Threading SMS Messages to Interactions
An interaction is created when a contact sends an SMS message to you, or when you send an SMS message to the contact. To enable subsequent SMS messages to be threaded to the same interaction, you must type a specific string in your SMS message.
You must type this string in the first SMS message that you send to the contact, and when you reply to an interaction that was created when an SMS message was first received from the contact.
Similarly, the contact also must type the string in the reply message. The contact's message is then automatically threaded to the previously created interaction.
Note
Threading of SMS messages is applicable only when you send individual SMS messages. This is because the content of the SMS message remains the same when multiple SMS messages are sent in a single operation. Therefore, you cannot specify different threading strings for each message.
Consider a scenario where the ID of the interaction that is created as a result of the contact's first SMS message is 000-123.
When you reply to the contact, you must request your contact to include a string in the format TLI#<<Interaction ID>>, in the body of the reply SMS message. The contact must substitute the characters within the angled brackets (<<Interaction ID>>) with the Interaction ID.
In this example, the contact must suffix the interaction ID in the TLI# string, and include TLI#000123 in the reply.
Alternatively, you can type the last few digits of the ID, and include the string in your Interaction reply. Thus, the string can be in one of the following formats: TLI#000123, TLI#00123, TLI#0123, TLI#123, TLI#23, or TLI#3.
Consider that the TLI#123 string has been specified. It will be used to thread incoming SMS messages correctly to the interaction.
When the contact replies with the TLI#123 string in the body of the SMS message, the message is scanned for the string. When it is located, the system searches the database to locate the interaction bearing this ID. When the interaction is located, the contact's SMS message is threaded to it as the most recent SMS message in the interaction.
If the string that is specified in the incoming SMS message is not found in the database, a new interaction is created.
Every time you respond to the contact from the SMS Reply pane of the interaction, messages are automatically threaded to this interaction. So, It is not mandatory for you to specify the threading string in subsequent SMS messages to the same contact. However, it is recommended that you continue to do so, because this serves as a reminder for the contact to type the same string in their SMS message reply.
Example
Parker Roy is a contact that sends the following SMS message to WorldWaves University:
Request details regarding open Fellowship positions in the Applied Sciences Department. Please schedule a call back.
An interaction of Parker Roy’s SMS message is created with the ID 012-483.
As an Admissions/Enrollment Advisor at the University, you send the following SMS message to Parker Roy:
Hello Parker, Peter will call you at 2 PM, this afternoon.
Please add the text TLI#483 in all your future replies.
Parker Roy responds to your SMS message with the following content:
Great, 2 PM is a good time. TLI#483.
As Parker Roy specified the TLI#483 string in the SMS message, it is threaded to interaction 012-483.
Though the resolution of SMS messages occurs even when you suffix the TLI# string with only a part of the complete interaction ID, it is recommended that you specify the interaction ID is full, because, otherwise there is the possibility of that the resolution is performed for an incorrect interaction.
Consider the following scenario in which the same value is specified in the TLI# string for contacts A and B:
• An interaction with Interaction ID: 001-123 is created for an SMS message that you received from Contact A.
• An interaction with Interaction ID: 999-123 is created for an SMS message that you received from Contact B.
For both contacts, you specified TLI#23 as the string that must be included in the SMS message correspondence.
If Contact A's SMS message comes into the system first, it gets threaded to Interaction 999-123, because the characters 23 are the last two digits of both interactions.
Additionally, interactions are listed in a reverse chronological order in database. That is, 999-123 is listed before 001-123. In this scenario, when the database is searched to locate the interaction matching the last two digits in the message string, Interaction ID 999-123 is selected.
An incoming SMS message is always associated with the appropriate contact record, based on the value in the Mobile field of the contact.
Consider a scenario where Interactions with the 063-385, 082-123, and 091-123 are associated with the same contact. Now, these interactions are displayed in the Interactions tab of the contact page.
When the contact replies with an SMS message specifying TLI#123 as the unique threading string:
• Firstly, the contact with which the incoming SMS message must be associated, is determined based on the value in the Mobile field
• Secondly, the incoming SMS message gets threaded to interaction 091-123, because this interaction is listed ahead of the other interactions in the database (listed in reverse chronological order of the IDs).
If an SMS message is received from a mobile number that is not available in CampusNexus CRM, a new contact is created with the mobile number being populated in the Name, and Mobile fields of the new contact record. Simultaneously, an interaction is also created.