Establish an Account with Powered By Text (PBT)¶
If you have not already done so, please see the article Texting from TouchPoint-Overview in order to understand the big picture before you begin.
See also
To use the TouchPoint texting integration with Powered By Text, you will need to establish an account with PBT for your church.
Important
Powered By Text provides short codes instead of local or toll-free numbers. They can provision a unique short code for your church or use a shared short code with other churches. Short codes have a throughput of 150 messages per second whereas local and toll-free numbers have a throughput of 1 message per second.
Your System Admin must complete the setup process for you in TouchPoint.
Below is the first part of getting your database ready to use PBT for texting.
Tip
For all PBT users, but especially for those who were PBT clients prior to the TouchPoint integration (September 2021)
You DO NOT need to put all of your PBT groups in TouchPoint. The suggestion would be to ONLY put campus or ministry wide PBT groups in TouchPoint.
Powered By Text Account¶
- Step 1
Contact PBT through their website at https://poweredbytext.com to create an account for your church.
Complete the form on their website with your church’s information.
- Step 2
After you have completed the process to establish and configure your account, configure your groups on PBT’s website. This is where you will name your group and provide a description, which will be pulled into TouchPoint, as these groups will be used in TouchPoint for texting.
Note
About Keywords
Each group (with exception of the group you plan to use for Quick Sign-In see tip below) needs to have a Keyword. This is they word that a user would text in order to opt in to messages sent from that group. When a text message is sent through TouchPoint to someone that has a valid cell phone number on file, they will be automatically opted in to that group. The keyword will allow new people to opt in at their convenience. In addition, if a user is opted in to multiple groups, the keyword will ensure they are re-connected to their group of choice.
The same Keyword cannot be used more than once.
About Reply Words
The only PBT group that allows Reply Words is the group set as Quick Sign-In. However, you do not want to create a Reply Word in TouchPoint that matches a Keyword in PBT.
In Summary
If a Keyword exists in your PBT account, it should NOT exist as a Reply Word in TouchPoint and vice versa.
Tip
PBT will create the OTM (One Time Messaging) and System groups during the integration setup. All PBT groups mapped to TouchPoint need to have a keyword, with the exception of the OTM group. A keyword is the ONLY way someone can opt in once they have opted out.
- Step 3
Proceed with the steps in the next article, Set Up TouchPoint for Texting.
See also
Latest Update |
1/15/2024 |
Update references for MBT to PBT.