Managing contacts efficiently is crucial for any business, especially when dealing with multiple communication channels like email and SMS. This article explores the best practices for linking email addresses and phone numbers to avoid creating duplicate contacts and ensuring the validity of phone numbers using Dotdigital's features.
Link email addresses and phone numbers
To avoid creating multiple contacts based on phone numbers alone, it's essential to link email addresses and phone numbers effectively. Here are some strategies to help you achieve this:
API or import
When adding new contacts, submit both the mobile number and email address together. This ensures that both identifiers are added to the same contact record, provided they don't already exist separately in the account.
Contacts
With contacts, you can store multiple communication channels (email, mobile number) against a single contact record. This helps in maintaining a clean and organised contact database.
Learn more in Merging SMS and email contacts.
Programs and auto-responders
Use Dotdigital's automation tools to manage SMS subscriptions. Here’s how you can leverage these tools effectively:
Automated programs
Create automated programs that enrol contacts when they provide their mobile number. For example, when a mobile number is added, you can set up a program to send an SMS asking the user to reply to confirm their subscription. This ensures that the number is valid and actively used.
Learn more in Program builder.
Auto-responders
Use auto-responder keywords to manage responses. When a user replies to the confirmation SMS, their response can trigger an auto-responder that adds them to a specific list or updates their contact record.
Learn more in Keyword auto-responder.
SMS campaigns
Incorporate SMS campaigns within your programs to send personalized alerts, reminders, and notifications. This helps in maintaining engagement and ensuring that the contact information remains up-to-date.
Learn more in SMS campaigns overview.
Append phone numbers using Surveys, pages, and forms
When you send a form using email to your subscribers to gather phone numbers, the collected numbers can be automatically added to the existing contacts. Here’s how it works:
Surveys, pages, and forms
Create a form using Surveys, pages, and forms to allow the collected phone numbers to be automatically added to the corresponding email subscriber's contact record.
Link form option
When linking the form in the email, use the link form option rather than pasting the embedded link. This ensures that the form pre-fills correctly and the phone number is appended correctly appended to the existing contacts in the database.
By following these steps, you can efficiently gather phone numbers from their email subscribers and ensure that these numbers are correctly appended to the existing contacts in your database.
Prevent incorrect phone numbers
Ensuring the validity of phone numbers is crucial to maintain the integrity of your contact database. The following methods help you prevent incorrect or malicious phone number registrations:
Phone number validation API
Use Dotdigital's Phone Number Validation API to check whether a phone number is valid and assigned to an active handset. This combines number format validation and a handset status check in one call.
Learn more in Phone number validation API.
Double opt-in for SMS
Implement a double opt-in process for SMS subscriptions. When a user signs up with their phone number, send a confirmation SMS asking them to reply to confirm their subscription. Asking for confirmation ensures that the number is valid and actively used.
Learn more in Use verified double opt-in.
Data validation rules
Set up data validation rules within your forms to ensure that only correctly formatted phone numbers are accepted. This can help reduce the number of incorrect entries.
Merge contacts manually
If you already have the issue of unmerged contacts, you can merge them manually. This process involves identifying duplicate contacts and combining their information into a single record to ensure a clean and organised database.