EmailToVoice.Net can send Two-Way SMS messages in either simple text or rich content by just using Email.

Business applications and monitoring software may need to send critical alerts and rich communications through SMS. Often, a response from the recipient of the SMS is required to ensure the recipient received the message. A particular response can even trigger a workflow process. This process of sending an SMS from an application and then receiving a response is referred to as “Two-Way SMS”. EmailToVoice.Net supports Two-Way SMS.

When the recipient replies to the SMS, the replied message is sent back to the Customer Portal and, also, to a designated email address. The replies can then be viewed on the Customer Portal or in the designated email mailbox, which is collecting the replies. 

SMS Reply Handling

Because the replies are collected in a designated email mailbox, no code solutions such as Microsoft Power Automate (Flow) or Zapier can be used to evaluate the replies and act upon them accordingly.

Microsoft Power Automate and EmailToVoice.Net work well together. Microsoft Automate has email connectors that enhance business flows. These email connectors can easily act upon emails being sent from EmailToVoice.Net, such as the replies from two-way SMS messages. EmailToVoice.Net and products such as Power Automate integrate SMS communications with enterprise business flows. When Microsoft Power Automate detects an email message arriving in the designated email address, it will trigger an action such as a database update and/or an email to be sent back through to EmailToVoice.Net which will then generate a phone call or SMS to other recipients.

Upon request, SMS Delivery Reports and SMS Replies received can also be sent to a URL via a webhook for deeper integration. This callback system does not require any coding and can send a standard html POST request with the content type application/x-www-form-urlencoded. If you do not want a POST request, we can modify the callback to a standard GET request.

Setup Two-Way SMS

The SMS can be set to 2-Way by adding the tag “<TwoWay>” anywhere in the email. If this is set, then the user can reply to the SMS, and an email with the reply contents will be sent to the email address set in the customer’s account profile. The email address to receive the replies can be set in the Customer Portal / My Details.

Alternatively, the tag “<TwoWayReplyAddress>” can be put in the email message when the SMS is sent through EmailToVoice.Net to set a designated email address to receive the replies for this specific event. To use this function, ensure that the email address is contained within a closing tag, for example: <TwoWayReplyAddress>smtp@example.com</TwoWayReplyAddress>

Setup the Sender ID

For One-way SMS, you will see the predictable Sender IDs each time an SMS is received through EmailToVoice.Net. In the case of a Two-Way SMS, the Sender ID number will be chosen from a pool of long-code numbers so that we can track the replies. However, you have the option to purchase a LongCode for a nominal monthly fee that is added to your monthly charges. Then the Sender ID number will be unique to your organization.

Text or Rich Communications

EmailToVoice.Net can send either a simple SMS text message from any email interface or a Rich Communications SMS message as a link to a hosted web page automatically inserted into the SMS by EmailToVoice.Net.

Sending formatted text messages for industrial communications can be done easily with just a simple email interface using EmailToVoice.Net. SMS Messaging is a reliable means to get important information to employees or business partners immediately. However, the limitations of SMS text messaging often keep it from being used in mission-critical business processes. Text messaging is limited by the lack of formatting and low text character limit, which is necessary to convey detailed information. MMS and RCS attempt to address this issue. However, they too have limitations that cause barriers to wide adoption for mission-critical applications.

EmailToVoice.Net allows sending 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. EmailToVoice.Net uses the LinkInSMS service to provide Enterprise SMS to its customers. 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 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 automatically created Web page link 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   

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.

Features of Enterprise SMS

Enterprise SMS 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 Power Automate to continue a complex business workflow process without any coding. (Contact us for assistance in developing workflow processes)

The CTIA Principles and Best Practices can help entities operating in wireless messaging, as well as inform consumers about wireless messaging services.

There are many more features of the Enterprise SMS 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.