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Every text your brand sends takes the same path: the Send SMS step in an automation, the automatic replies to STOP, HELP and START, and test sends from settings. First the compliance checks run, then the text goes out from your own Twilio account. Every attempt is logged, sent or not, with the reason. You set the checks up in Settings -> SMS. The page has five tabs: Compliance, Senders, Suppression list, Consent lookup and Test send.
ElasticFunnels does not give legal advice. Complying with the TCPA and state texting laws is your brand’s responsibility. The checks below help you catch common problems; they cannot tell whether a person really agreed to your texts.

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Before your first text

1

Connect Twilio

Connect your Twilio account in Integrations. See Twilio.
2

Add a sender

In Settings -> SMS -> Senders, click Add sender and pick a number or messaging service from your Twilio account. Then click Configure webhooks. See Senders.
3

Accept the marketing consent statement

On the Compliance tab, read the statement and accept it. Until someone on the brand does, marketing texts are skipped. Transactional texts are not affected.
4

Send yourself a test

On the Test send tab, text your own number and check the result. See Test send.

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What happens to each text

A text ends in one of three ways, and the log shows which: A skipped text is a normal result. In an automation, the run goes on to the next step.

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Compliance tab

Settings, SMS, Compliance tab: the always-enforced checks, Warn or Strict, and the marketing consent statement

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Always enforced

These checks run on every text, in warn mode and in strict mode. You cannot turn them off.
  • STOP, HELP and START. A reply of STOP suppresses the number, records the opt-out and sends one confirmation (only the first time). START lifts the suppression. HELP gets your help reply.
  • The suppression list. A number on it gets no texts at all, transactional ones included.
  • Opt-outs reported by Twilio. When Twilio refuses a text because the person opted out with the carrier (error 21610, for example), the number goes on the suppression list.
  • Invalid numbers are skipped.
  • States you excluded under Where you send get no marketing texts.
  • A sender must be set up. Without one, nothing is sent.
The words that count as each keyword:

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Warn or strict

Consent, state rules, frequency caps, message content and sender registration are checked on every text too. When a check finds a problem decides what happens next: What these checks look at:
  • Consent: whether the number has an SMS consent record. A purchase records consent for transactional texts. A ticked SMS box on a checkout records consent for marketing texts (see Consent from your checkout).
  • State rules: extra rules in the recipient’s state, for example Florida needs written consent.
  • Frequency caps: by default, at most 3 marketing texts per person in 24 hours. A state limit applies when it is lower.
  • Content: restricted topics carriers filter (such as cannabis or CBD, gambling, alcohol), public link shorteners like bit.ly, too many capital letters, long messages, special characters that raise the cost, and promotional words in a transactional text.
  • Sender registration: whether the sender has 10DLC or toll-free registration.
  • Country: only US numbers can be texted for now.
In both modes, marketing texts are skipped until someone with access to the brand accepts the statement. It says the brand only texts people who agreed to it, in writing where state law requires it, and honors every opt-out. The tab shows who accepted it and when. Withdraw turns marketing texts off again.

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Quiet hours

Quiet hours on the Compliance tab, the optional send window and the frequency caps Hold texts during quiet hours is on by default and applies to marketing texts.
  • Texts go out between 8am and 8pm in the recipient’s local time, read from the number’s area code.
  • Pennsylvania: 9am to 7pm, and no texts on Sundays or federal holidays. Connecticut: 9am to 8pm.
  • When the state is unknown, the text waits until those hours are open in every mainland US time zone.
  • A held text goes out at the next open time, in 15-minute steps. If it is still held when it expires (48 hours by default), it is skipped with Quiet hours lasted past the send deadline.
You can turn quiet hours off. Texts then go out at any hour with a warning in the log, and keeping to state texting hours is up to you. Your own send window narrows the hours further, for example 10am to 6pm on weekdays. Leave it empty to use quiet hours alone. No days selected means every day. Frequency caps set the most marketing texts one person gets: Per day (3 by default) and an optional Per week.

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Automatic replies

The texts sent back for STOP, HELP and an opt-in. Leave a field empty to use the default:

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Where you send and state texting rules

Where you send lets you exclude states you do not want to text at all. Excluded states get no marketing texts, in both modes. The quick presets add the Strictest, Strict or Moderate states to the list; save to apply. Skip numbers when we cannot tell the state is off by default. State texting rules lists what is checked for each state: its strictness level, hours and daily limits, and what it requires (written consent, seller registration, an existing relationship). Tick Registered once you have registered where a state requires it, or Exclude to stop texting it.

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Webhook addresses

The Status and Replies addresses Twilio calls to report delivery and pass on replies. Each brand has its own address with a secret token in it. Configure webhooks on the Senders tab sets them on your Twilio number for you; they are shown here so you can check by hand. Calls without the right token are refused. When the Twilio integration also holds your account’s Auth Token, each call is checked against Twilio’s signature as well.

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Senders

The Senders tab with a default local number and a toll-free number, their registration and who answers STOP and HELP The numbers this brand texts from, on your own Twilio account.
  1. Click Add sender, choose the Twilio account (a Twilio integration connected to the brand) and a Number. The list shows the numbers and messaging services on that account.
  2. Turn on Default sender for the one used when a step does not pick a sender.
  3. Turn on Twilio already answers STOP/HELP for this number only if Twilio Advanced Opt-Out is set up for it. ElasticFunnels then records the reply and the opt-out without sending its own reply.
  4. Save, then click Configure webhooks so replies and delivery reports reach ElasticFunnels.
Registration shows the 10DLC or toll-free status Twilio reports: Registered, Pending, Rejected, Not required or Unknown. Click Refresh to ask Twilio again. Carriers block or filter texts from unregistered numbers, so register in the Twilio Console before you send real traffic. A paused sender is not used for any text.

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Suppression list

The Suppression list with a number that replied STOP, a carrier opt-out and one added by hand Numbers this brand never texts, transactional texts included. A number lands here when the person replies STOP, when Twilio reports a carrier opt-out, or when you add it.
  • Add number blocks a number by hand, with the reason Added by hand or Complaint. Include the country code, for example +1 for the US.
  • Lift lets the number get texts again. A person who texts START lifts it too.
  • Search by number, and switch to All, with lifted to see past entries.
Consent lookup for one number: its state, suppression status, the consent record with the checkbox wording and page URL, and the texts it got Type a phone number and click Look up to see everything the brand holds about it:
  • the state it was placed in, and whether it is suppressed,
  • each consent record: opted in or out, marketing or transactional, where it came from, the wording the person saw and the page URL,
  • the texts sent to it and the replies from it.
Export JSON downloads all of it as one file, for a carrier or legal request.

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Test send

The Test send tab: your number, sender, type and message, with the segment count Sends one text through the same checks as a real send and shows what they decided: sent, waiting or skipped, with the reason and any warnings. The text is real and goes out from your Twilio account, so only send to a number you own. Under the message you see the character count, the number of segments and the encoding. A marketing test is skipped while the consent statement is not accepted.

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The SMS log

Settings, Logs, SMS: a text waiting for quiet hours, one skipped because the number is suppressed, and delivered texts with a warning Settings -> Logs -> SMS lists every text the brand sent or tried to send: its status, type, source, what the checks decided, and when. Click a row to see the full text, the segments, the reason it was skipped, any warnings and Twilio’s error. The Replies view of the SMS log: a STOP reply and a question from a customer Switch to Replies to see the texts people sent back to your numbers, with the keyword when it was STOP, HELP or START.

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Why a text was skipped

In strict mode, the warning reasons (no consent, state rule, content, sender registration, country) also skip the text. When a shopper ticks the SMS opt-in box (allow_sms) on a checkout or upsell page, the order stores marketing consent together with the wording next to the box and the page URL. Both show in Consent lookup. A purchase records consent for transactional texts. See SMS and email opt-in boxes.