Configure Subscription & Keywords

• Keyword Management is not supported for SMS and MMS if multiple senders/connectors are configured.
• Keyword Management is not supported in the RCS channel.
• To enable the Keyword Management feature for SMS and MMS, please contact your MoEngage Customer Success Manager (CSM) or the Support team.

Overview

Users must consent to receive SMS, MMS, and RCS as part of messaging regulatory compliance. For more information on messaging compliance, refer to Messaging Regulations. The Subscription and Keywords features help you track the user’s SMS Subscription Status using keywords.

Keyword categories and auto-response messages can be added and configured using this setting. Keywords capture the user consent to subscribe (or receive) and unsubscribe (or not receive) SMS notifications. Keywords are used to get support or help with SMS alert subscriptions.

This article describes the steps to configure the Subscription management for the SMS, MMS & RCS channel and Keyword management for the SMS and MMS channel.

You can manage subscriptions for SMS & RCS at Settings > Channels > SMS & RCS > Subscription management tab and configure keywords for SMS in the Keyword management tab.

Subscription Management

• When you turn on the Manage keyword-based responses toggle on the Keyword management tab, the Opt-out users toggle is automatically turned on by default. This helps make sure you don’t accidentally send messages to people who have opted out. However, turning off the Manage keyword-based responses toggle does not automatically turn off the Opt-out users toggle.
• Subscription management has an impact on the reachability of the user for the SMS channel.

Perform the following steps to enable subscription management:

1. Turn on the Opt-out users toggle.
2. Select one of the following in Criteria for opting out users:

   • Default: This option is selected by default when opt-out is enabled. When this option is selected, users who have Optin as the value in their SMS subscription status (user property) will be considered in the target audience for campaigns (users who have opted to receive communication from your brand will be targeted when campaigns get sent from MoEngage provided they qualify in the segmentation criteria for the campaigns).

   • Custom: This option enables you to select the custom user attribute that stores the opt-in status of users. For example, let the user attribute that stores the subscription status of users be custom_user_property. The value of this attribute is Opt-out. Then, you can select this user attribute in the dropdown and set the value as custom_user_property is equal to Opt-out, to exclude users whose value for this attribute is Opt-out from receiving your campaigns.

     

Keyword Management

Manage Keyword Based Responses

You can configure keywords after Subscription Management is enabled for your account. Perform the following steps to configure the keywords for SMS, MMS:

1. Turn on the Manage keyword-based responses toggle.
2. Click + Add new keyword to add keywords and configure them.

The following options are available in the Add Keyword Category window.

Field	Description
Keyword category	Type or paste the keyword category name. The keyword category name can be up to 50 characters long.
Keyword	Type or paste the keywords and press enter to add the keywords. For example, if the keyword category is Opt-In, the keywords can be: subscribe, start, resubscribe, enable, and so on. Note: You can add only 20 keywords for a particular keyword category.
Message	Type or paste the SMS auto-response message to be received by the user. For example, the message for resubscribing can be as follows: You have successfully re-subscribed for receiving messages from this number. Reply HELP for more info. Reply STOP to unsubscribe. Note: The message can contain only 200 characters.
Status	Status can have the following values: Active: The system sends the auto-response message and tracks the keyword under the SMS Keyword Response Sent event. MoEngage uses the same sender to send the auto-response message from which it received the incoming message. Inactive: The system doesn’t send the auto-response message. However, it still logs the SMS Keyword Received event against the user’s profile and updates the SMS Subscription Status user attribute accordingly. This means: If the system receives an OPTIN keyword, the status changes to OPTIN. If the system receives an OPTOUT keyword, the status changes to OPTOUT.

Click Save to save the keywords and keyword category.

• The auto-response messages are logged under the SMS Keyword Response Sent event and have the following attributes:
  • timestamp
  • sender_number
  • sender_id
  • keyword
  • keyword type
  • keyword response
  • SDK version
  • App version
  • MOE Event Category
  • api_t
  • profile attribution
  • MOE Event Source
• Any message sent by a user in response to an SMS or MMS campaign is tracked under the SMS Keyword Received event.
  • Event Time
  • Event Received Time
  • SDK Version
  • App Version
  • Consent Acquisition Medium
  • api_t
  • sender_number
  • Source
  • Mobile Number
  • MOE Event Category
  • callback_type
  • profile_attribution
  • Is Fuzzy Match
  • MOE Event Source
  • Keyword type
  • keyword
  • timestamp
• If a user sends an MMS as a response, MoEngage stores only the text content; the accompanying media is discarded.

Capture Leads

Turning on the Capture leads from unknown numbers toggle enables MoEngage to automatically create new user profiles from incoming SMS messages received from new numbers. This functionality streamlines your lead generation efforts by capturing potential users directly from their SMS interactions, allowing for more effective retargeting and campaign engagement. By default, this toggle is turned on.

• The newly created user profiles (leads) are stored in this format: MOE_INC_7814d0a55f, where the 7814d0a55f part is encrypted.
• The new phone numbers are stored in the User attribute that stores user’s mobile numbers attribute configured under the General Settings of the SMS channel.

Configure General Response

Turning on the Set a general response toggle allows you to configure a general default message to be sent for any SMS keywords other than those specifically defined and managed. If turned off, MoEngage does not respond to any keywords that are not defined.

When you enable this toggle, a default message appears. This message can be sent whenever a user sends an incorrect or unrecognised keyword. Click Edit message to modify this default message. In the Edit message window, type your message and click Save.