critical to Effective Business Processes

EmailToVoice.Net makes it easy to implement mission-critical solutions for business communications. Sending a message from monitoring software or directly from an IoT device to a phone requires a specialized hardware and software solution to be installed in the client’s central data center. Connections to smart devices, CRM, PCS or ERP systems need to go through complex API’s or propriety software gateways. EmailToVoice.Net makes this all as easy as sending an email. The EmailToVoice.Net service does the hard stuff. It converts the text of the email message into a genuine-sounding voice (Text to Speech), then dials the phone, handles voice mail, and much more. All of this is done without the need to install hardware or use APIs. We also can facilitate the delivery of rich communications SMS messages with the need of RCS. Learn more in our article “Comparing Enterprise SMS using LinkInSMS to RCS and MMS

There are many more features in EmailToVoice.Net. Let us know if you would like to learn more. Contact us. We love to share our experience in workflow processes, industrial communications, and alerts.

 

Author

Director at EmailToVoice.Net: CISSP – Solutions Architect for Industrial IoT Alerts and Business Communications. LinkedIn
Escalation Call List Delay in Email to Voice Service

Escalation Call List Delay in Email to Voice Service

Escalation Call Lists are needed when an emergency alert must be received and acted upon. EmailToVoice.Net provides the customer the ability to create a list of recipients that will be called sequentially until a person is reached and listens to the alert message.

We have added an additional feature to our Escalation List. The customer can now set a default amount of time that occurs between the sequential calls. The customer signs into the Customer Portal and goes to MY Details. The field is called ‘Escalation List Delay’. This field sets the time between each call that was not answered in an escalation list. The setting is the delay duration in minutes.

Escalation Delay in Email To Voice

List Management

EmailToVoice.Net has long provided List Management so that a customer can send a message to multiple recipients, such as an email to a voice phone call. This is done in the Customer Portal under the menu item Manage Personal Lists.

Escalation Lists are a feature of the List Management capability in EmailToVoice.Net.

Escalation Lists are used to sequentially send a text-to-speech (TTS) message to a list of phone recipients. The messages are sent one at a time until a person answers or takes an action to accept the call. The acceptance of the call is based upon specific criteria set by the administrator that created the list. This is unlike the standard list type, where the message is sent to all the recipients at one time.

The purpose of an escalation list is to find a recipient who can act on the message. Examples of such a message might be:

  • Perform an urgent maintenance job for a piece of equipment that has failed
  • Fill a shift vacancy for someone who has called in sick
  • Get a courier to urgently pick up a package and deliver it

Send a Message to an Escalation List

You send your TTS message using this list in EmailToVoice.Net. For example,

  1. send the email message TO dmy@tts.message-service.org
  2. in the body of your message, include:
    <Lists>*My New Escalation List Name*</Lists> (* * replace with your list name)

The message must be picked up (not by voice mail) and listened to for at least 10 seconds, otherwise, the next recipient in the list is called. Once someone listens to the message for the required length of time, the job stops there.

If you send a two-way TTS, the recipient must press 1 on the phone’s Dialpad to accept the message. Otherwise, the next recipient in the list is called. In this case, it doesn’t matter how long the person has listened to the message. Making a TTS message a Two Way is done by merely adding the tag <TwoWay> on a separate line in the content of the email.

More Features

EmailToVoice.Net is rich in features while being simple and effective to use for business communications and alerts. We transform an email message into a phone call or enterprise Text Message with no need to program APIs or install any hardware or software. You can send a voice phone call (TTS), Enterprise Text SMS, FAX or prerecorded Voice Message from any email program interface through your monitoring software, CRM, or Dispatch System. Contact Us and let us assist you in meeting your mission-critical business communications needs.

 

Author

Director at EmailToVoice.Net: CISSP – Solutions Architect for Industrial IoT Alerts and Business Communications. LinkedIn
2020 Recap of EmailToVoice.Net New Features and Added Value

2020 Recap of EmailToVoice.Net New Features and Added Value

Let’s take a look back at the customer value we added in 2020 to EmailToVoice.Net. We continue to grow because of our global customer base. They know exactly what they need to provide mission-critical business communications for their alert services, value chains, and supply chains. We listened, and are still listening.

Customer Portal

Our customers requested the ability to look at their job activity in real-time. We provided them a customer portal. The customer can now login at any time and view jobs, add recipient lists and so much more.

Here is a quick overview of some of the capabilities of the EmailToVoice.Net Customer Portal

  • View All Jobs: The customer can view summary and detailed information on messages that have been sent through EmailToVoice.Net. Specific date ranges or a specific job number can be specified.
  • Manage Personal Lists: The customer can setup distribution lists, which are then referenced by the LISTS tag in the content of the email for sending TTS or SMS messages to a group of recipients.
    • Multiple Recipients
      Multiple Destinations in the TO Field

      Multiple destinations can be specified in the TO field by separating them with a “#”. IE;:
      2145551234#2145551235#2145551236@tts.message-service.org
      OR, multiple destinations can be entered as multiple full email addresses:
      “2145551234@tts.message-service.org, 2145551235@tts.message-service.org

      NOTE: When stringing destinations in the TO field of the Email, there is a standard general length restriction of about 64 characters for the TO field.
      NOTE: The type of messages, such as TTS or SMS, cannot be mixed in a single message.

      Multiple Destinations in the Email Content

      Multiple Destinations can be In the body of the message in the following format:
      <Numbers>
      2145551234
      2145551235
      2145551236
      </Numbers>

      NOTE: The destination phone numbers are included in the body of the message. So, the TO field should be: msg@tts.message-service.org

      Multiple Destinations Using a Pre-Loaded List (Manage in Customer Portal)

      Multiple Destinations can be through pre-setup lists by using the format:
      <Lists>
      First ListName
      Second ListName
      </Lists>

      NOTE: These lists are created and loaded through the Customer Portal
      NOTE: The TO field should be: msg@tts.message-service.org

  • New Broadcast: The customer can send a TTS, SMS or Email messages to one or more recipients directly from the Portal
  • Quick SMS: A customer can send a Quick SMS message, one-way or two way, to one or more recipients directly from the Portal
  • Manage Opt-Outs: The customer can specify a phone number that is never to be sent through the customer’s account. This is useful for phone numbers that have changed and should no longer be used. This is useful when an employee leaves the company and their personal cell phone number remains in lists.
  • My Details: The customer can change profile settings, such as company address, email address or main account phone number. This includes the customer’s account password. To learn more about the very useful fields in the profile, refer below.
    • My Details

      Choosing the My Details section will provide the customer with the ability to change the password and other fields within the customer’s account profile.

      Some more commonly used fields for TTS (Text To Speech) are:

      Timezone: You can select the most appropriate timezone. This is used for reports.

      Additional Report Emails: You can specify an additional email address to receive the detailed email reports. These are the emails you receive in your main email address on your account every time a message is sent through your account.

      Default TTS Voice: You can select a different voice from the list to be used for your messages. American English is the default.

      TTS Message Prefix: You can raise or lower the speed of the voice. However, we recommend the default speed, as set here.

      Additionally, you can also add a Header message to identify yourself as the organization that is calling. This Header Message is not repeated. For instance, this field looks like this during the Free Trial. When a Trial Customer becomes a customer by providing their credit card on file, we remove the Header Message. This message also demonstrates the creative ways you can use punctuation to make your message sound good.

      \speed=26 The following message, is being delivered to you! through, Email To Voice, messaging cloud service!

      Email To Broadcast -Subject Field Behaviour: The Subject Name of the email is used as the EmailToVoice.Net Job name. However, you can choose to either concatenate the Subject Field to the message or have the Subject Field the entire message.

Enterprise SMS for Mission-Critical Applications

Businesses have been asking for the ability to send large amounts of formatted information to mobile phones. We have accomplished this by utilizing LinkInSMS.  RCS and MMS have long been attempting to provide a solution while never actually achieving widespread adoption. Enterprise SMS from EmailToVoice.Net uses ubiquitous Email, SMS, and HTTPS to seamlessly meet the needs of the enterprise’s mission-critical requirements.

EmailToVoice.Net provides the ability to send formatted data to a cell phone using SMS from monitoring software or business applications. Messages with the formatting requirements of an HTML Web Page can be automatically sent to just about any cell phone in the world as easily as sending an email.

Enterprise SMS is a feature of EmailToVoice.Net, which creates a custom HTML Web page from your business email alert and then delivers it as a simple SMS message. For each SMS recipient, a custom web page is created and inserted in their SMS text message, allowing viewing of the page of HTML with a simple tap. This allows a single text message to communicate large amounts of formatted data.

To send an Enterprise SMS message,

  1. the TO field merely needs to have the recipient’s phone number and specific email domain provided by EmailToVoice.Net.
  2. Our cloud-based messaging service will convert the email content into a custom web page and insert the link of the automatically created Web page into the text message.
  3. The recipient can then tap the link in the text message and see the entire email content formatted as a Web Page on their smartphone.

The Email Fields would look like this:

TO: 5551231234@linkinsms.message-service.org       (The recipient’s cell phone – no preregistration required)
FROM: emailaddress@yourcompanydomain.com    (Subscribed to EmailToVoice.Net)
SUBJECT: Anything (Used as a job name for reporting purposes)

The content of the email is converted to an HTML Web page. The Web page of data is hosted by our service and a link to the Web page is substituted into the outgoing SMS text message so that the recipient can easily view the data with a tap.

Integrating Enterprise SMS with Business Applications

The implementation of industrial communications is critical for premier customer support, business continuity, and process efficiency. However, integration projects can become a major effort. Sending large amounts of data with special formatting from monitoring software or directly from an IoT device to a phone could require program development with specialized hardware and software. Connections to smart devices, CRM, PCS or ERP systems need to go through complex API’s or propriety software gateways.

Parsing Message Content

The Customer Portal has provided us a means to deliver many new features and capabilities to the customer. One is the ability to convert only the middle part of the message of a Text to Speech (TTS) voice or SMS message when using EmailToVoice.Net. This is done with no coding.

The customer can designate the beginning and end of all messages by logging into the Customer Portal and then going to My Details / Change My Details. The fields in the account details are

Email to Broadcast-Start of Message Text:

Email to Broadcast-End of Message Text:

There is an additional capability that is extremely useful. The customer can specify if the text designated as the Start of the Message is to be included in the text of the outgoing message. This is a checkbox. See the Customer’s “My Details” section below:

Email to Voice start and end of message

You can also enter the “Begin Message” and “End Message” tags directly into the email message to control what is converted to voice or text.

Start message indicators
Instead of starting the outgoing message content at the beginning of the email, there are  methods of skipping the start of the email and starting the relevant message further
down.
1. A line containing just the tag “<Begin Message>” can be included in the email, and the
outgoing content will start on the line AFTER this.
2. If the user has the option “Start of message text” set, then the outgoing content will
start where this text is found (including the text itself)
End message indicators
The end of a text message to be sent can be indicated in a number of ways:
1. A line containing just the tag “<End Message>” can be included in the message.
2. A blank line followed by “– ” (two plain ascii dashes and a space) which must then be on
a line by itself
3. Four empty lines
4. The text entered in the users “End of Message Text” configuration field

Setting Message Delivery Times

EmailToVoice.Net provides the user with the ability to set a window of time for the delivery of voice phone calls and SMS messages using any email interface.

This feature is extremely useful for departments that need their staff to be alerted by voice or SMS when they are off their primary working hours. When staff are at their desks, they may not need voice and SMS alerts. However, when the staff is not on their primary shifts, the messages must get the attention of the staff members. To get that attention, the messages should be delivered as a telephone call and/or SMS text message. Email is not an effective way to get the attention of essential support staff.

We created a user option so an active window of time can be designated for voice phone calls or SMS text messages to be delivered by EmailToVoice.Net.

Although setting a window of time for voice or SMS messages to be delivered can be accomplished by using no-code alternatives like Microsoft Power Automate, we provide this ability without the need for any third-party capability. The customer merely needs to sign-in to the Customer Portal and modify these parameters in the ‘My Details’ section.

Email to Voice Active Window

The parameters in Customer Portal / My Details provide the ability to block or allow the messages to go through. The parameters allow the user to set different rules for the Weekend (Saturday and Sunday) and the Weekdays (Monday through Friday). The time can either be blocked or allowed. The time is according to the timezone set in the account under My Details.

Let Us Know What You Need

We look back and see a value-added year in 2020. What is exciting is that we are already working on more great features coming in 2021.

EmailToVoice.Net is rich in features while being simple and effective to use for business communications and alerts. You can send a Voice Phone Call, simple SMS message, an Enterprise SMS, FAX or prerecorded Voice Message from any email program interface, application, Internet of Things device (IoT / M2M), or from your CRM and Dispatch Systems.

Contact Us if we can provide further assistance in helping you meet your business communications requirements.

 

Author

Director at EmailToVoice.Net: CISSP – Solutions Architect for Industrial IoT Alerts and Business Communications. LinkedIn

 

Secure Transmission for Enterprise SMS Alert Messages in EmailToVoice.Net

Secure Transmission for Enterprise SMS Alert Messages in EmailToVoice.Net

Enterprise SMS messages require secure transmission. Enterprise SMS from EmailToVoice.Net provides TLS to protect a ‘Man in the Middle’ view of the content of the message as it travels from the customer’s server to our cloud base messaging platform. The message is then delivered to the recipient as an HTML web page using an HTTPS active link in the SMS message. (LinkInSMS)

EmailToVoice.Net Provides Enterprise Text

EmailToVoice.Net provides the ability to send formatted data to a cell phone using SMS from monitoring software or business applications. Messages with the formatting requirements of an HTML Web Page can be automatically sent to just about any cell phone in the world as easily as sending an email.

Enterprise Text is a feature of EmailToVoice.Net, which creates a custom HTML Web page from your business email alert and then delivers it as a simple SMS message. A custom web page is created and inserted in the recipient’s SMS text message, allowing viewing of the page of HTML with a simple tap. This allows a single text message to communicate large amounts of formatted data. (16MB)

To send an Enterprise Text message,

  1. the TO field merely needs to have the recipient’s phone number and specific email domain provided by EmailToVoice.Net.
  2. Our cloud-based messaging service will convert the email content into a custom web page and insert the link of the automatically created secure Web page into the text message.
  3. The recipient can then tap the link in the text message and see the entire email content formatted as a Web Page on their smartphone.

TLS encryption email

With EmailToVoice.Net, the business application uses Email to deliver the message to our cloud service to be converted to an Enterprise Text message. The Email can be sent using TLS (Transport Layer Security). TLS provides that the Email message is securely traveling from the application’s server to our cloud-based messaging platform protected from “man-in-the-middle” attacks. The message cannot be read while the text is in transit.

HTTPS Active Link

As Cloudfare states in “What is HTTPS

HTTPS prevents websites from having their information broadcast in a way that’s easily viewed by anyone snooping on the network. When information is sent over regular HTTP, the information is broken into packets of data that can be easily “sniffed” using free software. This makes communication over the an unsecure medium, such as public Wi-Fi, highly vulnerable to interception. In fact, all communications that occur over HTTP occur in plain text, making them highly accessible to anyone with the correct tools, and vulnerable to on-path attacks.

With HTTPS, traffic is encrypted such that even if the packets are sniffed or otherwise intercepted, they will come across as nonsensical characters.

Enterprise SMS uses TLS and HTTPS

Enterprise SMS is a feature of EmailToVoice.Net, which creates a custom HTML Web page from the content of your business email alert and then delivers it in a simple SMS message. For each SMS recipient, a custom web page is created and inserted in their SMS text message, allowing viewing of the page of HTML with a simple tap. This allows a single text message to communicate large amounts of formatted data.

The Email Fields would look like this:

TO: 5551231234@linkinsms.message-service.org       (The recipient’s cell phone – no preregistration required)
FROM: emailaddress@yourcompanydomain.com    (Subscribed to EmailToVoice.Net)
SUBJECT: Anything (Used as a job name for reporting purposes)

The content of the email is converted to an HTML Web page using HTTPS.

The Uses of Enterprise SMS

The implementation of industrial communications is critical for premier customer support, business continuity, and process efficiency. However, integration projects can become a major effort. Sending large amounts of data with special formatting from monitoring software or directly from an IoT device to a phone could require program development with specialized hardware and software. Connections to smart devices, CRM, PCS or ERP systems need to go through complex APIs or propriety software gateways.

To deliver rich content to smartphones, Enterprise SMS from EmailToVoice.net uses the combination of commonly available platforms of Email and SMS to deliver large amounts of formatted data from mission-critical business applications.

Features of Enterprise Text from EmailToVoice.Net

Enterprise Text provided by EmailToVoice.Net is rich in features to meet any business requirement. Below are some examples of these features that can be set up in the Customer Details in the Customer Portal.

  • You can add a Header and a Footer that will be used in all Text messages from your account. For example, you can add a logo, an introductory message, disclaimers, and links using HTML
  • You can specify a specific SMS Sender ID so the recipient can recognize the sender of the text message.
  • You can enter a default email address for SMS replies. So, if the recipient replies to the text message, the reply will go to this email address. You can then alternatively use Microsoft Flow to continue a complex business workflow process without any coding. (Contact us for assistance in developing workflow processes)

There are many more features of the Enterprise Text Messaging feature in EmailToVoice.Net. Let us know if you would like to learn more. Contact us. We love to share our experience in industrial communications, workflow, and alerts.

Author

Director at EmailToVoice.Net: CISSP – Solutions Architect for Industrial IoT Alerts and Business Communications. LinkedIn