The Blackthorn Messaging Messenger component will leverage your Phone Number Lookup data in a few new ways.
- Display phone number types in the To drop-down.
- Alert you if you try to send a text to a landline (optional).
- Automatically lookup a phone number when you send a text (optional).
Let's look at each one.
The component can now display the phone type next to each phone field listed in the To drop-down. This will help you quickly identify which phone numbers are not capable of receiving SMS.
When you're selecting a phone field to send a text message to, you will see one of the following icons:
This indicates the phone number is either a Mobile or VoIP number. Mobile phone numbers are SMS-capable and are the type of phone numbers associated with a recipient's mobile phone. VoIP phone numbers are typically SMS-capable and are associated with an internet phone service, such as Google Voice, Skype, etc.
This indicates the phone number is a landline. This is a business, home phone, or a phone number that is otherwise incapable of receiving SMS.
This indicates the phone number has not been looked up, yet. Thus, we cannot determine what type of phone number it is. You would need to perform a lookup on the phone number before one of the above icons would be displayed.
You can turn on a setting that will alert you if you try to send a text to a landline. You will see a pop-up that lets you cancel sending the message.
You can turn on a setting to enable automatic lookups. When you send a text to a number that has not been looked up, it will first perform a lookup on the phone number. If the phone number is a landline, you will see a pop-up alerting you and allowing you to choose to proceed or cancel. If the phone number is not a landline the text message will be sent.