SMS numbers

This feature is only available to Ortto customers on the Professional or higher plans, along with the Phone numbers add-on.

The SMS numbers page allows you to configure where your Ortto account’s SMS numbers originate from. These numbers are used as the originating number from which Ortto’s SMS messages are sent from an SMS or journey campaign.

Your Phone numbers add-on determines how many phone numbers you can add to your Ortto account. If you exceed your phone number limit when adding a new number, you may be directed to the relevant billing page to increase your permitted quantity of phone numbers.

Access the SMS numbers page

To access the SMS numbers page, navigate to Settings  SMS  SMS numbers.

On this page, you can:

Add a new number

To use Ortto’s SMS messaging features, you need to configure at least one number by adding it to the SMS numbers page. To do this:

  1. On the SMS numbers page, click New number.

  2. In the Add a new number dialog, choose the country of origin for your SMS messages from the Which region will this number be used in? list. Learn more about which countries' numbers to add in Choosing your required countries' numbers.

  3. In the Select a number area, choose one of the numbers provided by clicking it.

    If your selected region/country requires you to configure a regulatory bundle (and you have not already done this), then a note appears in this dialog, indicating this requirement. You are required to configure the relevant regulatory bundle first before you can add your chosen country’s number.
    Click the Create a regulatory bundle link to begin uploading the documents required to create your country’s regulatory bundle.

    If you do not like any of the numbers provided:

    • Click Generate numbers to regenerate new numbers for your chosen country, or

    • If you have already selected a number, click the Change link,

    and choose one of the new numbers provided within Select a number.

    The Regulatory bundle section indicates the SMS messaging conditions permitted by your country’s number.

  4. If you have already configured a business address through the Regulatory bundles pages for your chosen country, the select or specify this address within the Business address field, which appears after choosing your number.

  5. Click Add number to add your chosen number, which then appears on the SMS numbers page.

Choosing your required countries' numbers

Choosing which countries' numbers you require depends on the mobile number locations of People (i.e. your contacts) registered in your Ortto account, since the numbers you configure are used to send these contacts Ortto SMS messages from SMS and journey campaigns, and receive these contacts' replies.

When sending or receiving an SMS message, Ortto automatically utilizes the configured number whose country code matches that of the recipient’s (i.e. contact’s) mobile number.

Therefore, follow these guidelines when adding numbers:

  • Add a number from the country that matches the location of most contacts in your Ortto account.

  • If you are likely to have a significant number of contacts from other countries, add numbers for those countries too, bearing in mind that you should be able to specify a lower SMS credit requirement for these numbers.

Connect a Twilio account

You can connect a Twilio account to use your Twilio numbers for SMS campaigns in Ortto.

When using Twilio numbers in Ortto you will not be charged for number use (no SMS usage charges or phone number add-on charges), as SMS billing is handled by Twilio.

The SMS configuration options you have set under Consent, opt-out and default responses and SMS limits and fallback will apply to SMS campaigns sent using Twilio numbers. Regulatory bundles are not required for numbers imported from Twilio.

Phone numbers purchased from Ortto must be deleted before you can connect a Twilio account.

To import Twilio numbers, in Ortto at Settings  SMS  SMS Setup  SMS numbers:

  1. Click Advanced  Connect Twilio account.

  2. On the Setup page, at Details, enter the following details from your Twilio console (found under Account info)

    • SID (Account SID)

    • Token (Auth Token).

  3. At Import numbers as, select the state in which you wish to import numbers to Ortto.

    If you only want to use one or two of a large list of numbers, we recommend importing all numbers as disabled/inactive. Then, once imported, it’s easy for you to enable (set to Active) the small amount of numbers you need.

  4. Click Connect to finish.

Once your Twilio numbers are imported, any changes to numbers in Twilio can be updated in Ortto by clicking Sync with Twilio. Ortto will not perform an automatic sync with Twilio, so the manual sync is required to update the numbers list (for example where you added or removed numbers in Twilio and need to reflect the changes in Ortto).

To set numbers as Active or Inactive, click the more more icon next to the number and select accordingly.

If you click Disconnect Twilio, it will remove all Twilio numbers from your Ortto account. You will then be able to purchase numbers from Ortto if required.

Opt-out responses to Twilio numbers

When using Twilio numbers in Ortto, you may experience a discrepancy in the number of unsubscribed contacts. This is due to the way Ortto handles opt-out responses to SMS campaigns using Twilio numbers.

SMS campaigns sent from Ortto using Twilio numbers are handled by Twilio’s API. As such, Ortto currently cannot receive opt-out responses where a subscriber has replied STOP (or an equivalent response) to opt-out. (However, if a subscriber opts-out by clicking the opt-out link, Ortto can immediately unsubscribe the contact from SMS.)

When a subscriber replies STOP to opt-out, Twilio will immediately unsubscribe that person. As Ortto does not yet know that the person is unsubscribed, at the next campaign send, Ortto will attempt to send to that person but will get a response from Twilio that there is no permission to contact them. Ortto will then unsubscribe the person from SMS.

Search for a number

If the list of numbers on the SMS numbers page is extensive, you can filter this list itself by typing one or more consecutive numbers into the Search box, and any phone numbers whose digits do not match your consecutive numbers are dynamically excluded from the list as you type.

Clearing the Search box, or clicking X restores all phone numbers to the page.

The Search box only filters phone numbers, not on any other fields indicated on this page.

Delete a number

To delete an existing SMS number from the list:

  1. On the SMS numbers page, locate the number to delete, and click …​ .

  2. Click Delete from the list and follow the instructions in the Are you sure? dialog.

Deleting a number frees up one number of your Phone numbers add-on quota.