Actions and Keywords

Actions specify what happens next when an inbound message is processed by Infobip. Keywords are predefined words in inbound messages that can be used to filter out specific messages received to a number. Keywords are assigned an action when the keyword is matched.

Actions

Actions define how Infobip will process the inbound message received by your number or resource.

Actions can be set with a default configuration, which applies to all inbound messages for a number or resource, or a specific keyword, in the case of messaging channels. 
The default action can be set only on dedicated numbers.

You can set actions and/or keywords over:

• Infobip web interface under Number details in Channels and Numbers
• Resource Management API

Messaging actions

Messaging actions can apply to the messaging channels SMS, MMS, and WhatsApp.

Forwarding actions

Forwarding actions specify how you would like to receive the inbound messages from Infobip platform.

• Forward to HTTP – When a message arrives on the Infobip platform, it will be forwarded to the URL you specify in the renderer format of your selection. Use this action to integrate with other systems and include them in your business processes.
• Forward to Email – Use this option if you would like to receive an email every time a message arrives. Have in mind that in cases when there are a lot of messages, there may be a lot of emails coming your way. Then, your email provider could blocklist Infobip and you will not receive these emails.
• Pull – In cases when you don't need real-time integration, you can choose to pull new messages when you need them. Configure this action to store messages so you can pull them by using the Get inbound messages method.
• Forward to SMPP – Use the Short Message Peer to Peer Protocol (SMPP) you can receive inbound messages messages.
• No action – No action will be performed. You can still see these messages by browsing the message log.

Only one forwarding action can be set per configuration.

Non-forwarding actions

You can also set additional actions, on how you would want Infobip to process the inbound message.

• Use Conversations - When a message arrives on the Infobip platform, it will be forwarded to Conversations and/or Answers.
• Auto response - Use this option if you would like for Infobip to send automatic response to the sender of the inbound message. (Links to Conversations and Answers)
• Blocking action - Use this option if you would like to add or remove the end user's number from Blocklist on Infobip's platform. If a number is added to blocklist, it won't be able to receive messages from the number or account.

The following table shows which action is supported by which channel.

Action	Action type	SMS	MMS	WhatsApp
Forward to HTTP	Forwarding action	Supported	Supported	Supported
Forward to Email	Forwarding action	Supported	Not supported	Not supported
Forward to SMPP	Forwarding action	Supported	Not supported	Not supported
Pull	Forwarding action	Supported	Supported	Not supported
No action	Forwarding action	Supported	Supported	Supported
Conversations	Non-forwarding action	Supported	Not supported	Supported
Auto response	Non-forwarding action	Supported	Supported	Supported
Blocking action	Non-forwarding action	Supported	Supported	Not supported

Voice Actions

Create voice actions for voice-capable numbers, with a clear distinction when compared to the SMS capable numbers. Voice numbers are phone numbers that can receive incoming calls.

Voice numbers can have only one voice action and there are no keywords. In practice, this means that every call that is received in Infobip will be treated in the same way.

The configuration options for incoming calls are:

• Forward to a Phone Number – Forward all incoming calls to your business phone number.
• Trigger Number Masking – This is a special case of forwarding a call to a phone number. The number Infobip forwards the call to as well as the caller ID to be displayed to this recipient are defined in a response Infobip receives from your platform as an answer to our number masking API request. The Number Masking feature guarantees security and anonymity. See Number Masking for more details.
• Use Conversations – Forwards all incoming calls to Infobip Conversations, and makes this number available for outbound calling by Conversations agents.
• Forward to Subscription – When developing your own voice application using Infobip Calls API, forwards all incoming calls to your application.
• Forward to Call Routing – Forwards all incoming calls to Infobip Call Routing. This action can either include the designation of a specific route to be executed, either no state any particular route in which case Call Routing will search for any route with matching filter criteria.
• No Action – The incoming call does not trigger any configuration, nor will it be forwarded. Two additional actions may be reflected on your numbers but cannot be assigned in a similar way as the actions above.
• Forward to Flowor Use Conversations with Flow – This number will trigger the execution of a Flow defined in Infobip Moments or an IVR scenario created with our IVR API. See IVR for more details.

For more information, see the Voice and Video product documentation and Voice API documentation (opens in a new tab).

Keywords

Keywords are words at the beginning of the message text of the inbound message that are used to filter out specific messages received on a number.  Keywords can be of any length, as long they fit into one message. There is no limitation to how many keywords can be used on one number. You can use multiple keywords on one number to support multiple campaigns on a single number.

For messaging channels, any action that the channel supports can also be set at the keyword level.

Voice actions do not support keywords.

Configure Keywords

To set up a keyword:

1. Log in to the Infobip web interface and go to Channels and Numbers > Numbers. Click on a specific number you own.
2. A side panel on the right appears with a list of already assigned keywords. If the number has SMS, MMS, and Voice capabilities, you can select the configuration tabs on the side panel. The SMS configuration tab is the default.
3. Click ADD KEYWORD.
4. Add a keyword and assign a specific action to it. This will create a configuration that will then be applied to all the messages matched with that keyword. This means that all keywords, except the ones specifically defined, will follow this path. When a message arrives, the system will first try to match it to the keyword and process the action you configured. If a message can’t be matched to the keyword and there is an action configured without a keyword specified, then this action will be executed. If there’s no action the message will just be stored in the message log.

The forwarding method options for SMS are:

• Forward to HTTP
• Forward to Email
• Pull
• Forward to SMPP
• Save message to log

The forwarding method options for MMS are:

• Forward to HTTP
• Pull
• Save message to log

4. Click the Use conversations option to set up the keyword in conjunction with Conversations. Your call center agent can then use the number for bi-directional communication.

Configure Keywords over API

You can configure keywords using the API. You have access to all the actions, including non-forwarding actions.

The forwarding actions are:

• Forward to HTTP
• Forward to Email
• Forward to SMPP
• Pull
• Save message to log

The non-forwarding actions are:

• Use conversations

Each keyword can have one forwarding action and one or more non-forwarding actions.

See the Numbers API documentation (opens in a new tab).