Lesson 1. Getting started with SMS
We took responsibility for doing all the complicated stuff for you, so you can get started using SMS as easily as possible. There are a few things you need to know before we begin.
Firstly, to provide you the opportunity to send SMS, we are collaborating with a third-party service Twilio. Some nooks and crannies of your SMS communication will depend on Twilio's workflow, and we'll discuss it later in the lesson.
Secondly, the SMS feature isn't free. If you're in the US, you'll pay:
- $30.15 for the first month's subscription
- $11.15 for every month's subscription after that
- $0.04 for every SMS message sent and received
For Canada, prices are the same, but in Canadian dollars.
So, now we're ready to get started. The whole process consists of two steps. As the first step, you need to initiate a process called brand registration. It is straightforward:
- Go to your left sidebar menu, click on Settings and find the Integrations section
- Find the SMS tab there and click the Connect SMS button
- Fill in your firm info and contact details
- Add funds to your firm balance
- Confirm and pay your registration fee
That's what it looks like:
Once you submit, you wait up to 30 days for the registration to complete. It takes this long because the law requires Twilio to verify your information. After registering, you'll receive a new mobile number for sending SMS messages to TaxDome.
If the verification fails, you have to repeat the process on the second of three available attempts. You don't want to spend extra time and $30.15, right? So, we advise you to check all details against your W2 form or equivalent national tax record. The information you provide must be identical to your official records.
The second (and the last) step is your campaign verification. You don't need to do anything because it starts automatically. We will notify you by email when the campaign verification is complete.
And while you are waiting for verification to be completed, you can check if all your contacts have proper phone numbers added.