
Top 7 SMS OTP service providers to secure your customers | How to choose the right one?
Choosing the right OTP provider requires defining your requirements and goals, vetting various providers, and understanding how well each solution works with your existing tech stack.
At the most practical level, your SMS OTP service provider should give you all the features you need to deliver OTPs to your customers.
Every SMS one-time passcode (OTP) service provider is different.
Some providers offer a more extensive network of carrier partnerships, enabling you to send OTPs worldwide with better deliverability. Others focus on building a strong infrastructure to manage domestic OTP deliveries.
OTP providers also vary in the availability and flexibility of APIs and SDKs for integration into existing systems, impacting the ability to customize and implement the OTP experience in your existing tech stack.
Choosing the right OTP provider requires defining your requirements and goals, vetting various providers, and understanding how well each solution works with your existing tech stack.
In this guide, we’ll explain the features you need to look for in an SMS OTP service provider, the top seven most popular SMS OTP service providers in the market, and how to choose the right one for your needs.
What features should I look for in an SMS OTP service provider?
Consider eight features when choosing an SMS OTP service provider.
- Time-to-deploy
- SMS OTP conversion rates
- Fraud detection
- Security and compliance
- Analytics and tracking
- Integrations
- Customer support
- Price
1. Time-to-deploy
Developers already have enough on their plates— and adding a complicated tool t that requires intensive onboarding and implementation is counterproductive to achieving your other development needs.
When selecting an OTP provider, look for services that require minimal setup. This will allow your team to start sending OTPs with little to no downtime.
Your SMS OTP service provider should also provide clear documentation and SDKs that make it straightforward for developers to integrate OTP with your platforms, significantly reducing the time and resources needed for deployment.
2. SMS OTP conversion rates
One of the most frustrating experiences a customer can have is receiving a delayed OTP, or worse, not receiving an OTP at all. Delayed or undelivered OTPs can cause anxiety, potentially leading the customer to abandon the transaction or lose trust in your brand.
Verify that an SMS OTP provider has high delivery rates to ensure that your customers can receive and act upon OTP messages.
3. Fraud detection
In international markets, OTPs in SMS and voice channels are particularly susceptible to SMS Pumping fraud.
Advanced fraud detection should include dynamic risk assessment algorithms that adapt to emerging threats and unusual patterns.
4. Security and compliance
When assessing the security and compliance of an OTP service provider, there are two key aspects you need to consider: data encryption and regulatory compliance.
End-to-end encryption ensures that an OTP is encrypted at the origin and only decrypts at the receiver’s device. This protects the OTP message from being intercepted or read by hackers. To verify the robustness of the encryption, look for an OTP service provider that uses recognized standards like AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) with a suitable key length (e.g., 256-bit).
Additionally, look for OTP service providers that adhere to data protection regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) as they are mandatory for different countries.
5. Analytics and tracking
Choose an SMS OTP service provider that offers detailed analytics and tracking. Real-time insights into OTP delivery rates and failures help identify issues as they arise.
Custom reports with a trend analysis of KPIs, such as success rates of OTP deliveries across different regions, can highlight areas for improvement, whether in technology or carrier partnerships. You can also leverage these reports to make strategic decisions and draw behavioral insights.
6. Integrations
Even the most robust OTP provider must play well with your existing tech stack. Think about which platforms you need your OTP tool to communicate with. Does this OTP solution fit your long-term technological needs?
Plivo, for example, integrates with most popular tools including Zapier, Microsoft Power Automate, Integromat, Pipedream, Integrately, GitHub Actions, EngageBay, and more.
7. Customer support
Look for an SMS OTP service provider that is available 24/7. This level or service translates to immediate assistance, minimized downtime, and enhanced reliability. Having multiple support channels, such as email, phone, web-based chatbots, and SMS, will also provide more convenience, accessibility, and personalization for your company.
8. Price
There’s no getting around pricing. Look for an OTP service provider with clear, straightforward pricing. Most OTP providers offer multiple pricing plans; look for one designed to scale with your business as you grow. Check out Plivo’s pricing.
The 7 best SMS OTP service providers for security and reliability
Here are our top seven picks for the best OTP service providers. Read a detailed analysis of why we chose these platforms below.
1. Plivo

Key features
- Turnkey single-API solution: All you need to do is integrate using a single API with Plivo and it’ll take care of the heavy lifting. For instance, Plivo keeps numbers ready for usage, so customers do not need to purchase any numbers separately. Bottom line: Plivo customers can conveniently use a secure solution without worrying about compliance issues.
- Multichannel support: Plivo supports both SMS and voice OTP to ensure businesses have the flexibility they need to authenticate users.
- High deliverability: Verify API enjoys specialized routes from carriers that are not available with the SMS API. It also uses intelligent routing to identify optimal routes and number types for enhanced conversions. Plivo also ensures sender ID and template compliance to ensure carriers do not fail them due to compliance issues.
- Built-in fraud control: Plivo’s Fraud Shield includes an autopilot mode to help you monitor your messaging patterns, build thresholds for each country, and automatically send alerts with irregular patterns.
You can fine-tune and override messaging throughput thresholds for each country and access an in-built reporting to evaluate your cost savings from preventing fraud attacks using Fraud Shield.
- Support: Premium 24-hour support, comprehensive documentation, seven global points of presence, and 99.99% uptime SLAs are available.
- No additional costs: Plivo has straightforward pricing plans where you only pay for what you use. There are no charges for authentication, regulatory compliance, fraud shield, and SMS verification, making it an ideal solution for those on a modest budget.
{{cta-style-1}}
Pros
- Supports SMS OTP delivery in 220+ countries
- High deliverability rates, minimizing SMS failures
- Customizable OTP templates for a personalized user experience
- Detailed analytics for tracking OTP success rates
- Robust security features protect data integrity
- Comprehensive API and documentation support ease of integration
- Scalable solutions cater to businesses of all sizes
- 99.99% uptime SLAs available with 24-hour support
Cons
- The vast array of features can be overwhelming for new users.
Most suitable for Companies that need a scalable, customizable SMS OTP solution with extensive integration capabilities, security, and reliability. G2 rating: 4.5 stars, 724 reviews
2. Twilio

Key features
- Multichannel authentication support: Twilio provides APIs that enable you to send OTPs through SMS, passkeys, WhatsApp, email, voice, and TOTP (authenticator apps like Authy and Google Authenticator), going beyond traditional email and website communication.
- Fraud monitoring: Twilio uses one API endpoint to validate users and detect fraud. It also lets you customize geo-permissions, rate limits, and other fraud controls.
Pros
- Wide range of additional communication channels available
- Extensive API for custom integrations and workflow automation
- Fraud detection and security features to protect customer data
- Real-time analytics dashboard to monitor and optimize OTP deliveries
- Global reach with localized number support
Cons
- Steeper learning curve due to platform complexity
- Pricing can become expensive as usage scales.
Most suitable forTech-savvy businesses and developers seeking a robust, customizable OTP solution.
3. Authkey.io

Key features
- Multichannel support: Authkey.io supports SMS, email, and voice OTP.
- Live analytics: It gives detailed analytics about OTP delivery, failure, and latency reports.
Pros
- Cost-effective solution for businesses on a tight budget
- User-friendly platform ideal for those new to OTP services
- API support for straightforward integration
- Quick and easy setup with minimal configuration required
- Responsive customer support team
Cons
- Limited advanced features for complex implementations
- Somewhat restricted global coverage compared to larger providers
Most suitable forStartups and small to medium businesses looking for an affordable, reliable OTP service with basic features.
4. Exotel

Key features
- Real-time analytics: Exotel provides real-time analytics and delivery reports, allowing businesses to track the status of each OTP code sent.
- Customizable OTP timers and lengths: Exotel allows users to customize the length of the OTPs and set timers for how long an OTP is valid.
Pros
- Simple and intuitive user interface
- A reporting dashboard with conversational AI
- An extensive reach in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) and Southeast Asia (SEA)
- High delivery speed for OTPs
Cons
- Limited global presence
Most suitable forBusinesses primarily operating in APAC & SEA, as they have an extensive network in this region.
5. SMSCountry

Key features
- Quick integration: SMSCountry allows you to send OTPs directly from anywhere with an easily integrable SMS API that supports several applications through SDK, XML, Web, and HTTP-API plug-ins.
- Compliance and security: The OTP provider is powered by 100+ direct-to-carrier connections in 180+ countries, enabling users to send OTPs internationally.
Pros
- Easy to use and integrate, reducing time to market
- Supports 180+ countries
- Cost-effective for businesses mindful of budget constraints
- Real-time delivery reports for tracking OTP status
- Dedicated account management and 24/7 customer support
Cons
- Limited functionality for advanced customization needs
- Fewer global direct carrier connections may affect delivery in certain regions.
- No option to add team members from the dashboard
Most suitable for SMBs seeking a reliable, no-frills basic OTP service that's both affordable and easy to implement.
6. MSG91

Key features
- Built-in IP security: The OTP service provider comes with in-built IP data security that ensures the flow is halted when an unusual login is attempted to prevent potential fraud activities.
- Multichannel support: MSG91 supports multiple channels including SMS, email, Voice, and Whatsapp.
Pros
- Robust APIs for flexible OTP service integration
- Comprehensive analytics for insights into OTP performance
- Global coverage ensuring worldwide OTP delivery
- Advanced data security protocols for customer data protection
- Scalable pricing model that accommodates growing businesses
- Exceptional uptime and reliability track record
Cons
- Pricing transparency could be improved for clearer budget planning.
- The platform's extensive features present a learning curve.
- Limited reports—only offers a pre-selected timeframe for accessing reports.
Most suitable forBusinesses that need multichannel support with other basic functionalities of an OTP provider.
7. TeleSign

Key features
- Global coverage: Telesign’s verification API can authenticate customers across 230 countries and over 80 languages.
- Dynamic routing: The OTP provider’s API intelligently routes messages using the most effective routing available to provide high-speed delivery.
Pros
- Extensive global network for reliable OTP delivery across different regions
- Support for a wide range of languages and localizations
- Developer-friendly APIs and SDKs for easy integration
Cons
- Inflexible pricing plans with plenty of friction in free trials
- Significant delay in receiving OTPs
- Lacks accurate number validation
- Doesn’t support its entire list of countries and numbers
Most suitable for Startups and small businesses needing a simple, budget-friendly OTP solution.
How to choose an SMS OTP service provider?
There is a wide range of SMS OTP service providers on the market right now—but how do you decide which one meets your needs best?
If choosing an OTP provider feels daunting, here are six steps to help:
Step 1: Determine your OTP requirements and goals
Before diving into the selection process, get clear on your specific needs for an OTP service. Consider things like the data security level of your application, the volume of OTPs you'll need to dispatch, and whether you anticipate significant growth as this will require a scalable solution.
Step 2: Look at key features
Jot down a list of the must-have and nice-to-have features you need from your OTP provider, like high deliverability rates, speed of OTP delivery, the ability to customize your OTP messages, and authentication flows.
Step 3: Research the best OTP service providers
Begin your search by compiling a list of potential OTP providers. Read online reviews, testimonials, and case studies to explore each provider's reputation.
Step 4: Set your OTP provider budget
Seek out pricing plans that offer transparency and don't hide fees in the fine print. Consider how the pricing structure fits your expected volume of OTP messages and whether the provider offers the scalability you need without increasing costs.
Step 5: Check for integration support
Look for providers that offer robust support for integration, including SDKs, APIs, and comprehensive documentation. These tools and resources will significantly smooth the integration process and reduce the time to deployment.
Step 6: Test, analyze, and report on ROI
Once you’ve set up your new OTP system, take measures to determine its return on investment. The goal is to have an efficient tool with a positive ROI.
The bottom line is that regardless of which OTP service provider you choose, it must deliver on your goals. It should give you complete control and flexibility over how, when, and where you want to send OTPs.
Get started with Plivo today
Choosing the right SMS OTP service provider involves considering key factors. Start by understanding your business’s needs and goals, listing out specific of your must-have and nice-to-have features like customization, global presence, and customer support.
Think Plivo might be the perfect OTP SMS service provider for your needs? Find out today with a trial.

Support Agents: Who Are They, and What Do They Do?
Support agents serve as a middle ground between your company and its customers. Let’s see some steps to hire the best and build a functional team.
Needless to say, customer support is a vital organ for business success, directly affecting customer satisfaction, loyalty, and revenue. In fact, a study notes that in 2024, poor customer experiences cost organizations worldwide an estimated $3.7 trillion, marking a 19% increase from the previous year.
Customers often switch companies if they don't receive good customer service, regardless of product satisfaction. Conversely, they are often willing to go out of their way to do business with a company that offers better service.

Support agents are at the forefront of delivering these sensitive experiences, making their role crucial in fostering customer relationships and driving business growth.
In this article, we’ll explain who they are, what they do, the essential skills needed to become one, and some steps to build your support team with the best support agents.
Who are support agents (and who are they not)?
A support agent is a trained representative of your company primarily tasked with resolving customers' complaints, answering inquiries, and providing usage guidance on your company’s products and services.
Beyond handling tickets, they also provide emotional support by ensuring customers feel heard, valued, and reassured throughout the interaction. This, in turn, strengthens customer trust and loyalty.
Support agents play a vital role in enhancing customer satisfaction—which indirectly drives ROI through repeat purchases—but they are not sales representatives or marketers. Marketers and sales reps acquire customers and sell.
On the other hand, support agents retain these customers and boost repeat purchases through efficient assistance.
4 primary responsibilities of a support agent
A support agent's primary responsibilities include serving as the first point of contact, handling queries, providing proactive support, and gathering essential feedback.
1. Serving as a brand's first-line contact
When things go wrong, customers become frustrated and demand to speak with anyone—even the CEO. Your support agents step in to act as the first line of defense, de-escalate situations, and provide solutions professionally.
They also represent your brand through every empathic response, ensuring customers leave with a positive experience and a lasting impression of excellent service.
2. Handling customer inquiries
Customer support agents handle all customer inquiries. Depending on the technicality of the query, they might sometimes involve a specialist or higher executive.
For instance, if a customer has a dispute over billing that involves policy exceptions, your agent might need to coordinate with or escalate to a higher executive for approval.
3. Providing proactive support
Support agents detect customer needs ahead of time and promptly contact them even before they log a complaint. This helps reduce inbound tickets and boosts customer satisfaction.
As an omnichannel customer support platform, Plivo CX’s proactive service enables your support team to provide a more refined and automated proactive support.

4. Gathering feedback to optimize product offerings and marketing
Your support agents are the most valuable source of feedback since they interact with customers daily. They can help you gather recurring concerns, pain points, and suggestions that drive meaningful product improvements.
Plivo CX’s metrics tool automates this feedback collection process and ensures your agents focus on core tasks instead.

Essential soft skills of a good support agent
Being a support agent involves not only resolving queries but also understanding and communicating with customers on a personal level. This is why certain soft skills, beyond technical competency, are essential when recruiting one.
Active listening and empathy
Active listening involves paying close attention to every word and emotion communicated rather than focusing solely on the problem.
Unsurprisingly, active listeners excel at expressing empathy since they’re more likely to understand how customers feel better. This deeper connection allows them to communicate effectively, provide reassurance, and de-escalate tense situations.
Good communication skills
A good support agent must convey their points concisely while considering the appropriate tone.
They know when to avoid passive-aggressive words such as “actually, ought to,” colloquialisms, and slang to maintain clarity.

Adaptability
Different customers present with different complaints, personalities, and communication styles. Some are patient and easy to communicate with, whereas some are aggressive and impatient.
So, a one-size-fits-all approach won’t work, and that’s why an ideal support agent must be able to adapt to each high and low while maintaining efficient support delivery.
Problem-solving skills
Customer support playbooks are valuable, but not every customer complaint will fit neatly into predefined solutions. Situations like this require your support agent to think outside the box while staying within your company’s guardrails.
A good support agent must be able to devise quick solutions to new problems and escalate as soon as possible when necessary.
6 steps to hire the right support agent and build a functional support team
Your support team can either make or mar your business. Hiring the right agent and building a functional team is, therefore, essential. Let’s see how to do that.
1. Define your staffing needs and ideal agent
You can figure out how many support agents to hire based on your historical ticket volume, scale of business expansion, and anticipated growth in the next quarters. This ensures you don’t over-hire and bloat your expenses or under-hire and cripple your support delivery.
Plivo CX’s reporting and metrics tool provides a comprehensive ticket summary, which helps you determine your historical ticket volume.

Simultaneously, you need to define who your ideal agent is—that is, the skills they should preferably possess, availability, technical proficiency, lingual capacities, and experience. You can diversify your recruitment process if you’re catering to multilingual audiences.
Once you’ve identified your staffing needs and ideal candidate profile, you can post your job listing on your company’s career page and on popular job boards like LinkedIn to attract qualified applicants.
2. Prioritize agents with empathy and problem-solving skills
You need a team of agents who can dialogue with different kinds of customers, resonate with them emotionally, and make them feel heard while providing adequate support. That’s why you should prioritize agents with empathy.
Also, look for agents with strong problem-solving skills—someone who can think quickly on their feet and provide solutions to out-of-the-script problems.
Tools like TestGorilla and Testify help you assess your applicant’s skills and ability to address different scenarios. For a more tailored assessment, present candidates with real scenarios or past customer complaints from your database and ask them to resolve the issue.
3. Test for relevant technical competency
Technical competency is your support agent’s ability to resolve customers’ technical queries. This could include troubleshooting software issues and providing answers to product-specific technical queries.
Usually, your agents don’t need to be tech geeks or specialists for L1 tickets. An entry-level customer support agent with the necessary soft skills can do a great job here.
However, it’s a different ball game for agents managing L2 and L3 tickets. They should have the necessary expertise to manage complex and product-related technical issues like specialists.
This primarily hinges on their hard skills portfolio, which you need to consider when hiring. Provide real-world scenarios to assess these skills and ensure they genuinely have what it takes to be your ideal agents.
4. Provide comprehensive agent training
From the onboarding stage, you need to identify the gaps in your hires’ competencies and design individualized or group training to boost their efficiency. Training can include soft skills, lingual capacity, and upskilling hard skills for more proficiency.
Agent training is not a one-time process. Plivo CX’s coaching tools help your agents leverage past interactions with customers to continuously refine their delivery—how to respond or handle similar situations when they arise again.

5. Equip your support agents with AI-powered tools
Gartner notes that more than 80% are either using or planning to integrate AI-powered chatbots in 2025. Advanced chatbots are essential because they can handle the majority of L1 tickets, thus freeing up your agents to do other complex tasks.
An example is Plivo CX’s openAI-powered AI chatbot, which can leverage your database in real time to make decisions, autonomously handle refund requests, modify orders, and make personalized recommendations.

Your team also needs an omnichannel platform that centralizes all communication channels into a single dashboard. This allows agents to access everything they need without constantly switching tabs, ultimately improving response time and efficiency.
An example is Plivo CX’s unified agent desktop designed to eliminate data silos, unify all incoming customer requests, and integrate with homegrown systems, CRM, ERP, helpdesk, and more.

6. Establish KPIs and reasonable expectations
Establish KPIs, such as first response time, average resolution time, and first contact resolution, to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of your support agents.
Customer Satisfaction Scores (CSATs) will help determine whether customers are getting the help they need and how they need it.
Plivo CX’s agent metrics and reporting tool enables you to monitor and measure your support agent’s performance while exposing gaps that need filling.

You also need to set individualized, SMART expectations and goals for your support agents. Ensure each agent does not handle more tickets—whether in quantity or complexity—than they can. This will reduce the incidence of customer service burnout and enhance the quality of your support delivery.
Scale your customer support operations with Plivo CX
Hiring the right support agent is just one part of building a functional customer support team. You also need to provide them with the right tools to enhance their efficiency and effectiveness.

That’s where Plivo CX comes in.
As an omnichannel platform designed to streamline support delivery, Plivo CX offers a unified agent desktop to centralize your support channels, multilingual AI-powered voice support, and OpenAI-powered chatbots to slash your ticket queue.
We also offer:
- Seamless integrations: Connect Plivo CX with your existing tools, including CRM, ERP, helpdesk, and more.
- Data-driven optimization: Track real-time analytics and generate custom reports to gain insights into customer interactions and agent performance.
- AI-enhanced efficiency: Prioritize urgent tickets, ensure brand consistency, and adapt quickly to changes with AI-powered support.
- Rich communication: Enhance interactions with multimedia support, including images, videos, and documents.
- Increased productivity: Streamline workflows with message templates, internal notes, and skills-based routing.
- Comprehensive features: Leverage call recording, IVR, multi-language support, and robust security features for a complete solution.
Book a demo today and start building a world-class support team with Plivo CX.

The Power of Multilingual Customer Support: 7 Must-Know Strategies
Multilingual customer support enhances user experience and expands global reach. Let’s explore its benefits and best practices for implementation.
It’s ten minutes past 2 pm. A new high-value customer submits a technical complaint—but, in Spanish. The problem? None of your service reps speak Spanish.
Now, you have only two options.
First, you say, “Thank you for reaching out. We currently accept queries only in English. Please resend your message in English so we can assist you. Thank you for your understanding!"
Or, you scramble from Google’s translator to other free versions of online interpreters, which might give you an inaccurate response.
Whichever you choose, your customer will likely not find it encouraging. Your inability to efficiently serve customers in their native language passes a message; that they’re not a valued part of your brand.
According to Hyken’s report, 65% of consumers want to be treated valuably. Failure to deliver this expectation results in a poor support experience, increased churn rates, and a negative brand reputation.
To avoid such outcomes, you need to implement multilingual customer support, and this article will show you how to do that.
What is multilingual customer support?
Multilingual customer support is the ability to provide consistent, high-quality assistance in multiple languages to your customers while accounting for geographical, cultural, and contextual differences that influence communication.
As your business scales, there is also an increasing need to serve a diverse market audience. This mandates your support team to be capable of sustaining interactions with individuals of different languages outside your native business borders.
Even within your business borders, you’re bound to interact with customers of different linguistic needs. According to the United States Census record, the number of residents who utilize other languages besides English has nearly tripled in the last decade.
So, you must be ready to cater to this diversity once necessary.
Benefits of multilingual customer support
Multilingual support increases customer satisfaction, boosts retention, and ensures you can tap into diverse markets for more opportunities. Here’s how it does that:
Improved customer satisfaction
According to Unbabel’s 2021 multilingual CX report, one in three global consumers cite a lack of multilingual support as their top concern in localized customer experience.
Uni- or bilingual provisions lead to frustration since your customers can’t express themselves the way they want, and this culminates in a bad customer experience.
On the other hand, providing multilingual support can enhance customer satisfaction and boost your customers’ LTV. This explains why 64% say they will pay more for a service or product if the brand offers a multilingual support service.
Higher customer retention
57% of global consumers see it as a bias when a brand fails to offer multilingual support. Two in three will also switch to another brand if their current brand does not offer broader language support.
But what happens if you fill up this communication gap? 73% of respondents in Unbabel’s survey say they will remain loyal.
This means multilingual provisions can help you retain your existing customers and also gain an edge over your competitors in attracting new ones.
Interestingly, 40% of consumers will likely overlook poor customer service many times if it is offered in their native language. This gives you enough time to address issues plaguing your support delivery before customers bounce.
Broader reach and competitive advantage
Scaling your business often requires crossing borders and serving new audiences. Multilingual support ensures you can easily resolve the issues coming up in these regions, eliminate communication barriers, and rapidly build a robust brand reputation.
Also, multilingual support can serve as the spearhead of your competitive advantage in new markets. That’s because your potential customers will likely choose you over competitors who do not offer multilingual support, all things being equal. So, you can make it a focus of your marketing strategy.
7 must-know strategies to implement multilingual support
One in four consumers say they will not spend more than $500 on brands offering limited language support. You can avoid this by implementing a sturdy multilingual support system.
Let’s go through how you can do that.
1. Be upfront about your available language options
First, inform your customers and audience about your current capacity. Include the languages you support on your website, applications, social media profiles, and customer support pages.

This helps to manage customer expectations and reduce frustrations pending the time you make provisions for multiple languages.
2. Embrace diversity in recruitment
The most direct approach to creating a multilingual support system is to recruit multilingual customer service reps. These reps are especially crucial for managing L2 and L3 tiers of requests that AI might not be able to handle.
Ensure you have at least one native or non-native representative for each region you serve. You can also organize language training for your existing service reps instead of overhauling the entire team.
This reduces your employee acquisition cost and helps you work with people already in tandem with your support operations.
3. Use AI chatbots to provide multilingual support
Advanced AI chatbots use ML and NLP to analyze user inputs such as complaints and provide appropriate responses while leveraging customer data. This is like having an inbuilt translation system, making them a good fit for handling multilingual L1 requests regardless of the language.
As an omnichannel platform designed to scale your support team, Plivo CX offers an OpenAI-powered chatbot capable of handling multilingual tickets and addressing your customers in the language they choose.

4. Integrate multilingual voice support
According to a 2024 report from Statista, 54% of customers prefer to resolve issues via phone calls over other digital channels and email. To cater to this group, you need to integrate multilingual voice support technology.
An example is Plivo CX’s voice software, which prompts your customers to choose their preferred language from over 27 supported languages right on the call.
With an integrated programmable IVR, your callers can self-select options for quicker routing, shorter wait times, and faster resolution.

5. Offer language preferences in self-service options
Self-service options include FAQs, knowledge bases, chatbots, AI-powered virtual assistants, and community forums. Your customers must be able to choose their preferred language of interaction on all of these platforms in order to cater to their needs.
Additionally, ensure that automated responses, IVR systems, and in-app customer support are available in multiple languages.

6. Train support agents in cultural sensitivity
Multilingual support should cater to lingua-cultural nuances that affect communication. Otherwise, you risk irking your customers.
For instance, there are certain words or expressions that might be normal in American English but seen as aggressive in British English.
One example is the word “sure.” To an American, it’s simply a means of acknowledgment. But it could come off as passive-aggressive to a non-American.
Train your support reps to understand these nuances and avoid them when speaking with individuals of different cultural backgrounds.
7. Localize knowledge base and FAQs
Language location refers to adapting your website content to a visitor’s regional language based on factors like their browser settings, IP address, or geographical location.
o do this, you first need to translate your knowledge base and FAQs into the different languages you support. You can do this manually or with AI. Then let your web development team handle the transitioning.
This method spares customers the hassle of manually selecting their preferred language. However, you should still offer a visible option on your support pages for them to adjust language preferences if needed.
Deliver modern multilingual support with Plivo CX
Language differences stifle quality support delivery and effective communication.
To help you, Plivo CX offers a multilingual omnichannel support system through its Unified Agent Desktop, OpenAI-powered agentic chatbot, and inclusive voice support to help you overcome these challenges.
We also offer:
- Seamless integrations: Connect Plivo CX with your existing tools, including CRM, ERP, helpdesk, and more.
- Data-driven optimization: Track real-time analytics and generate custom reports to gain insights into customer interactions and agent performance.
- AI-enhanced efficiency: Prioritize urgent tickets, ensure brand consistency, and adapt quickly to changes with AI-powered support.
- Rich communication: Enhance interactions with multimedia support, including images, videos, and documents.
- Increased productivity: Streamline workflows with message templates, internal notes, and skills-based routing.
- Comprehensive features: Leverage call recording, IVR, multi-language support, and robust security features for a complete solution.

SMS Lead Generation: Everything You Need to Get Started
Struggling with SMS lead generation? Learn how Plivo CX's AI-powered SMS marketing helps e-commerce brands drive conversions, automate campaigns & boost ROI.
Let’s be real—getting leads isn’t the problem. Getting them to engage? That’s the real challenge. You can have the best offer, but if your message is not seen, it won’t get results.
The good news is that SMS is breaking through the noise. In fact, 76.2% of consumers say SMS is more effective at generating actions that lead to a purchase than email.
Why? Because texts land directly in your customer’s hands—no spam filters, no distractions, just instant, personal communication.
SMS lead generation is quickly becoming a cornerstone of modern marketing. In this article, we’ll dive into why SMS lead generation is rapidly becoming a must-have for businesses looking to engage, convert, and grow their customer base.
Why SMS is an effective lead generation tool
SMS marketing is a powerful tool for lead generation. It helps businesses build and nurture a qualified audience directly through SMS. Here are some key advantages that make SMS so effective for lead generation:
High open rates & immediate attention
Text messages are almost always read – often within minutes. Studies confirm SMS open rates around 98%, higher than email. The immediate visibility means your lead-gen offers (coupons, event invites, etc.) get seen right away, capturing customer attention in real time.
💡 Pro tip: Time your SMS campaigns strategically—sending messages when customers are most active can increase engagement and conversions.
Direct & personal communication
SMS creates a direct and personal connection between brands and potential customers. With the ability to personalize messages based on customer preferences, past interactions, or purchase history, SMS helps brands build stronger relationships and trust.
Example: "Hi [Name], your favorite moisturizer is back in stock! Shop now before it’s gone: [link]."
💡Pro tip: Use first names, purchase history, or location-based offers to make SMS messages feel even more relevant and personal.
Real-time engagement
SMS enables businesses to engage with customers instantly. This makes SMS a preferred medium for promotions, updates, and limited-time offers. It allows for two-way conversations, where businesses can answer questions and send timely reminders when a lead is most interested.
💡 Pro tip: Use SMS for flash sales or time-sensitive deals—customers are more likely to act quickly when they receive an offer with a clear deadline.
Cost-effective marketing
SMS campaigns are a cost-effective way to engage potential customers and increase sales. With message costs ranging from $0.015 to $0.050 per SMS, businesses can reach large audiences without significant money spent.
Despite the low cost, SMS generates high response rates and a strong return on investment, making it an excellent text message lead generation tool for lead nurturing, promotions, and customer retention. For budget-conscious marketers, SMS offers maximum impact with minimal expense.
Example 1: A boutique clothing store replaces printed discount flyers with SMS promo codes, saving on printing costs while directly reaching active shoppers.
Example 2: Instead of investing in costly retargeting ads, a home décor brand uses SMS flash sale alerts to attract customers for exclusive discounts and limited-time offers
Automation & scalability
With SMS automation, businesses can send messages to thousands of customers efficiently. Automated workflows allow brands to set up welcome messages, abandoned cart reminders, or follow-ups without manual effort.
Whether you’re targeting a small segment or a nationwide audience, SMS can scale to meet your needs
💡 Pro tip: Set up an automated drip campaign to send SMS messages over time. This helps to guide potential customers toward a purchase.
Together, these advantages explain why more businesses are leveraging SMS for lead generation.
Proven SMS techniques for lead generation
You know SMS works—but how do you use it to drive more leads? Here are some tested strategies that top brands rely on to turn texts into conversions.
Offer exclusive content or discounts
People love getting something extra, especially when it feels exclusive. By offering discounts, special deals, or early access to new products via SMS, you create an immediate incentive for customers to respond.
Make sure your offer is time-sensitive to create urgency, which further motivates recipients to act quickly. Phrases like “For you only,” or “Exclusive offer just for our subscribers” can make recipients feel valued and increase the chances of conversion.

Create compelling CTAs for immediate action
Create your SMS messages with a clear, strong call-to-action (CTA) that urges instant response. Since texts are typically read quickly and have a character limit, use that brief moment to spark action.
Pro tip: Use action-oriented language like “Claim your offer now,” “Get started today,” or “Shop while stocks last” to prompt immediate responses.

Lead generation through SMS thrives when your CTA is clear, direct, and compels the recipient to act fast.
Use opt-in keywords and shortcodes
Simplify the process of joining your SMS list through keywords and shortcodes. For instance, you might advert JOIN to 12345 for updates.” This text-to-subscribe approach makes opt-ins instant. A customer sends a one-word text and is automatically added to your campaign.
Example:
A fitness apparel brand wants to grow its SMS list. They advertise:
“Text FIT to 56789 for 15% off your first order and exclusive updates!”
By texting “FIT” to 56789, customers are instantly added to the SMS list. This quick, frictionless opt-in process allows leads to sign up easily with just one text.
Pro tip: Make sure to choose an easy-to-remember keyword related to your campaign (e.g., text SALE, VIP, DEMO, etc.).
Segment your audience for targeted campaigns
One-size-fits-all messaging yields mediocre results. Instead, segment your SMS leads based on factors like demographics, purchasing behavior, and engagement history.
Example:
An online clothing store wants to send targeted offers. They segment their audience into two groups: frequent shoppers and seasonal browsers.
- Frequent shoppers: Receive exclusive offers like “Thanks for being a loyal customer! Enjoy 25% off your next order.”
- Seasonal browsers: Receive a message like “Welcome back! Get 15% off your next purchase, just for you.”
Businesses that segment their SMS campaigns see higher conversion because the messaging is more personalized and on-point.
Utilize SMS automation for timely follow-ups
Don’t rely on manual texting, set up automated SMS workflows that send follow-up messages, reminders, or abandoned cart notifications. These automated texts can remind customers about products they’ve left behind, share additional offers, or provide updates on the status of their orders.
SMS automation ensures no customer is left unattended and helps move prospects down the funnel with well-timed nudges.
Example:
An online home goods store uses SMS automation to follow up with leads.
- Welcome message: As soon as a customer subscribes, they receive an immediate “Welcome! Get 10% off your first order. Shop now!”
- Follow-up offer: If the customer hasn’t made a purchase within two days, they receive a reminder: “Still thinking it over? Here’s 15% off your first order!”
By implementing these techniques, you can steadily grow your list of SMS leads and keep them actively engaged.
Best practices for SMS lead generation
While SMS is powerful, success largely depends on how you use it. Here are some best practices to ensure your SMS lead generation campaigns are effective and well-received:
Personalize and be relevant
Treat SMS leads like individuals, not numbers on a list. Use personalization wherever possible—greet recipients by name and tailor messages to their interests or past interactions.
For example, if you know a customer’s preferred product category, mention it. Personalization shows that your texts are for them, which improves response rates.
In this SMS (image below), they address the customer by name (Elizabeth) and highlight their status as a “Platinum Comfort Crew member.” Personal touches like this make the recipient feel special and valued.

Optimal timing and frequency
A staggering 90% of consumers respond to a text within 30 minutes, which underscores the importance of reaching your audience at the right moment.
To maximize engagement, aim to send texts between 10 AM and 8 PM, avoiding early mornings before 8 AM, late evenings after 9 PM, Mondays, and rush hours. Mid-afternoon often works best.
When it comes to frequency, it’s all about balance. Nearly 60% of smartphone users opt out of a brand’s messages when they feel overwhelmed by too many updates.
Pro tip: Space out your messages and keep them meaningful—aim for one or two valuable texts per week to avoid overwhelming your audience and maintain engagement.
Keep messages concise and clear
SMS has a character limit, which means you must communicate your message clearly and concisely. Your text should get to the point quickly, without any unnecessary fluff.
Focus on one core message in each SMS, whether it's an offer, update, or reminder. Use short, direct language, and avoid long sentences or paragraphs.

For example, instead of saying, “We have a new collection of products that we think you might like, and it’s available on our website,” say, “New collection just dropped! Shop now and get 10% off!”
If more detail is needed, include a link to a mobile-friendly landing page for the lead to learn more.
Track and analyze performance
Treat SMS campaigns like any other marketing effort – track the results and adjust the strategy accordingly. Monitor key metrics such as open rate, click-through rate, response rate, and conversion rate.
Also, pay attention to unsubscribe rates after each SMS campaign. Analyzing these data points will tell you what’s working and what isn’t. You can experiment with A/B testing for different CTAs, message lengths, or timing to see what drives the best results
For instance, you may find that messages sent on Friday evenings receive higher engagement or that one offer generates more conversions than another. Use this insight to refine your approach, perhaps adjusting send times, wording, or segment targeting.
The role of SMS marketing automation in lead generation
Automation simplifies lead generation by handling manual tasks, ensuring no lead slips through the cracks. With SMS marketing automation, businesses can send the right message to the right lead at the right time—without manual effort for each interaction. This makes capturing and nurturing leads easier, faster, and more efficient.
Here’s why SMS automation is so important and how it works:
Key benefits of SMS marketing automation
✅ Instant follow-ups: Automatically send a welcome message as soon as a lead opts in, keeping them engaged from the start.
✅ Personalized offers: Use customer data to send relevant offers, product recommendations, and reminders tailored to their interests.
✅ Higher conversion rates: Schedule automated follow-ups to nurture leads, recover abandoned carts, or re-engage inactive customers.
✅ Timely touchpoints: Ensure leads receive timely updates, promotions, and reminders without manual effort.
✅Scalable communication: With the right SMS lead generation tool, you can manage high volumes of leads with automated workflows. This frees up your team while maintaining consistent outreach.
As a robust omnichannel customer engagement tool, Plivo CX checks all the boxes for a reliable and efficient SMS lead generation platform.
With its user-friendly interface and powerful analytics tools, Plivo CX optimizes your SMS marketing for maximum impact and streamlines your lead generation and conversion process with automation.
As a testament to its efficiency, Deckers Brands found Plivo's queuing system to be a game-changer. Jacob Martine, project manager at Deckers Brands, states,
"With fewer worries about rate limits and batch sizes, our developers face less burden. If we need to send 50,000 messages, we simply send them all—Plivo handles the rest, delivering without us worrying about the process."
Drive more leads with SMS marketing powered by Plivo CX
E-commerce managers face a tough challenge—reaching customers at the right time is harder than ever. Manual campaign management takes too long, and generic messages don’t drive conversions. Without automation and personalization, it’s easy to miss opportunities to connect with potential buyers
Plivo CX is an all-in-one customer engagement platform designed to maximize SMS lead generation results. It brings together real-time delivery, intelligent automation, and data-driven insights so businesses can capture and convert more leads via SMS.
Here’s how Plivo CX can get more leads by elevating your SMS marketing:
- Powerful audience targeting: Build highly focused campaigns by syncing your e-commerce platform data or importing contacts. With the Audiences feature, segment audiences based on purchase behavior, engagement data, and demographics to send highly personalized SMS campaigns.

- Multi-channel engagement: Connect with your customers on their preferred channels—whether it's SMS, MMS, or Email. This increases the chances of meaningful interactions and conversions.
- AI-powered SMS personalization: Use the Copywriter AI to generate compelling, data-driven SMS messages instantly. Fine-tune your messages to resonate with your audience instantly.

- Send messages at the ideal time: Automate and schedule messages to align with optimal timings across different time zones, ensuring they reach customers when they are most likely to engage, maximizing impact.

- E-commerce integrations: Effortlessly connect with e-commerce platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, and Magento to personalize and send SMS directly from your e-commerce platforms.
- Track conversions & optimize ROI: Gain valuable insights into what resonates with your audience and continuously optimize your campaigns for maximum ROI.

With Plivo CX’s robust global messaging network covering 220+ countries, businesses can scale their SMS marketing effortlessly, reducing costs by up to 70% while tripling ROI.
Plivo CX users generate an average of $71 for every $1 spent, making it a must-have for data-driven, high-impact SMS campaigns.
Don’t let missed opportunities hold your business back—start driving more leads and conversions today with Plivo CX.

How to Receive and Respond to Incoming MMS Messages in Ruby with Rails and Plivo
Plivo's SMS API and Voice API enables businesses to communicate with their customers at global scale. Sign up for free now.
Overview
This guide shows how to receive and automatically respond to incoming MMS messages on a Plivo number, as you might want to do for someone who’s out of the office or who leaves the company.
Here’s how to use Plivo’s SMS APIs to build this use case.
Prerequisites
To get started, you need a Plivo account — sign up with your work email address if you don’t have one already. To receive incoming messages you must have a Plivo phone number that supports MMS; you can rent numbers from the Numbers page of the Plivo console or by using the Numbers API. If this is your first time using Plivo APIs, follow our instructions to set up a Ruby development environment and a web server and safely expose that server to the internet.
Create a Rails server to receive MMS messages
Change to the project directory and run this command to create a Rails controller for inbound messages.
This command generates a controller named plivo_controller in the app/controllers/ directory and a respective view in the app/views/plivo directory. We can delete the view as we don’t need it.
Create the autoresponder application using Rails server
Edit app/controllers/plivo_controller.rb and paste into it this code.
Add a route
Edit config/routes.rb and change the line
to
Test
Start the Rails server
You should see your basic server application in action at http://localhost:3000/plivo/receive-mms/.
Replace the auth placeholders with your authentication credentials from the Plivo console
Note:
- We recommend that you store your credentials in the auth_id and auth_token environment variables, to avoid the possibility of accidentally committing them to source control. If you do this, you can initialize the client with no arguments and Plivo will automatically fetch the values from the environment variables. You can use os module(os.environ) to store environment variables and fetch them when initializing the client.
- Sending and receiving MMS is only available in the United States and Canada.
Expose your local server to the internet.
Create a Plivo application
Associate the Rails server you created with Plivo by creating a Plivo application. Visiting Messaging > Applications and click Add New Application. You can also use Plivo’s Application API.
Give your application a name — we called our Receive-MMS. Enter the server URL you want to use (for example https://<yourdomain>.com/receive-mms/) in the Message URL field and set the method to POST. Click Create Application to save your application.

Assign a Plivo number to your application
Navigate to the Numbers page and select the phone number you want to use for this application. From the Application Type drop-down, select XML Application. From the Plivo Application drop-down, select Respond-MMS (the name we gave the application).

Click Update Number to save.
Test
Send a text message to the Plivo number you specified using any phone. The message should be replied to the destination number you specified.
Note: If you’re using a Plivo Trial account, you can make calls only to phone numbers that have been verified with Plivo. You can verify (sandbox) a number by going to the console’s Phone Numbers Sandbox Numbers page.
Haven’t tried Plivo yet? Getting started is easy and only takes minutes. Sign up today.

How to Send MMS in .NET using Plivo’s Messaging API
Plivo's SMS API and Voice API enables businesses to communicate with their customers at global scale. Sign up for free now.
You can use Plivo’s SMS API to send an MMS message to any phone number. Businesses can make messages more meaningful by using MMS instead of SMS and including images, audio, and video to provide context.
How it works

Prerequisites
To get started, you need a Plivo account — sign up with your work email address if you don’t have one already. If this is your first time using Plivo APIs, follow our instructions to set up a .NET development environment.
Create the send MMS application
In Visual Studio, in the CS project, open the file Program.cs and paste into it this code.
Replace the auth placeholders with your authentication credentials from the Plivo console. Replace the phone number placeholders with actual phone numbers in E.164 format (for example, +12025551234). In countries other than the US and Canada you can use a sender ID for the message source. You must have a Plivo phone number to send messages to the US or Canada; you can buy a Plivo number from Phone Numbers > Buy Numbers on the Plivo console or via the Numbers API.
Note: We recommend that you store your credentials in the auth_id and auth_token environment variables to avoid the possibility of accidentally committing them to source control. If you do this, you can initialize the client with no arguments and Plivo will automatically fetch the values from the environment variables. You can use the Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable method to store environment variables and Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable to fetch them when initializing the client.TestSave the file and run it.
Note: If you’re using a Plivo Trial account, you can send messages only to phone numbers that have been verified with Plivo. You can verify (sandbox) a number by going to the console’s Phone Numbers > Sandbox Numbers page.
Haven’t tried Plivo yet? Getting started is easy and only takes minutes. Sign up today.
How to Handle SMS and Voice Communications Using Ruby
Send and receive SMS text messages and make and receive voice calls with Ruby, the Plivo Ruby SDK, and Plivo APIs.
Plivo has a lot of great capabilities built into its cloud communications platform. If you’re a Ruby developer, this post is for you: Learn how easy it is to send and receive SMS text messages and make and receive voice calls with Ruby, the Plivo Ruby SDK, and Plivo APIs.
How to send and receive SMS messages
If you’re interested in messaging applications, Plivo’s cloud communications platform makes things easy for you. Sending an SMS message requires just 11 lines of code; receiving messages takes just eight, or you can create a Rails application to receive and respond to messages.
How to send and receive MMS messages
Sending MMS messages is equally simple, and we’ve written a guide to receiving and responding to MMS messages with Ruby on Rails.
How to get set up and make and receive phone calls
Start by reading how to make a phone call from a Ruby application using Plivo’s Voice API. That post covers how to install Plivo’s Ruby SDK, which makes it easier to build applications that use Plivo. The SDK provides objects, functions, and methods to handle common tasks associated with building voice and messaging applications.
Once you have that in place, you can use PHLO, Plivo’s visual workflow design studio, to set up the workflow of the call, then trigger the PHLO with a few lines of Ruby code.
Once you know how to use Ruby with Plivo to make and receive calls, you can move into specific use cases, such as call forwarding and interactive voice response systems.
More resources
From there, the sky’s the limit. We support you all the way with our Ruby SDK, Quickstart guides (for both Sinatra and Ruby on Rails), and more than a dozen use case guides, and if those aren’t enough, you can contact our support team for white glove support.
A journey of a thousand miles Plivo use cases begins with a single step: sign up for a free trial account today.

How to Integrate Plivo Tasks into a Tray Workflow
Plivo's SMS API and Voice API enables businesses to communicate with their customers at global scale. Sign up for free now.
Tray is an application integration platform that lets users connect applications to create complex workflows. It supports Plivo, so you can create workflows that trigger Plivo to send an SMS or MMS message or make a voice call and speak text.
To start using Plivo with Tray, you need a Tray account — sign up for a free trial — and a voice- or SMS-enabled Plivo phone number. You can purchase numbers from the Phone Numbers page of the Plivo console, or by using the Phone Number API.

A sample Plivo/Tray integration
To see how Tray works, we’ll create a workflow that integrates Plivo and Salesforce. In this workflow, every time a Salesforce Opportunity record is updated, a trigger gets fired. If the change that fired the trigger was to update the stage name to “Closed Won,” then Tray will call Plivo to send an MMS message with the opportunity details.

To get started, open Tray’s Workflow Editor and click New workflow. Give your workflow a name (we used Salesforce Opp Trigger), then click Next. On the next screen you can choose how the integration gets triggered. Tray offers eight options, or you can choose an external application. That’s what we need — choose Salesforce, then click Create workflow.
- Click on the Salesforce trigger to configure it. At the top of the properties panel at the right of the screen select “On Record Update” as the action.
- Click Describe and rename the tool Salesforce Opp Trigger.
- Click Authenticate and enter your Salesforce credentials.
- Click Input data, and from the Record type drop-down, select “Opportunity.”
With that, we’ve told Tray to trigger the workflow every time a Salesforce Opportunity record is updated.
When the workflow is triggered, we want to check whether the new value of the Stage field is “Closed Won,” and if it is, we want to take another action — namely, send a text message.
To check the value, click the plus sign under the connector to add another Salesforce service connector, but this time set the action at the top of the properties panel to “Find records.”
- In the properties panel, click Describe and rename the tool Get Opportunity Details.
- Click Authenticate and enter your Salesforce credentials.
- Click Input Data, and from the Record type drop-down, select “Opportunity.”
- Under Fields, click Add to Fields and add the Name, Account ID, Stage, Amount, and Close Date fields. We’re retrieving more than just the Stage field because we plan to use the values of the other fields in our future text message.
- Now we specify that we want these field values only from the record with the Opportunity ID that triggered the workflow. Under Conditions, click Add to Conditions. A new condition will appear. Set Field to Opportunity ID and Operator to Equal to. For Value, click on the datatype dropdown and choose jsonpath. Then click in the field to pick the ID, which then shows up in the box as $.steps.trigger.events[0].Id. Alternatively, you can drag the mouse from the Value setting to the Salesforce Opp Trigger icon and select the ID field there.
Now we can check whether the Stage is Closed Won.
Click the plus sign again to add another connector at the bottom, and this time choose Boolean under Logic Tools. Click Boolean Condition.
- In the properties panel, click Describe and rename the tool Check If Closed Won.
- Click Input data and fill in some required values.
- For 1st Value field, click the datatype drop-down and choose jsonpath. Then click in the field and choose Stage, which will show up as $.steps.salesforce-1.records[0].StageName. Alternatively, you can drag the mouse from the 1st Value setting to the previous step in the workflow and select the stage name field there.
- For Comparison type, use Contains.
- For 2nd Value, enter “Closed Won” (without the quotation marks).
If the boolean test returns false, meaning it’s not a Closed Won, we don’t have to do anything. But if the test returns true, we have to retrieve the account name from the Account record so we can include it with the other information we already retrieved in our text message.
Click the empty box in the True branch and add another Salesforce service connector.
- In the properties panel, click Describe and rename the tool Get Account Details.
- Set the action at the top of the configuration pane to “Find records.”
- Set Record type to “Account.”
- Under Fields, click Add to Fields and add the Account Name field.
- Under Conditions, click Add to Conditions. A new condition will appear. Set Field to Account ID, Operator to Equal to, and Value to $.steps.salesforce-1.records[0].AccountId. Alternatively, you can drag the mouse from the Value setting to the previous step in the workflow and select the stage name field there. This gives us access to the Account Name of the Account record whose ID matches the Account ID we retrieved earlier, which we’ll use in the text message we plan to send.
Now we have all the information we need to send a text message. Click the plus sign under the previous connector and choose the Plivo service connector.
- In the properties panel, click Describe and rename the tool Celebrate Using Plivo.
- Set the action at the top of the properties panel to “Send an MMS.”
- Click Authenticate, then enter your Plivo authentication information. You can find your Plivo Auth ID and Auth Token on the overview page of the Plivo console.
- Click Input data. For Source, enter the number you want to be the caller ID for the text message. Set Destination to be the phone number you want to receive the text message. Set Text to: New opportunity closed won, let’s celebrate! Account Name: {$.steps.salesforce-2.records[0].Name} Owner Name: {$.steps.salesforce-1.records[0].Opportunity_Owner_Name__c} Closed Date: {$.steps.salesforce-1.records[0].CloseDate} To enter the variable names, begin typing {$ and you’ll see a list of values from which to select. Click Add to Media URLs. Set Media URL to “” which is the address of a happy GIF file. If you left this off, you could send an SMS message instead of MMS; the process is otherwise the same.
Your workflow is now complete. Click Enable workflow at the bottom of the page, then test your configuration by marking an opportunity in a Salesforce Opportunity record Closed Won and checking the device associated with the destination phone number for the message you’re expecting.
Note: If you’re using a Plivo Trial account, you can make calls only to phone numbers that have been verified with Plivo. You can verify (sandbox) a number by going to the console’s Phone Numbers Sandbox Numbers page.
Haven’t tried Plivo yet? Getting started is easy and only takes minutes. Sign up today.
How to Turn Liquid into Communications Gold
How to use Liquid template elements to pass dynamic payloads to PHLO
A cloud communications platform can help businesses automate communication with their customers and prospects. Businesses can programmatically send and receive calls and text messages using Plivo’s voice API or SMS API for a variety of use cases.
Plivo’s APIs make coding communication applications simple — and we make developers even more efficient by providing a tool for building applications through a graphical user interface. PHLO (Plivo High-Level Objects), our visual workflow design studio, is a no-code/low-code environment that lets you construct applications using visual building blocks and invoke them either from a program, using just a few lines of code, or directly from a web page. We’ve written a slew of use case guides that show you how to build feature-rich voice and messaging applications.
In PHLO you can use parameters such as phone numbers in your applications in two ways: either by specifying the exact values you want to pass or by using template elements.
Liquid is an open source template language originally developed by Shopify. Web developers use template languages to build web pages that combine static content (text and graphics that are the same on multiple pages) and dynamic content, which changes from one page to the next. Liquid elements act as placeholders; at run time, they’re replaced by values you pass through them.
Static and dynamic payloads
How does this work in PHLO? Consider the simple case of sending an SMS message. Suppose you work for a professional practice that has multiple locations, and you want to send your clients an appointment reminder on the day before they’re scheduled to meet with you. Your application needs to be aware of three fields: the number you’re sending the message from, the number you’re sending the message to, and the text of the message.
In this case you would probably use a static field for the message sender — your business’s long code phone number. You would pass the destination number as part of your API payload using a Liquid element. And the text message would be partly static and partly dynamic — something like “Don’t forget your meeting with us tomorrow at <time> in our <town> office, <address>.”
Map out the workflow in PHLO
Here’s what the PHLO logic looks like for this use case.

This PHLO starts with a Start node, as every PHLO does. When the PHLO is called by a program making an API request, it triggers a Send Message node. Conceptually, it’s pretty simple. You could make it more elegant by adding logic to be triggered when the message is sent or if it fails, but we don’t need to do that right now.
Configure the Start node
Once we understand the workflow, we have to configure each node to send the message properly. Clicking on a node brings up a configuration pane at the right of the PHLO canvas. Here’s what the Start node’s looks like.

Notice the payload key-value pairs under API Request. The key names match the dynamic fields we plan to pass to the PHLO. Plivo prepends the string “Start.http.params.” before each key name to create a Liquid element — for example, .
Configure the Send Message node
We then reference those keys in the configuration pane for the Send Message node.

As you can see, the From field is a static value — it’ll be the same every time you invoke the PHLO. The To field is dynamic — it’ll hold whatever value is passed from the code that invokes it. And the Message field is a combination of the two.
To specify a Liquid element when you’re configuring a field, start typing two braces (“{{“). PHLO will instantly display a list of defined elements, and you can arrow down to the one you want to insert.
Calling the PHLO
Now we need to run a little code to call the PHLO. In Python, the code might look like this. Strings in <angle brackets> are placeholders for actual values that the program would take from a database or a cloud application that holds client appointment information.
You’ll notice we didn’t pass the From field. That’s because it’s static, so we don’t have to pass it to the PHLO. All of the other fields get passed as part of the API payload when we call the PHLO.
Final thoughts
Whether you use static or dynamic payloads, whether you use PHLO or write your entire use case in your favorite programming language, pay attention to best practices for sending text messages. And if you get hung up when writing PHLOs or calling them, look for answers in our PHLO documentation.

How to Integrate Plivo with EngageBay to Send SMS Messages or Make Calls to EngageBay Contacts
'Engagebay Integration: How to integrate Plivo with EngageBay to send SMS messages or make calls to EngageBay contacts.'
EngageBay is an affordable all-in-one marketing, sales, and support CRM platform for small businesses. By integrating Plivo with EngageBay you can send SMS messages and make calls to your EngageBay contacts.
To use Plivo with EngageBay, you’ll need an EngageBay account and a voice- and SMS-enabled Plivo phone number. You can purchase numbers from the Phone Numbers page of the Plivo console, or by using the PhoneNumber API.

Set up Plivo in EngageBay
To get started, log in to the EngageBay dashboard, click on the Profile drop-down at the top right, then Preferences > Gadgets > Plivo (click Enable).

Enter your Plivo Auth ID and Auth Token, which you can find on the overview page of the Plivo console, and click Validate.

Once you validate your credentials, the next screen will prompt you to choose the Plivo phone numbers you want to enable on EngageBay. Choose the options you want and click Save.

Now you can use your Plivo number within EngageBay to send SMS messages and make voice calls.
Send SMS messages using Plivo
To send a text message, navigate to the contact you want to send a message to. Under the phone number in the left pane click SMS, then select Plivo from the drop-down menu.

A pop-up appears that prompts for the From number and message text you want to use. Fill in the details, then click Send. EngageBay will send the message to the contact’s phone number using Plivo as the SMS provider in the background.

Make calls using Plivo
To make a call, navigate to the contact you want to call to. Under the phone number in the left pane click Call, then select Plivo from the drop-down menu.

You’ll be asked to choose one of the Plivo numbers as the caller ID for the call. Once you select the phone number, EngageBay will call the contact’s phone number using Plivo as the voice provider in the background.

More Plivo integrations
You can integrate Plivo with many other integrations using platforms such as Zapier and Microsoft Power Automate. If your company has a SaaS platform and you’d like to integrate Plivo with it so you can give your customers easy access to voice calling and text messaging, let us know.

How to Receive and Respond to Incoming MMS Messages in Python with Flask and Plivo
Plivo's SMS API and Voice API enables businesses to communicate with their customers at global scale. Sign up for free now.
You can receive and automatically respond to incoming MMS messages on a Plivo number, as you might want to do for someone who’s out of the office or who leaves the company. Here’s how to use Plivo’s SMS API to build this use case.
Prerequisites
To get started, you need a Plivo account — sign up with your work email address if you don’t have one already. To receive incoming messages you must have a Plivo phone number that supports MMS; you can rent numbers from the Numbers page of the Plivo console or by using the Numbers API. If this is your first time using Plivo APIs, follow our instructions to set up a Python development environment and a web server and safely expose that server to the internet.
Create a Flask server to receive MMS messages
Create a file called receive_mms.py and paste into it this code.
Replace the auth placeholders with your authentication credentials from the Plivo console
Note: We recommend that you store your credentials in the auth_id and auth_token environment variables, to avoid the possibility of accidentally committing them to source control. If you do this, you can initialize the client with no arguments and Plivo will automatically fetch the values from the environment variables. You can use os module(os.environ) to store environment variables and fetch them when initializing the client.
Test
Save the file and run it.
You should see your basic server application in action at http://localhost:5000/receive-mms/.
Note: Sending and receiving MMS is only available in the United States and Canada.
Expose your local server to the internet.
Create a Plivo application
Associate the Flask server you created with Plivo by creating a Plivo application. Visiting Messaging > Applications and click Add New Application. You can also use Plivo’s Application API.
Give your application a name — we called our Receive-MMS. Enter the server URL you want to use (for example https://<yourdomain>.com/receive-mms/) in the Message URL field and set the method to POST. Click Create Application to save your application.

Assign a Plivo number to your application
Navigate to the Numbers page and select the phone number you want to use for this application. From the Application Type drop-down, select XML Application. From the Plivo Application drop-down, select Respond-MMS (the name we gave the application).

Click Update Number to save.
Test
Send a text message to the Plivo number you specified using any phone. The message should be replied to the destination number you specified.
Note: If you’re using a Plivo Trial account, you can make calls only to phone numbers that have been verified with Plivo. You can verify (sandbox) a number by going to the console’s Phone Numbers Sandbox Numbers page.
Haven’t tried Plivo yet? Getting started is easy and only takes minutes. Sign up today.
Announcing SOC 2 Type 2 Certification: Reinforcing Our Commitment to Security
SOC 2 compliance: Plivo has obtained a SOC 2 Type 2 report certifying that we employ the highest level of security when it comes to customer data.
Plivo employs security best practices and policies to ensure that our network is secured physically and virtually and that our customers’ data and payment information is both private and secure. We use a comprehensive set of security controls and processes to track and secure your information. In addition, we have built a security-conscious culture from Day 1: everyone at Plivo knows security is our most important job.
But we don’t expect you to take our word for it. The Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (AICPA) runs independent audits of organizations looking at Systems and Organization Controls (SOC). In particular, the SOC 2 audit, for service organizations that hold, store, or process their users’ information, focuses on IT security and availability processes. This is the most thorough SOC protocol, attesting not only to the adequacy of our processes and systems, but also to our operational effectiveness in adhering to those controls over time.
We’re happy to announce that Plivo has obtained a SOC 2 Type 2 report detailing our systems’ operational effectiveness. The SOC 2 compliance report contains a history element that demonstrates how a company’s controls were managed over time. It also considers how well our internal controls and systems perform over time.
Sample of some controls covered in the SOC 2 Type 2 report include:
- Communication of changes to customers
- Internal access control to production environments
- System monitoring and ongoing risk assessments
- Disaster recovery and data backup
- System and security monitoring and incident response processes
- Employee onboarding and termination processes
We’re proud to have obtained this SOC 2 Type 2 certification. The SOC report represents our commitment to security and results from months of hard work by our team. And our commitment to security is more than a checkbox. We make sure that our systems and processes are up to the task of handling the sensitive data that our clients entrust us with every day.

One place to manage every interaction—Plivo’s commitment to the unified Contact Center
Implementing a Contact Center that unifies the agent workflow and simplifies operations is essential to exceeding the needs of the intelligent consumer.
The business-critical role assumed by Contact Centers has been driven by mounting customer expectations and requires more personalized touchpoints and faster issue resolution.
Consumers and the technologies they use are increasingly intelligent and require smarter solutions as we enter the next chapter of the unified Contact Center.
In the past couple of years, businesses have adopted modules from legacy vendors that promised features like AI, automations, self service, and native analytics within their existing solutions. They thought they were purchasing the future, only to realize three things:
- Simplicity and flexibility are key with customer experience technology. Plugging in a module doesn’t necessarily equate to a personalized customer experience.
- Contextual agent experience is more important than ever to build customer loyalty.
- Voice as a channel contains incremental costs across every CCaaS provider; it adds up quickly, and it doesn’t have to.
While the Contact Center space is approaching maturity, it won’t truly arrive until we accept as an industry certain methodologies and tech prerequisites for the platforms that power the customer service experience.
- Contact Center software must serve as the primary hub of a modern CX tech stack.
- Contact Center software needs to provide an intuitive experience for agents and an invisible experience for customers.
- A single platform that can adapt and be customized is essential. Non-customizable tools with certain non-native features are a non-starter.
Verticalization of the Contact Center
Mid-year 2021, communications API industry veteran Plivo launched a powerful yet simple Contact Center platform—with fully native communication channels and analytics—to address the maturity gaps in an established and fast-evolving space. Plivo’s engineering team built a unified platform to manage the entire CX workflow, optimized the add-on costs of voice communications, and integrated it with the other complementary CX tools in your existing tech stack, all powered by Plivo’s communications API platform.
The result is Contacto, a fully native platform that integrates with tools like Salesforce, Shopify, Zendesk, Kustomer, Servicenow, and more. Contacto was architected to drive customer loyalty and reduce complexity, while ensuring that agents have a simple and seamless experience with their workflows. With common pain points in the customer experience as its focal point, Contacto was built to level up CCaaS technology using real-world CX gaps as the North Star. These include:
- Customer experience, on their terms: Meet your customers on the channels and devices they demand.
- Unified agent desktop experience: One platform manages all interactions with continual context available so your customers don’t have to repeat themselves—ever.
- Simple configuration and drag-and-drop workflow builder: Build powerful no-code workflows that keep your agents moving forward and your customers happy.
Contacto, Powered by Plivo
The Contacto Contact Center experience is the next chapter in Plivo’s rich history. Contacto is built on Plivo’s Premium Communications Platform, which has been proven for scale over the last 10 years with billions of API requests each month. It natively supports voice and emerging channels like in-app chat, WhatsApp, and social media and has prebuilt integrations with existing applications like Salesforce, Zendesk, Shopify, Kustomer, and more.
We are glad to be here, and we can’t wait to bring the Contact Center space to maturity with the help of our amazing customers and our strong foundation in scaling the Plivo API platform globally in 190+ countries.
It’s easy to get started. Sign up for free.
Create your account and receive trial credits or get in touch with us.