If you’re looking for an easy way to build your audience, look no further than keywords. With keywords, you can entice folks to receive your texts by creating a memorable word or phrase that they can to text in to your number to sign up for messages.
Follow Along with SimpleTexting Academy
Prefer to watch a video showing you how to create keywords? No problem! Get started by following along with this step-by-step video from SimpleTexting Academy.
What Are Keywords?
A keyword is a word, phrase, or other combination of numbers and letters that allows people to receive your SMS messages.
Examples of keywords include:
FreshCoffee
PotatoFest2019
JohnsGym
HealthyTips
SimpleTexting Tip — Unlimited Keywords☝️
SimpleTexting offers complimentary, unlimited keywords with each number.
Set Up Your First Keyword
1. Click Keywords on the left-hand panel of your dashboard.
2. Click the blue Add keyword button.
3. Choose your keyword. This is what folks will text in to your number in order to subscribe. Keywords can be 3 to 20 characters, contain numbers and letters (but not all numbers) and no special characters. The shorter, the better.
Let’s make our keyword, “SecretClub."
When you click Save, it will let you know whether the keyword is available. If it’s not, we’ll give you the option to try a new one.
4. You can either assign this keyword to an existing list of contacts, or create a new list, just for people who signed up using this keyword. For this example, we’ll assign the keyword to our existing customers list.
5. Next, type out your auto-confirmation message. This is the first thing your contacts will see when they join your keyword. It’s kind of like a welcome message.
When you create your message, you can select either SMS or MMS.
If you select SMS, you can communicate any information you want up to 160 characters. Note that any attachments sent with SMS will be delivered as links.
If you select MMS, you can attach rich media such as photos or video clips within the body of your message. You can also include up to 1600 characters of text. Note that MMS messages cost 3 credits to send while SMS costs 1 credit.
6. Next up is the compliance message. This message is automatically sent free of charge to each new subscriber to keep your opt-ins compliant. Read more about compliance to get up to speed.
7. Adjust your message frequency. This is an estimate of how many times per month you plan to message your contacts, and is included in your compliance message. You can adjust the frequency by clicking on the + and - buttons. It’s not set in stone, but it's best to keep this as close as possible to your actual message volume.
8. Under Additional Parameters, you have some customization options. All of these are optional.
Check the first box if you want contacts to receive your auto-confirmation message every time they text in your keyword. Keep in mind this will use 1 message credit each time it’s texted. Most users leave this unchecked.
Check the second box to forward opt-ins to an email. If you check this box, the specified email for your account will receive an alert each time someone joins your list.
Check the third box to forward opt-ins to a phone number. This is a great feature if you need to know right away when someone joins. It will use an extra message credit with each opt-in because it’s sending a message to the subscriber and to you.
9. Add triggers. These are optional. Think of triggers as sub-keywords. They allow you to customize some additional messaging after the initial keyword is texted. Triggers cannot contain any space. You can learn more about triggers here.
10. In the Configuration tab, choose the compliance message option based on what is required for your text message campaign:
Send free compliance message immediately upon sign-up. This is the default for campaigns.
Send confirmation and free compliance message upon sign-up. This is known as a double opt in. Contacts will need to text "Y" or "N" for whether they want to receive SMS messages from you.
Send age verification message upon sign-up. This is an age verification mechanism for campaigns that have age limits, like texts about happy hour specials.
11. Click Save Keyword and you’re done! Your keyword is active, so go ahead and text it now to the number assigned to your account to see how it works! (Your number can be found at the top right-hand corner of your dashboard.)
SimpleTexting Tip — Promote Your Keyword ☝️
People need to know about your keyword in order for your subscriber list to grow. Promote your keyword in your store, on your website, on your products, or anywhere else your target audience might see it.
What Number Do People Text My Keyword To?
In your SimpleTexting account, on the main dashboard, your phone number is located in the top right corner. This is the phone number that your customers will need to text your keyword to.
Editing Your Keyword
If you ever need to edit a keyword, just click inside the keyword's row. Make sure to click save after editing.
