How to set up a Solutions by Text (SBT) channel

Use the Solutions by Text (SBT) integration to receive and send SMS messages directly from Front. Connect your SBT Groups to message subscribers and leverage Front features like comments, tags, and rules to power your workflows.

To set up the integration in Front, you’ll need the following information:

• SBT OAuth Client ID and Client Secret values, obtained from SBT support

• SBT Group ID, obtained from the URL when viewing the group in your SBT dashboard. In the example below, the Group ID is 407b4d23-4c15-4f19-a72a-8ba5fb5fe639.

Step 1

In Front, click the gear icon, then navigate to your workspace or personal settings in the left sidebar, depending on the space you’re working with.

Step 2

Click Inboxes in the left menu and create a new shared inbox or individual inbox.

Step 3

Click Channels in the left menu, then click the Connect channel button.

Step 4

Find Solutions by Text in the list and click Connect.

Step 5

Fill in the Client ID, Client Secret, and Group ID values from SBT. Then, select whether you’re connecting a production or staging number. 

Click Continue.

Step 6

Copy the Webhook URL value, which is used to receive messages and status updates from SBT.

Step 7

In your SBT dashboard, navigate to the group you want to connect to Front. Click the gear icon, then select Webhooks.

Important to know: SBT has three places to configure webhooks (Group, Brand, Account). Only use the Group setting for the Front integration.

Step 8

A side panel will appear. Click Add Webhook, then configure the following settings:

• Events: Select MessageStatus, InboundMessages, InboundMMS

• URL: Paste the Webhook URL value copied from Front

• Auth: Leave as-is (None)

• Email address(s) for failure notifications: Leave as-is (empty)

Click Save.

Step 9

In Front, check the box for I have configured the webhook URL in Solutions by Text, then click Continue.

Step 10

Choose the inbox that conversations will route to, then click Continue to finish.

Think of these as your target audiences in SBT, each with its own phone number. When you create an SBT channel in Front, you're hooking it up to a specific Group. You'll see all your Groups in the SBT dashboard.

These are the people who have opted-in to getting SMS messages in SBT. 

• Each subscriber is unique to a Group, so if they're in Group A, they won't receive messages from Group B unless they subscribe to B too. 

• They need their own phone number and have to be active to receive messages. 

• If they text "STOP," that subscriber has opted-out and won’t receive messages that are sent to them.

• If you attempt to send a message to a subscriber that has opted-out, SBT will block the message. Front will display an error message indicating that you attempted to message an opted-out subscriber.

These are automatic alerts that tell us when new messages (in or out) happen in SBT. SBT sends these updates to a specific URL that we set up for each channel.

SBT has three places to configure webhooks (Group, Brand, Account). Only use the Group setting for the Front integration.

No. Once you set up an SBT channel, only new messages in that SBT Group (even if sent from the SBT dashboard) will appear in Front.

Yes. Each SBT Group can be connected to Front once in your company. In other words, you cannot create duplicate channels with the same SBT Group phone number.

This feature is available on the latest Professional plan or above. Some legacy plans may have access.