What is two-way SMS?
Two-way SMS means customers can reply to your messages and you can respond back.
This is useful for:
appointment confirmations
questions and follow-ups
simple back-and-forth conversations
managing opt-outs and replies in one place
When replies are supported
Whether customers can reply depends on the sender option you use.
Replies are supported when sending from:
a Mobile Message dedicated number (recommended for two-way messaging)
Replies are not visible in Mobile Message when sending from:
your own mobile number
replies are sent back to your phone directly
replies will not appear in the Messenger
Replies are not supported at all when sending from:
a custom sender ID (business name)
Custom sender IDs are designed for one-way messaging only.
Where replies go
Inbound replies are delivered based on the sender option used.
Dedicated number
replies appear in the Messenger
replies can also be sent to email or a webhook, depending on your settings
Your own mobile number
replies are delivered to your phone
replies do not appear in Mobile Message
Custom sender ID
replies are not supported
Replying back to customers
When using a dedicated number, you can:
view the conversation in the Messenger
send replies directly from the platform
Sending a reply is an outgoing SMS and uses credits like any other message.
Important reply behaviour
Replies are always linked to the number the original message was sent from
Changing sender options changes where replies are delivered
Certain keywords (such as STOP) are handled as opt-outs and should not be replied to
Testing two-way SMS
To test two-way messaging within Mobile Message:
Send a message to your own mobile from a Mobile Message dedicated number.
Reply to the message from your phone.
Confirm the reply appears in the Messenger.
Send a response back from the platform.
If a reply does not appear in the Messenger, the most common reasons are:
the message was sent from your own mobile number
the message was sent using a custom sender ID
replies are configured to be delivered elsewhere (for example, email or a webhook)