SMS Alerts: Automating Modern, Timely Communications

June 30, 2021 // Product

SMS alerts are text messages sent in both urgent and time-sensitive situations. Alerts may be automated and sent in bulk, like during an emergency situation, or sent as individual messages. Automated alerts are a powerful business, logistics, and communication tool that delivers easy business wins while better engaging your user/customer base. The Voxology API empowers developers to easily add programmable SMS alerts to their communications and build the exact communications stack your application or company needs to thrive.

Programmable SMS alerts have a wide range of use cases. Whether for a school closure, a weather-related emergency, or a questionable financial transaction, the ability to send SMS alerts at a massive scale and at a moment’s notice is a game changer.

How It Works

Adding programmable SMS alerts to your communications strategy is an easy 3-step process with the Voxology API.

1. Step one // Register on the Portal
2. Step two // Follow the Programmable SMS Getting Started Guide
3. Step three // Speak with a Voxologist about your specific needs

curl --X POST \
  https://api.voxolo.gy/v1/Messages \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H 'X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY' \
  -H 'Cache-Control: no-cache' \
  -d '{
    "api_no": "+19495551212",
    "caller_no": "+17145551212",
    "text_message": "Fraud alert! We declined a $1,034,002.00 transaction on your account. Was this you? Reply YES or NO. Msg & data rates may apply. ",
    "status_webhook": {
      "url": "yourWebhookURL.com"
    }
  }'

Use Cases

SMS alerts are a valuable tool for a myriad of situations and industries that need or want to communicate urgent or time-sensitive information.

• Financial transactions // Deliver peace of mind by sending confirmation messages to both the sender and recipient when money is transferred between two accounts.
• School system alerts // Schools and school systems can use SMS alerts in a wide variety of ways, including school closure notifications and warning alerts for dangerous situations.
• Emergency alerts // Amber alerts are an example of a bulk emergency alert system that cities have put in place. The same concept can be applied via SMS for inclement weather, sudden road closures, workplace safety, and hazardous waste spills, among others.
• ETA updates // Greatly increase customer satisfaction by providing delivery confirmation alerts and shipping update alerts. Text messages are far more likely to be read than emails and are, therefore, much more effective.

Why Build With Voxology?

Voxology is the telecommunications backbone of industry leaders in a wide range of markets. In addition to providing your developers with the building blocks and easy-to-use API for important features like SMS alerts, Voxology also provides the phone numbers, minutes, and call control functionality you need to modernize and maximize your entire communications infrastructure.

We supply the customized support, documentation, and getting started guides your team needs to build the features you and your customers are looking for, including:

• Local Phone Number Coverage // Search and provision A2P 10DLC enabled phone numbers from our massive inventory of local numbers based on prefix (NPA-NXX), city/region, LATA, Rate Center, or postal code.
• Programmable SMS/MMS // Send and receive SMS and MMS on toll-free and local phone numbers via an API.
• Logging // View message and call logs to see when automated interactions took place in the application.
• Answering Machine Detection // Optionally provide alerts via voice, and create a customized experience for your end users — understanding whether you are delivering a message to a live person or to their voicemail inbox.