Podio Users can send automated text messages from CRM using the SMS API and GlobiFlow (Podio Workflow Automation).
This article is primarily for Podio users and developers. All integrated CRM users should contact their Company if they are interested in this feature.
You can send a singular text from a contact record within Podio using the Chrome Dialer. But to take full advantage of Podio's automation tools and send texts based on triggers, you need to use the smrtPhone SMS API, detailed below.
Watch this video to see the end result of what texting from within Podio looks like:
If you do not feel comfortable with GlobiFlow or find APIs confusing, we have a partner network of Podio Developers who can easily set this up for you. Just ask for a referral!
Send texts directly from your contact records in Podio, using smrtPhone.
Similar to how Click-to-Call within Podio requires the smrtPhone Chrome Dialer, there is a quick setup required to enable texts to be sent directly from Podio records. A simple Podio Automation, creating with GlobiFlow/Podio Workflow Automation, is all you need to allow composing and sending texts (or replying to texts) directly from your contact record.
Documentation for SMS API
Please note you will need to log in to Podio Workflow Automation (GlobiFlow) to do everything below:
Locate your API Token
First, locate your API Token that is available in the Admin Menu - available to all smrtPhone the Account Owner and some Users. This is a unique key that is specific to your smrtPhone account.
smrtPhone SMS API & Parameters
To interact with the API, you can send a POST to the below URL. Your API token must be in the header of the request.
https://phone.smrt.studio/sms/send(parameters)
There are six possible parameters:
(These parameters will make more sense when you see the example below)
< from= > The smrtPhone number that’s sending the text - REQUIRED
< to= > The recipient phone number - REQUIRED
< message= > The content of the text - REQUIRED. Note: using \n will generate a line break/soft return in the text message received by the contact.
< podioItemId= > the CRM record from which the text was sent - for greater granularity, better tracking, and enhanced automation.
< podioUserId= > The user who sent the text - to link the outbound text to their smrtPhone inbox.
< smrtPhoneGroupId= > The Team Inbox in which the outgoing automated message should appear. The Group ID is found by expanding the Team within the User Management section of the Admin Panel and looking below the Rename & Delete buttons.
Please be advised that there is a limit of 200 text messages per day, per number until you are registered for A2P 10DLC.
Two Ways to Use the SMS API
Now that we’ve addressed the API itself, let me show you a couple of ways you can start using it right away using Globiflow.
We are going to describe two solutions:
Solution 1: In-App
To send texts In-App, you have to add some fields to your Contacts app in Podio.
These fields hold your phone numbers in smrtPhone, the text message that you want to send, and a button to set off the flow. Take note of the header in the POST action, ensure your API token is put in. The variable mobile will parse out the mobile number from the Phone field.
So when you click Send Text, the API is called - the information is sent - and the fields empty for the next use. You can also see the calculation field we have devised to hold the SMS History. We will show you these calculation fields in another post.
Here are some variables you can copy and paste:
Mobile
preg_match_gf("/mobile:([^,]+)/", [Phone Number], 1)
API Header
X-Auth-smrtPhone:API KEY
API URL
https://phone.smrt.studio/sms/send
POST Parameters
from=[From Number]&to=[mobile]&message=[Text Message]
Solution 2: Comments
Another possible way of interacting with the API is by comment trigger. This may be more useful if you want to have the ability to text from any app in the system (where a flow is in place to handle the request) via the comments.
For this demonstration, we are still within the Contacts app itself. However, if you wanted this to fire in another app, you simply need to get the referenced contact or search for the contact in question, to get their mobile number. You do not need to store the From: number in a field as we are in this example, you can simply add the number to your flow when you set the parameters and possibly have multiple flows to handle different numbers.
We use the code sms: followed by the text message in question to fire the API call. The triggering comment will get deleted and replaced by a much more nicely formatted track.
And again, if you’d like to copy and paste:
Message
str_replace("sms:", "", [Triggering Comment])
Because all of the inbound and outbound SMS messages are stored in your Communications app, you can use calculation fields to spread out whatever tracking you need across multiple apps, or, using the comments solution, leave tracks behind that make sense to your workflow. The possibilities are truly endless and now, along with the smrtPhone Chrome Extension, you can access your entire communications system without ever leaving Podio.
If you devise your own effective strategies for our SMS API, please feel free to share them with the community in our smrtPhone User Group on Facebook.
Happy tinkering!
