I am creating a interaction in journey builder that will send an sms message to a contact.
This contact will only receive the sms messages if they have subscribed to the sender short code and keyword.
Can I subscribe a contact to the sender short code and keyword from an interaction activity without asking the contact to opt in, as if I was importing that contact through mobile connect?
Best Answer
Yes, absolutely you can. I've documented the procedural steps below.
Regarding setting the short/long code and keyword, refer to #10 and #11 of Step 2.
Step 1: Create a MobileConnect List
While Contact Builder enables the creation of Contact Records and configuration of a Contact data model (through linked Attribute Sets), when sending SMS messages from Journey Builder, you still need to create a MobileConnect list; you can't simply use a phone number field from an Event Source Data Extension. In short, any Contacts that are being injected into an Interaction also need to be available within a MobileConnect list if you intend to send them SMS messages using the Send SMS Activity.
Skip Upload »
link.Step 2: Create Import Definition
Next we need to create an Import Definition to Import Contact Data (which is typically from your Event Source Data Extension) into the MobileConnect List you created earlier.
Step 3: Automate Import
Once you've created your Import Definition, you can schedule the import to run from Automation Studio as part of an Automation by dragging an Import Mobile Contacts Activity to the Automation Canvas and selecting the Import Activity you created earlier.
You would typically run this Activity prior to a Fire Event Activity (when the Contacts are injected into an Interaction).
Finally
Once you've completed all these steps, you're ready to use a Send SMS Activity to send to your target subscribers.