How can I integrate another service I use with Mobile Text Alerts?

Automation is your friend!

The more you can successfully automate, the more time you can save. So being able to integrate your Mobile Text Alerts services with your other platforms, apps, and tools is a win.

There are 2 primary ways to integrate your Mobile Text Alerts services: via API and via the integration site Zapier.com.

This article will discuss both of these methods.

Integrate via API

You can integrate with your current platforms and apps using our SMS API, included for free with all accounts. With API, you can program your own integrations the way you want them to work.

Your account comes with a free API key that you can use according to the API documentation to set up and customize your integrations.

Integrate via Zapier

Your Mobile Text Alerts account can integrate with thousands of other services via Zapier.com.

Here is an explanation of how to integrate.

Create an account with Zapier

You’ll need to create an account at Zapier.com if you don’t already have one. In many cases their free account can be sufficient for whatever purposes you’re trying to accomplish.

(You can view their plans and pricing here.)

Set up a “zap”

Once you have an account set up with Zapier.com you’ll need to log in and create a new zap. You'll need to set up a Trigger App and an Action App. (If you have questions about zaps and how to set them up, you can contact Zapier support.)

Select what you'd like to occur

If you set Mobile Text Alerts as the Trigger App, you'll have 3 options for what events within Mobile Text Alerts can trigger an action in another app that you designate:

• When a message is sent
• When a message reply is received
• When a message’s delivery status is updated

Alternatively, if you'd like an outside app to trigger an action within Mobile Text Alerts, you can set Mobile Text Alerts as the Action App. If you go this route, you have several different options for what actions you'd like Mobile Text Alerts to take:

• Add Subscriber - This option will add a contact into your Mobile Text Alerts database from your Trigger App.
• Send Message - This option will both add in a contact to your Mobile Text Alerts database and send them a message.
  • When sourcing the phone number, the recommended format is XXX-XXX-XXXX (without a country code for US/Canada phone numbers).
• Add Subscriber to Group - This option will add a contact into a designated “group” in your Mobile Text Alerts database.
  • Note that the contact must already exist as a contact before this step can occur, so if you want to “Add Subscriber” and “Add Subscriber to Group” in the same zap, you will need to create 2 separate steps for that within the zap.
  • You will need to manually type the name of the group.
• Remove Subscriber from Group - This option will remove a contact from a designated “group” in your Mobile Text Alerts database.
• Send Message with Unique Link - This option will both add in a contact to your Mobile Text Alerts database and send them a message including a unique link (if your Trigger App sends over a unique link field).
• Delete All Scheduled Messages - This option will delete all messages currently scheduled for a particular number.

 

Turn on your zap

Once you’re done setting up your zap you can turn it on and your app should connect with your Mobile Text Alerts account.

If you’re running into issues with the connection you can check your Task History to see if any error messages are coming through.

(We can answer some basic questions regarding trying to connect your app to Mobile Text Alerts via Zapier; for more detailed questions or issues, you can reach out to Zapier support.)

Example zap

In the below example, I set up a spreadsheet in Google Sheets with a column heading that says “PhoneNumber.” I want to set it up so that every time I enter a new row at the bottom of the sheet, the phone number I enter is added to my text alert database and automatically sent a message.

Here's how I would do it.

First, I would set up the Trigger App as Google Sheets and fill in all the steps for that:

Next I would input Mobile Text Alerts as the action app and designate "Send Message" as the action event:

Then I will enter my Mobile Text Alerts account (you'll find the API key you need to connect your Mobile Text Alerts account under your Settings->Developer Settings):

Next I would fill out the info for what I would like my message to say and who I would like the message to go to. I would select the icons with the horizontal lines and plus sign if I want to select a value from the previous step to be filled in to one of these fields (for the example below, selecting the PhoneNumber value will pull whatever value is at the bottom of my spreadsheet's PhoneNumber column when the zap is triggered):

Then I would turn my zap on and it will be ready to use!