How to map an inbound to an outbound SMS

Question

Is it possible to map an inbound SMS message (reply) to the outbound it actually relates to?

Scenario - 2 different SMS messages 1 subscriber (same phone number):

• Subscriber X123 receives an SMS#1 telling them to reply "Yes"
• Subscriber X123 replies "Yes"
• Subscriber X123 receives an SMS#2 telling them to reply "Yes"
• Subscriber X123 replies "Yes"
• Which "Yes" belongs to which SMS# message?

Answer 1

Yes, you can do this with the Next Keyword (see: video explanation by Eliot Harper) setting in your text messages. You can fulfill the requirements with this setting alone, but you won't shield yourself about answers different than expected.

The core of a proper implementation is a text message of the Text Response template that detects if the answer was either Yes or No:

• you need to detect what the customer has sent with AMPscript Variables for Use with Mobile Messages
• If YES or NO is sent, you use the CreateSmsConversation() function with the next Keyword in your flow (if the response is coming to the message on Keyword_1, you create a conversation with Keyword_2)
• If a different response is sent, you can use the same function to call the same Keyword and repeat the question from the previous message sent by you

This is the required setup:

1. Outbound text message asking for a Yes/No answer where Next Keyword is set To Keyword_1
2. Text response type message on Keyword_1 with with logic described above
3. Text response type message on Keyword_2 with the same logic
4. Text response type message on Keyword_3 with the same logic