FAQ – Data base of frequently asked questions from our users.

This data base is regularly updated by our programmers.

FAQ – About TextingHouse

What is the TextingHouse professional SMS solution ?

FAQ- TextingHouse is a Professional SMS communication application. It acts as a browser extension and provides the user and its company with an instant communication tool : the SMS. Professional SMS sendings with TextingHouse improve customer relations management and the effect of marketing campaign, and this without any software development.

The TextingHouse extension includes a wide range of unique features such as :

  • Clickme2text : automatic recognition of phone numbers in web pages and easy SMS sendings in one click
  • bulk SMS, SMS campaign
  • SMS mailing, SMS customization for each recipient
  • Detailed follow-up of sent SMS, statistics, exports
  • Excel or CSV file import (for contacts and phone numbers)
  • Personalized telephone book
  • SMS templates
  • Scheduled SMS
  • Customization of the heading name of your sendings
  • Opt-out management using “STOP”
  • Enterprise mode, multi-user mode…

What is an SMS extension ?

FAQ – Extension, plug-in or add-on are different terms that all refer to an application that connect to the browser and improve the user’s navigation experience thanks to extra functionality.

Users can configure the settings and download extensions or add-ons on any web browser. There is numerous extensions such as graphic customisation of the browser, add-blocking tools, or even direct access to your town’s weather forecast.

With the TextingHouse extension, users can, without any development :

  • send in a natural way a text message to any phone number visible on the web pages he visits, or on the pages of his intranet or extranet applications, like for example his CRM, his commercial management software, his client management, his ERP, …
  • send bulk sms to multiple recipients from his contact files (marketing, promotional or event SMS campaigns)
On which browser is the TextingHouse add-on available ?

FAQ – TextingHouse is indeed a browser add-on, that is to say an application that will enhance the capacities of your browser with professional SMS communication tools.

TextingHouse is available on CHROME by Google inc, FIREFOX by Mozilla, OPERA by Opera software and Edge by Microsoft.

We recommend Internet explorer users to use one of the browsers above mentioned to use properly the SMS features.

How can I try the TextingHouse SMS solution for free ?

FAQ – The extension is free, you only pay for the SMS. However, after installing our extension, you will get free test SMS.

Download here the TextingHouse extension from your internet browser:

  • Follow the easy installation procedure (confirm the installation when asked) in your browser and your extension will be ready to use in a few seconds.
  • A TextingHouse icon has appeared in your browser menubar. The TextingHouse window opens on your screen, if not click on the TextingHouse icon on your browser (usually in the top right-hand corner).
  • Your TextingHouse application is now ready to use: type in your e-mail address and a password; a first connexion e-mail is automatically sent to you to verify your address,
  • Confirm your address by clicking the link in the e-mail
  • Log onto your TextingHouse account with your e-mail and your password. Ticking the “remember me” box allows future connexions without typing your e-mail and password again.
  • Then, click on the button at the top right “Unblock my free SMS”,
  • Fill in your account information by indicating your company, name, surname and mobile phone number,
  • You will receive an SMS containing a code to validate your account,
  • Once the code has been validated, you have been granted several free SMS to try out our services,
  • You can send test SMS from the ‘SMS’ tab in the extension, or directly from your web pages or work software.
  • Tips : 
    • You can access the extension at any time by clicking the TextingHouse icon in your internet browser, usually in the top right-hand corner of your screen. Indeed, in order to have an ergonomic workstation, our application is always active but only becomes visible when your want it to.
    • The Clickme2text feature of TextingHouse (recognition of phone numbers from your country in your web pages, with an addition of a clickable icon next to the phone number to directly send SMS) is by default on. That is why the extension will ask you to configure your country. You can disable this function with a right click.
After its installation, does TextingHouse automatically download its updates ?

FAQ – Yes, we are attentive to your remarks and improvement requests, and we regularly update TextingHouse to make sure you get the best experience possible.

Your web browser is by default configured to automatically update the add-ons you have installed, including TextingHouse. If somehow the extension does not automatically updates, then consider checking the browser extension settings. They are accessible from your browser toolbar. The configuration file path depends on the browser you’re using.

You can see your current version of TextingHouse in the bottom left-hand corner of the window interface (TextingHouse vx.y.z – )

My TextingHouse window has disappeared, how do I reopen it ?

FAQ – A click on another window is enough for the TextingHouse extension to vanish from the screen, but how do I reopen it ?

Don’t worry, nothing is lost. Just click on the TextingHouse icon, usually situated on the top right hand corner of the browser toolbar. The application will reappear on the screen.

You can also click on the small icon next to a phone number in a web page recognized by the Clickme2text feature, the TextingHouse extension window will show up again on your screen.

TextingHouse is displayed in French, why?
FAQ – How do I set the language of TextingHouse?

TextingHouse can be displayed in French or English. TextingHouse automatically displays in the same language as the one configured in your Chrome, Firefox or Opera browser.

If TextingHouse is displayed in french, your browser is configured with a language other than english. English must then be reconfigured as the preferred language for the web pages.

Does TextingHouse use my phone or my phone contract to send text messages ?

FAQ – No, TextingHouse does not use your mobile phone nor your phone contract to send SMS, it uses a centralized professional dedicated platform that send your SMS directly towards your recipient operators.

FAQ – Sending SMS and SMS Credits

What size of message can I send by SMS ?

A SMS contains 160 characters, but you can write and send a longer message : it will be processed through cutting, concatenate sendings and will be pieced together again in the phone of the recipient. You pay for every SMS.

However, it’s important to know that for long SMS, the actual size is limited to 153 characters (7 being used for the concatenation). For example, a 320 characters message will use 3 SMS : 2 SMS of 153 actual characters, and one of 14 actual characters,… and will use 3×1 credit if sent to France (because 1SMS=1credit for this destination).

Also note that if you’re sending a lot of SMS that are customized to each different recipient, your text messages might differ in size according to the personal data of each customer. TextingHouse gives you an credit consumption estimation before sending, calculated according to destination and theoretical length of your message. Theoretical because, at this stage, the real length of each SMS depends on the personal data of your customers.

Also note:

  • Some special characters count double;
  • The character € will be transformed into E;
  • Some unauthorized characters will be automatically deleted.

If you want to estimate the number of characters in your message, open or download the TextingHouse extension, then complete your message in the corresponding field. The number of SMS and characters counted will be noted below.

How do I send a professional SMS from my working software or my web pages ?

You gain access to your working software through an internet browser and/or visit web sites that contains phone numbers to which you are authorized to communicate. The TextingHouse feature Clickme2text automatically detects each phone number on your web pages and add a TextingHouse clickable icon next to them.

Yes, it’s right, thanks to the TextingHouse extension, you have just SMS-enable all your web pages and your working software, and this without doing any development.

  1. To send a text message to one of the recognized numbers from a web page, the mobile number in a client’s file for example,  you only need to click the small TextingHouse icon next to the number. The application appears on screen with the phone number already pre-selected as the recipient.
  2. Write your message in the ‘message’ area.
  3. Click on ‘Send SMS’. You are automatically redirected to the “Follow up” tab in the extension.

NB : Note that you have to clarify whether it’s a commercial SMS or not when you are writing the message. You can set your choice once and for all to avoid doing it for each sending. Go to the commercial FAQ for more information.

How do I send bulk SMS, the same message to many recipients ?

You want to send the same message to hundreds, thousands or even more recipients ? The professional SMS platform TextingHouse is designed to do so : it’s quick and easy !

Click the TextingHouse icon in your internet browser to open the application, and in the ‘SMS’ tab :

  1. Select your recipients from ‘available’ sources,
  2. Write your text message in the ‘Message‘ area,
  3. Specify if it is a commercial SMS or not. You can set your choice once and for all to avoid doing it for each sending. Go to the commercial FAQ for more information.
  4. Click on “Send SMS”. You are automatically redirected to the “Follow up” tab in the extension.

NB : Thanks to the ‘SMS mailing’ feature, imported contact files can contain specific columns related to your activity. These are also called variable fields, and they can be used to customize the SMS for each recipient.

Target or group messages, how do I choose my recipients ?

FAQ – You can choose your recipient in three different ways :

1 –  In the ‘SMS tab of the extension, under ‘Add recipients’, you can use 3 sources for recipients :

  • Import an Excel, csv or ods contact file with two possibilities :
    • for a one-time sending, in which case contacts are imported with their specific data and are put in the ‘Recipients selected’ area but will not be saved,
    • to be saved in the ‘Contacts’ repertory with their respective specific data.
  • and/or by selecting recognized phone numbers in your web pages via Clickme2text,
  • and/or by adding a recipient phone number manually.

2 –  In the ‘Contacts‘ tab of TextingHouse, you can choose recipients from your registered contacts by combining criteria. There is as much criterion as column, including those specific to your activity (additional columns from your imported file). You can select your recipients by ticking the boxes next to your contacts, and clicking ‘Add to recipients’ will add these into the ‘Recipients selected’ area of the ‘SMS’ tab.

These different sources complement one another, each selection or import adds up in the ‘Recipients selected’ area. TextingHouse keeps your selection.

You can remove at any time a recipient from the ‘Recipients selected’ by clicking the cross or remove all the recipients by clicking on the box where there is the total number or selected recipients.

3 –  In the ‘Follow up‘ tab, you can send SMS to the same list of recipients.

How to credit my account ?

FAQ – On the right, in the bar of your TextingHouse extension is your number of credits: click on it and choose ‘buy credit‘.

Choice of Pack:

  • A scale allows you to vary the number of credits you wish to purchase. The unit cost of credit decreases according to volume,
  • You can on the same page vary the destination country because depending on this the cost of SMS changes. For more information on SMS, credits and costs in euros, see the prices page,

Invoice information:

  • Fill in your details,

Payment method:

  • Secure online payment method: by credit card, VISA, Master Card or American Express,
  • Note that you can also pay by transfer, in which case a proforma invoice is issued. Remember to copy the proforma number in the wording of your operation or any correspondence.
I want to create an estimate or a pro-forma invoice

FAQ – On the right, in the bar of your TextingHouse extension is your number of credits: click on it and choose ‘=’buy credit‘.

Choice of Pack:

  • A scale allows you to vary the number of credits you wish to purchase. The unit cost of credit decreases according to volume,
  • You can on the same page vary the destination country because depending on this the cost of SMS changes. For more information on SMS, credits and costs in euros see the prices page,

Invoice information:

Fill in your details,

Payment method:

Choose ‘bank transfer’, a proforma invoice will be produced to you, it serves as a quote. Note that naturally, this choice does not commit you to anything if you do not make the corresponding transfer.

Once the message is sent, when does the recipient actually receive the text ?

FAQ – A text message sent via the TextingHouse application is delivered in the next 1 to 5 minutes in the normal operating conditions of the telephone network.

TextingHouse text messages are sent with a delivery reporting request. The “follow-up” tab will tell you if the SMS has been delivered properly.

Can I import my contacts to send them professional texts ?

FAQ – Of course, you can import contact files to TextingHouse. They can be Excel, CSV or  ODS files.

You can import from the ‘SMS’ tab, under ‘Add recipients‘, where an icon is dedicated to import files. When importing a file, you can either :

  • Import a file for a one-time sending, the contacts will not be saved : this option is often sued by those who export contacts from their working software, to make sure the data is updated before they send messages,
  • or you can import and save your contacts in your ‘Contacts‘ repertory within the extension : you will be able to select them for future sendings without re-importing them.

NB : You can import contacts with specific columns proper to your job or activity (for example : the client number, a contract number, a due date, the business sector, …) for a personalized communication (see SMS mailing), or selection criteria for when your select your recipients.

SMS mailing, how to customize my professional SMS for each recipient ?

FAQ – While sending bulk SMS, you can completely customize SMS content according to your business data in order to send information specific to each recipient.

Name, last name and gender are the basic customization, but TextingHouse allows you to do more than that :

  • An appointment reminder text can contain the name, surname, time and place of the appointment.
  • A delivery SMS goes along with the seller’s name, the order number and the date and time of the delivery,
  • a private sale with a discount coupon number,
  • an event with a web address for online subscription, …

In order to use your business data and send customized SMS, you just need to import a contact file with additional columns, other than name, surname and phone number. Each column will create a variable field in TextingHouse when importing the file. You will be able to put these variable fields into your message. When sending SMS, TextingHouse will replace those fields with their content for each recipient : this is what we call SMS mailing.

How to delay my sending ?

FAQ – Write your message beforehand and program it to be sent the day of your event, the next morning at 9 to respect private hours, the last day of a sale, or even one hour before an appointment, …

When writing your message, you can choose a date and time when TextingHouse will send your SMS by clicking on ‘Delay SMS’.

After confirming your delayed sending, you can find it in the ‘Follow up’ tab, under ‘Scheduled SMS’, and can modify or cancel it before the completion date.

Can I send text messages abroad ? What countries are covered ?

FAQ – TextingHouse services covers most of the world’s destinations. You can check our prices page to see the list of countries we cover.

If your country is not on this list, send us a request here and our TextingHouse Team will make its best to open this destination in a few hours.

Can I retrieve my recipient answers ?

FAQ – Showing answers is a basic function of TextingHouse. Your recipient answers are recorded in the follow up and linked to the last SMS sent to this recipient.

This service is free and not guaranteed. In fact, according to destinations or if a sender name has been used, the recipients may not have the possibility to answer, or the answers might not be brought to our platform.

You can export answers in the ‘follow up’ bar as an excel file.

How are duplicate phone numbers handled?
FAQ – A duplicate represents two identical phone numbers. You can manage your duplicates in two places in the application:

 

  • In your contacts list (repertory), you have the option to allow duplicate numbers or not. To do this, when importing a file, check or not the box “Keep duplicate contacts”. Or, after your import, click on the toothed wheel at the top right of the contact list and choose “yes” or “no” to the option “Keep duplicate contacts”.
  • When sending an SMS to several recipients, the application will warn you if numbers are duplicates. You will then have at the time of sending, after clicking on “Send SMS”, the possibility of keeping them or not.

FAQ – Law, regulation and ethics

Legislation : opt-in, unsubscribing, commercial SMS, SMS heading, sender ID.

FAQ – Did you know that text messages is a very effective means of communication ? It is instantly delivered on people’s mobile phone. Most people read all of their SMS. Conciseness and reading speed are what we want in today’s society, a few seconds and the recipient absorbs the information… or not!

Indeed, a clumsy and non transparent communication can soon be perceived negatively. Moreover, communicants must constrain themselves to comply with laws on the respect for private life and the code of ethics.

There is two different types of SMS communication:

  • SMS for services. They deliver qualitative information to a recipient, such as confirmations of delivery, of appointment, files to be completed, … These text messages must clearly mention the sender name which the recipient have to contact if he wants to stop this service.
  • Commercial SMS: sales advertisements, sales demonstrations, sendings of discount vouchers, advertising links, … Commercial SMS must not only clearly mention the sender name, but also contain information on the unsubscribing process.

The first rule to observe is that you need to get people’s authorization before you send them SMS: this is often called the opt-in.

Then, in order to respect the rules and laws but also to maximize the effect that your SMS communication has on your recipients,

  • SMS Heading : We advise you to include a heading to your all your messages, a commercial, product, store or brand name, the name of your company or establishment… Example of a message with a heading : « My Store> Dear Alicia, we have great news : our private sales begin on Saturday. Your private code is 53621A. Audrey. Reply STOP to unsubscribe » Advantage : the sender is clearly mentioned and the recipient can unsubscribe easily. Drawback : the recipient receives a message from an unknown number or common to many senders.
  • Sender ID : The recipient receives a SMS not from a number but directly from a wording that will clearly announce the sender as being for example ‘My Store’. Advantage : the recipient can identify the sender before reading the message. Drawback : the sender ID is not guaranteed to be seen in all countries and does not allow the recipient to replay STOP to unsubscribe. Thus you must include in your message something like ‘Send STOP to 06…….’ or ‘unsubscribe at www.mystore.com/unsubscribe’. The sender ID is submitted for a manual validation at TextingHouse before use, you must provide proofs of intellectual property or of registered trademark.

When writing a text message with TextingHouse, you can say whether it is a commercial SMS or not, and you can choose an SMS heading or a sender ID, an automatic (handled by TextingHouse) or personalized opt-out procedure.

How are unsubscribing requests from mailing lists managed ?

FAQ – Unsubscription management is mandatory for any pro SMS of a commercial nature as opposed to service SMS.

When you write your message, you will be asked whether your message is commercial.

If the message is qualified as commercial, the words ‘STOP sms-s.top‘ must be inserted at the end of your message.

The recipients’ STOP responses go up in the follow-up from where they can be exported for a possible update of your business files (CRM). See the question “How can I be informed of STOP SMS requests following my communication?” for more detail.

FAQ – History and SMS monitoring

How long are my sendings retained ?

FAQ – All your sent messages are retained for one year in the history. The last month history is by default displayed. You can widen the history to 3 or 6 months, or up to a year with the drop-down list.

Can i be noticed if the SMS have been received ?
FAQ – TextingHouse considers the SMS to be received when the platform receives the acknowledgment of receipt. The platform shows :

  • The number of ongoing sendings,
  • The number of sent SMS, but no delivery report received yet
  • The number of delivered SMS : TextingHouse has received a delivery report,
  • The number of unsuccessful sendings : the message could not be delivered to the recipient.
What does the "being sent" status of SMS correspond to?
FAQ – Text messages remain in the “Sending” state until they have been transmitted to the operators of the recipients.

The SMS only remain in the “Sending” state for a very short time (1 second to several minutes depending on the traffic and the operators concerned).

What is the "Sent" SMS status?
FAQ – Once transmitted to the operator, SMS messages remain in the “Sent” state as long as the acknowledgment of receipt or of routing failure is not transmitted to our platform.

Note that it is possible that the SMS will remain in the “Sent” state for several days (for example in the case of a cell phone off, airplane mode, switching off the network, wrong number being analyzed …) .
After 48/72 hours, depending on the operator, the SMS will expire and go to the “Not delivered” state if no acknowledgment of receipt is received in the meantime.

What is the "Delivered" SMS status?
FAQ – When our platform receives an acknowledgment of receipt, the SMS changes to the “Delivered” state. The status received indicates that the SMS has been sent to the recipient’s phone. It is however not possible to know whether the SMS has been displayed or read.
What is the "Not received" SMS status?
FAQ – Possible causes of SMS “Not delivered” can be:

  • Invalid phone number
  • Expired SMS
  • Recipient not reachable
  • Number blocked by recipient
How to resend recipients another message ?

FAQ – You have sent a message to multiple recipients and wish to send another message to the same group ? Nothing could be more simple.

You can click on “Send a message to the same recipients” from the ‘follow up’ of your sending. You are sent to the ‘SMS’ tab and the ‘Recipients selected’ area is already filled with your addressees. Yon need only to type in your message and then send.

How do I retrieve texts from my messages to save it in my CRM ?

FAQ – You have sent a message and wish to save the body of your message elsewhere in another software. Nothing could be simpler.

In the “Follow up‘ tab, click on your sending to see its detail : now click on the text and it will be automatically copied in your workstation’s clipboard.

Just paste it wherever you want to.

Can I retrieve my sending history as a file ?

FAQ – Click “Export” to retrieve your history as an Excel file. Choose the period you want to export (default settings being last month).

When viewing a sending detail, you can also export all the SMS of this sending, along with potential answers including unsubscribing requests (STOP).

How can I be informed of STOP SMS requests following my communication?

FAQ – If you have entered the mention ‘STOP sms-s.top’ in your message, requests for unsubscription by STOP will appear directly in your SMS tracking. To export them, here is the procedure depending on the interface used:

  • On TextingHouse extension, several possibilities:
    • For STOPs received on a particular message:
      Click on a message to display the details, then on the button ‘Export“. The generated Excel file will contain a “STOP” tab if your message received STOPs.
    • For STOPs received over a given period (max 1 year):
      On the Follow up page, click ‘Export‘, choose the date range and click ‘Export STOP‘.
  • On TextingHouse API :
    On the page ‘SMS history‘, choose the date range and click ‘Export‘ > ‘Export STOP‘.

FAQ – Mobile phone numbers recognized on web pages

Does TextingHouse recognize every mobile number ?

FAQ – TextingHouse recognizes on your web pages the local numbers, even if they are not in the international format (+nnn CC CCC CCCC..). The local number recognition is conditioned by the local country you have configured. This choice is made when you first log on and can be change at any time by clicking the flag in the top right-hand corner of the TextingHouse menubar.

TextingHouse also recognizes phone numbers that are not local, provided that they are in the international format, i.e. prefixed with the country dialing code (+nnn CC CCC CCCC..).

A small clickable icon is added before phone numbers recognized by TextingHouse, you can send SMS to these numbers in one simple click.

Numbers recognized from each of your open web pages can also be found in in the TextingHouse extension window. You can select them (one, several, all) and then add them to the recipients of the text message you want to send.

Why do I have to configure my local country ?

FAQ – The number recognition engine on web pages detects all international numbers, i.e. prefixed with the country’s dialing code. An international number looks like this : +nnn CC CCC CCCC where nnn refers to the country’s call prefix. An example of a French number in international format is : +33 612x456xx. The ‘+’ usually replaces ’00’ .

TextingHouse asks the user to configure his country, in order that phone numbers from his country that are not in international format be recognized. If you take our previous example, if you configure France as your country, then the number 0612x456xx that would appear on one of your web page will be identified even though it is not prefixed with the dialing code +33.

Your local country is set up by default, and you are asked to configure it at your first connexion. Click on the flag in the top right-hand corner in the TextingHouse toolbar to change it whenever you want to.

Does the automatic recognition handle special phone number formats or delimiters ?

FAQ – A smart process allows TextingHouse to recognize phone numbers with different formats and delimiters (for example : XXX XX XX XX or XXX.XX.XX.XX or XX/XX/XX/XX/XX, …). Phone numbers in your web pages should be recognized because most combinations have been taken into account.

If however, some numbers were not recognized, please let us know by contacting us, we will then add the recognition of your own characters or special formats.

Is it possible to send SMS to several numbers detected in my web pages ?

FAQ – Yes, not only TextingHouse add a small clickable icon before each recognized number in your web pages, but they are also stored in the ‘Add recipients’ area : click on ‘Phone numbers from your internet pages’.

If numbers on a web page are recognized, a small box with the page title and the total of visible numbers appears, and this for each web page open in your internet browser.

Click on a page box to access the details of numbers and select the ones you want. You can repeat this process for each page and then add up numbers from many pages. The chosen numbers are found in ‘Recipients selected’.

Write your message and then send it.

Do I need to configure my working software to activate the Clickme2text function ?
FAQ – No. Clickme2text function is active as soon as you are connected to TextingHouse. Just access your business application, your CRM, your ERP, your sales management, your sav file via your browser.

All business web pages will then instantly and without development a mini icon clickable before each mobile number. From your business software you can then click in front of a mobile number to send an SMS.

TextingHouse’s Clickme2text feature offers native and seamless SMS integration to your business applications.

My CRM SMS plug-in does not suit me, can the Clickme2text feature repa
FAQ – Clickme2text function brings you a native integration of SMS and without development to your business software such as your CRM, your ERP, your customer management, provided that you access its applications via your browser.

All web pages of any web-based business application will be natively augmented by Clickme2text which will insert a clickable mini-icon in front of each mobile number. From your business software you can then click in front of a mobile number to send an SMS.

Clickme2text function offers native SMS integration and no developments to your business applications.

FAQ – Multi-users account

Can I share my account with multiple users?
FAQ – Yes, TextingHouse allows you to create multi-user accounts. Multi-user accounts allow multiple independent accounts to group together to share a common credit.

To create a user account, go to the menu “Credits> Create a multi-user account” and follow the instructions. The creative member of the multi-user account can then invite other members.

Is a multi-user account free?
FAQ – On TextingHouse, creating a multi-user account is completely free.
Why a multi-user account?

FAQ – A multi-user account is only useful if you want to share credit between, at least, two TextingHouse users. All users attached to the account will share the common credit.

However, each user will keep its contacts and individual SMS history. The administrators you’ll define could buy credits.

Only administrators can manage users and see the SMS history sent from all members of the multi-user account. Administrators can also define SMS templates, SMS heading, and sender ID that can be used by all accounts. Administrators can set a contact directory common to all accounts.

There is no limit on the number of members of a multi-user account.

The opening of a multi-user account is free.