Estimated reading time: 5 minutes | Target users: Supervisors

In this tutorial, you will learn where to look for all the information regarding your SMS messages and how to monitor the most important metrics and KPIs in your project.

In order to get a clear understanding of your projects’ SMS performance, it is essential to track and monitor them. This tutorial introduces you to the main points you should consider when collecting data, monitoring logs, and exporting statistics.

This tutorial includes:

• A Description of the SMS Log
• An Introduction to the SMS Webhook
• An SMS Webhook Use Case

1. SMS Log

The first and most important SMS statistics screen is the SMS Log interface found in Project > Logs and Statistics > SMS log. An SMS log contains all necessary information about sent and received text messages. In order to receive text messages, you need a dedicated phone number. To get one, please contact us.

In order to search for specific SMS messages, do the following:

1. Set the date range with the date-picker tool
2. To see SMS messages listed for a specific template only, choose a template from the drop-down list (optional)
3. Choose the Direction of the SMS (optional).
4. Press Search
5. Once you have your SMS messages listed, you can copy or export them as a TXT or CSV file.

The SMS Log provides general information regarding your project’s inbound and outbound SMS messages. Below you will find a list of all available columns you can use in your SMS Log:

Note: It is strongly recommended checking the SMS cost value when dynamic fields are used in the SMS body, as the variable values’ length determines the length and cost of the message.

2. SMS Webhook

2.1 What is SMS Webhook?

Create customized data exports with Webhook Requests. Using a personalized Async Webhook Request you can retrieve data from VCC Live (encoded in JSON) to your own software environment for further processing. You can also set up a Webhook answer, so when an SMS message is received, a Request object is then sent to you, including information such as the Date or the Message itself.

Learn more about SMS Async Webhooks here.

2.2 SMS Webhook Use Case

Gather information on a large scale: Let’s say, as a debt collection company, that you send a mass SMS to your clients, asking them whether they would like to receive a call and make their overdue payments. A client can send the SMS message “YES” as a reply and the Webhook delivers this information to your site. Using this technique you can compile a database of customers who need to be called.