This article explains how to create and send text messages using Tivian Communicate XI (CXI) for Communicate Journeys. It covers the process of scheduling a text message, setting up personalized greetings, testing the message, and tracking its performance. The article also discusses important considerations such as obtaining employee consent, character limits, and the ability for recipients to opt-out of messages.

Note: You must be added to the Communicate Journey team and hold the permission status of Owner or Editor to create new messages. Read more about team access and permissions here.

Introduction

Note: You must have loaded a dataset containing employees’ mobile phone numbers via a CSV or our Public API in order to use this feature. Read more about automated messaging here. You can download a CSV file template here. Text functions are only available to US employees; contact your Tivian team if you’d like to use them in other countries.

When it comes to timing and emphasizing essential information, Short Message Service (SMS) communication, also known as text messaging, is an effective option. Text messages allow readers to absorb essential information and enable you to reach the vast majority of your workforce quickly and effectively.

Tivian Communicate XI (CXI) can send personalized text messages to your employees’ cell phones and track their engagement in the analytics dashboard.

Using text messages in a campaign

There are two main texting capabilities supported by Tivian Communicate XI for Communicate Journeys:

1. Text messages sent directly to employees created and run from the Campaign section of Communicate Journeys.
2. Keyword text messaging found on posters, postcards, and trackable assets created and run from the Campaign section of Communicate Journeys. Employees opt into the content experience by texting a specific keyword to a 5-digit number (a shortcode) that is listed on the printed asset.

This article will cover the first option, in which text messages are sent to employees. Some of the use cases for this type of text messaging include:

• Reaching deskless employees
• Sharing emergency information to maximize employee safety
• Notification of critical events
• Last-minute alerts

Note

It is your responsibility to obtain consent from your employees to ensure text messages can be sent from CXI. By including mobile phone numbers in your audience list, you are verifying that you have obtained employee consent.

Set your greeting

If you haven’t done so yet, go to the Preferences section and set your text message greeting. This greeting will appear in all of this Communicate Journey’s text messages.

Schedule a text message

1. From the Campaign section, click on Add New.
2. A pop-up window will appear.
3. Select Text Message from the Type options to the left, and click Create.
4. A new blank text message entry will appear, automatically opened to the Properties tab. Here, you can edit the following:

• Date: Select the date when your text message will be sent.
• Reminder: Set a date you’d like the system to email and any Notification Recipients a reminder about this message.
• Destination: This is the media or URL your text message will be linked to. Usually a piece of content in the Experience section of that Communicate Journey.
  • If you choose not to link to content within the experience but choose a different web link, you will be prompted to upload an image. Disregard the thumbnail prompt as no image will appear in the text message.

5. Next, click on the Notes tab and fill out the following:

• Message Title: This is the title you will see in your campaign overview, as well as what will appear in the Analytics section for tracking purposes. Name it after the message or the content experience you are communicating about. Only visible to team members.
• Notes: A place to give additional context for the asset. These notes are only visible to team members. Other teams may view the notes in the Communicate Planner section.

6. Then, scroll to the bottom of the message and click the Edit pencil. This will enable the field below:

• • Text Message: This is the message body text. (Due to the constraints of SMS, only messages up to 499 characters long can be saved and sent from the platform.)

7. Click Save once you are finished.

Note: A preview of your message will appear to the right of the timeline. Click it at any time to preview what your text message will look like. You can send it to yourself or a colleague as a test to see how it will look when sent.

Testing

1. In the edit window of the text message, click on the preview to the right.

2. Click Send a Test at the top of the preview and enter a phone number.

3. A copy of the text message will be delivered to the number that you entered.
   4. If you are happy with your message, click Approved to send at the bottom of the area. (No text will be sent unless it is approved.)
4. Text messages that are set up for Automatic Delivery and have been approved, will be delivered by CXI on their scheduled date at the times your administrator has set for the account. The designated times will adjust to daylight savings. To be compliant with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), text messages should only be delivered during normal work hours.

Note: The unsubscribe information cannot be edited as it is required to be included at the end of every text message delivered by CXI.

Personalized Greeting

Text messages delivered from CXI provide a personal touch by including a “Hello [First Name]” greeting in the message body. This helps employees feel valued, thereby increasing the effectiveness of your campaign. To include personalized greetings, you must have a column entitled “First Name” in the CSV file or Public API data feed for the system to generate the first name personalized greeting in your texts.

If you do not wish to include a personalized greeting, you can select the ‘Employee Name’ dropdown as ‘Not Applicable’ while editing/uploading an audience.

STOP and START

Anyone who receives an automated text message can reply “STOP” and the system will not be able to send them any more text messages. They can reverse this by simply sending the word “START” back to the number (61759) and the service will resume as normal.

Tracking your text messages

Look for the text message icon in the Analytics section to see how each of your text messages performed.

FAQ

What if I don’t have all of my employees’ mobile phone numbers in the Targeted Audience set up?

CXI will only send out text messages to employees whose phone numbers are listed in the audience file.

How secure is the information I upload?

Tivian takes privacy and security extremely seriously. Any data that you upload will be encrypted and at no point will any of your data be shared with a third party (except where necessary to send a text or email). In short, we only want you to use it in ways that are helpful to your employees. See our Privacy Policies and Terms of Use for additional information.

Can I text to international phone numbers?

Currently, only U.S. mobile phone numbers are supported.