A transactional SMS is any message sent to customers to keep them up-to-date on a transaction they have already made, such as a purchase, appointment, or booking.
Transactional SMS use cases include:
welcome messages
account notifications
order confirmations
password resets
shipping confirmations
A transactional SMS excludes any message that has promotional or marketing content intended to drive new business.
Bluecore’s Transactional API allows you to send any transactional update event to Bluecore and then send a personalized text message to each shopper. This guide walks through the steps required to start sending transactional messages using Bluecore’s Transactional API.
NOTE: You will need support from a developer to implement the APIs.
PREREQUISITES
Review overview of Getting Started with SMS
Set up send codes and keywords on the SMS Marketing settings
Generate API key for the Transactional API
Users need to be added to the PartnerAPIUser group in Okta. Please raise an IT request with user details (full name and email address).
As soon as the request is completed, User will receive an email from Bluecore with login credentials.
Navigate to Gloo Dashboard https://api-portal.bluecore.app/
Login with your Bluecore provided email and password
Click on your username and select ‘API Keys’ from the navigation bar.
Select ‘Transaction API’ from the list.
In the dropdown menu click on ‘Add API Key’ as Basic Plan.
A popup will appear asking you to confirm your action, you can then click on the ‘Generate Key’ button.
Once done, the API key will be generated for your account
You can then click to reveal it and then copy it in your application.
You should treat your API key as a password and keep it secure. If it is accidentally shared, other users may be able to send messages on your behalf.
NOTE: Gloo only provides the API key; you must set up the API calls.
CREATE CAMPAIGN
Follow the steps below to create and schedule recurring automated SMS campaigns through Bluecore Communicate™.
Navigate to the flag (Campaigns) icon on the left-hand navigation.
Under Communicate, select Automated Campaigns.
Click New in the upper right-hand corner. Then, select Campaign.
Choose Automated Campaigns SMS as the channel.
Then, choose Transactional as the campaign type.
Specify a Transaction from any of the 6 offerings, then click Create to continue.
ADJUST CAMPAIGN SETTINGS
Fill in Welcome settings for campaign name, send code, and eligibility status
SETUP API CONNECTION
Click Download API Requirements in the bottom right to download a PDF file.
Share the downloaded PDF file with your IT team.
You will need support from a developer to implement the APIs. It includes adding the API key, setting up an API verification with Bluecore, and adding the campaign IDs for the relevant transactional messages into the configured API.
Once your IT team sets up the API connection, the bell icon that appears next to the campaign name indicates the API connection is established.
BUILD YOUR MESSAGE
After you’ve set up the transactional API integration, you will see all the dynamic parameters that are transported in your API payload such as {Customer Name}, {Order Number}, {Item Name} on your message builder.
If you want to add dynamic parameters, click ⇋ Insert Transactional Attributes on the bottom right of your message editor.
As you type, a real-time preview of the message displays on the right-hand side.
Once you are done drafting your message, click Save & Continue to review your campaign summary.
Learn more about how to create an SMS message with Bluecore.
REVIEW CAMPAIGN SUMMARY
After the message has been built, review the settings and configurations on the message summary screen and send a test message before sending the campaign.
Then, click Save & Launch Campaign in the lower right-hand corner.
TEST API IMPLEMENTATION
In order to test that the implementation is working as expected, use an API testing platform of your choice, such as Postman, and make an API call with your own phone number that's an active SMS subscriber.
Bluecore’s Transactional API guide provides comprehensive documentation of our Transactions API, along with code samples.
VALIDATION
An SMS with the sendcode configured in the campaign should be triggered to the phone number present in the payload (this is currently only enabled for numbers in the US and Canada).
You can also confirm this by logging into the Twilio console.
NOTE: Twilio validation requires Twilio Console Access to see the entire logs of mobile messages being fired.
In the Twilio UI, click Console Dropdown.
Then, select View Subaccounts.
Search the namespace.
On the left panel, click Monitor > Logs > Messaging.
A list will appear of Messaging Logs, here you can see the SMS Transactional message.
ANALYTICS
After the transactional campaigns have started sending, you can view analytics using Bluecore’s campaign analytics.
Navigate to the chart (Analytics) icon on the left-hand navigation.
Select Mobile.
Select Mobile Transactional Analytics from the list.
