Add a text to a flow

A flow can send a text as well as an email. A cart reminder can go out by email first and by text a day later. A shipping update can be a text.

You need a registered business and a live texting number before a flow with a text can be switched on. See "Register your business for texting".

#Add the step

1. Open the flow in the editor. See "Build a flow in the editor".

2. In the Actions panel, under Messages, drag Text onto a line.

3. If the row is greyed out and says You need a texting number first, press it. It takes you to the registration.

4. Click the step to open its settings.

#Write the text

In What it says, write up to 459 characters. The note below says: No need to add your brand name or the opt-out line — both are added for you.

Under the box, buttons add merge tags: first_name, last_name, cart_url and checkout_url. A tag looks like {{first_name}}. Every {{ needs a matching }}, or the editor says One of the merge tags is not closed.

Below, a meter shows how many texts each person receives and the character count. If a special character (an emoji, an accented letter, a curly quote) is in the text, a warning says every part is 70 characters instead of 160, so the text uses about three times as many credits. Straight quotes and a plain hyphen fix it.

How it arrives previews the whole message, including your brand name at the start and the opt-out line at the end.

#The carrier check

If the text names a product, gives an amount, or makes a health claim, a section titled This text cannot be sent explains why. There is no way around it. One blocked word can suspend the number for every brand on it. The flow also cannot be saved until you reword it.

#Marketing or order text

The tick box This is an order/shipping text (transactional) changes who gets the text:

• Unticked (marketing). Goes only to people who agreed to marketing texts, inside the sending window.
• Ticked. An order or shipping text. It goes to anyone who gave you their number for order updates, at any hour. Never use it for an offer.

#Cart reminders need a YES

If the flow starts from a cart or checkout (Added to cart, Cart updated or Checkout started), the carriers treat the text as a cart reminder. It goes only to people who confirmed by replying YES to a confirmation text. Everyone else is skipped, and the rest of the flow carries on. The editor shows a note on the step, and Audit flow repeats it.

#When it sends

Marketing texts go between 9 AM and 8 PM in the person's local time. Outside that window the text is held until the window opens. It is not dropped. Texts are also never sent on a Sunday, and one person gets at most 3 promotional texts in 24 hours. See "Send a text campaign" for the full rules.

Each text uses credits. See "Buy texts and see your balance". If the person is not eligible, or sending is refused, the flow moves on to the next step.

#Switch it on

Use Audit flow or Update status. The list of problems can include:

• Register for texting first. The account has no live number.
• A carrier-check line for any text that breaks the rules.
• The cart-reminder note above.

Fix each, then follow "Turn on your first flow".

#If it didn't work

• "You have no texting number yet, so this flow cannot be switched on." Register first.
• Nobody got the text. Check they agreed to marketing texts, they are not opted out, and the text is not held by the window.
• Fewer people than expected got the cart text. Only people who replied YES receive it.
• The step shows "Not set up". Open it and fill in what it asks for. An empty text or an unclosed tag will do it.