SMS Verified Contact Cards

Users are more likely to engage with SMS messages from senders they know and trust. With this in mind, Iterable allows you to attach your brand's contact card to your SMS campaigns. Users who save it to their device will have an easier time recognizing your future messages.

This article describes how to create contact cards and attach them to your SMS campaign.

# Table of contents

# How do contact cards work?

An Iterable project can have many contact cards. They're defined in the contact card library that's available as you set up the content (template) for a campaign.

Contact cards have phone numbers (gathered automatically by Iterable from the underlying SMS provider), a company name, a website URL, an image URL, a nickname, and a company email. Every contact card is associated with one of your project's SMS senders (and you can have multiple contact cards per sender, if you like).

When you send a campaign with an attached contact card, Iterable regenerates the card for each of the campaign's recipients. This means you can personalize card's fields with Handlebars. For more information, read Handlebars in contact cards.

When users receive a contact card, they can save it to their devices. This way, your future messages will be easier to recognize.

# Creating and attaching contact cards to SMS campaigns

To attach a contact card to an SMS campaign, edit the campaign's content (template):

1. In the Details section, next to Contact cards, check Send an SMS contact card with this message.

   IMPORTANT

   If you send a contact card to an iOS user before they've ever replied to one of your SMS messages (for example, to consent to messaging), they'll receive your contact card as a file attachment, without a friendly preview. They can still click this file and save it to their address book, but it's best to send contact cards after having first received a reply.

2. If there's an existing contact card you'd like to send, select it from the dropdown menu.

   Make sure to choose a contact card that's associated with the same sender as your template. If you choose a card for a different sender (maybe to do some cross-brand promotion), it won't help users recognize future sends from the current sender.

   If you attach a contact card, you can't also include an image in your campaign (other than the image that's part of the contact card itself).

3. To create a new contact card, click Manage contact card. This brings up the Manage contact cards window:

   

   In this window, choose a Sender. This is the sender to associate with the contact card (the card includes that sender's phone numbers).

   NOTE

   At send time, Iterable fetches your sender's phone numbers from the underlying SMS provider, adding them to the contact card you're sending. Because of this, the contact cards you send always have your sender's current phone numbers, even if you've changed something under the the hood.

   Then, enter the following information:

   • Company name — The company name to associate with the sender.
   • Nickname — The name you'd like users to associate with the sender.
   • Website — The URL of the sender's website.
   • Image URL — An HTTPS URL to an image that you'd like to associate with the contact card. This image should be square (400x400px, optimally), and no more than 900kb.

   Remember, in contact card fields, you can use Handlebars to reference user profile fields and data on campaign-triggering events. For more information, read Handlebars in contact cards.

4. When you're done, click Add to template.

5. To preview an SMS message notification, the full message, or the contents of an attached contact card, use the device preview (under Design). Use the dropdown menu below the previewer to switch between these different kinds of previews.

6. Finish editing your campaign, test it thoroughly, and send it out when you're ready.

# Modifying contact cards

In the Manage contact cards window (described in the previous section), you can create new contact cards, or you can modify the ones that already exist.

Remember, though: when you modify an existing contact card, the change doesn't automatically propagate to users who've already saved it to their devices. You'll need to send the card again, and your users will have to save it again or update their existing contact.

# Individualizing contact cards with Handlebars

When you attach a contact card to a campaign, Iterable regenerates that contact card for each of the campaign's recipients. Because of this, you can personalize the contact card, using Handlebars to reference dynamic fields on user profile fields and campaign-triggering events.

To resolve Handlebars expressions in contact cards, Iterable uses:

• Universal merge parameters
• Fields from a campaign-triggering event (if there was one)
• User profile fields

(In that order order of precedence).

# Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

# I don't see a phone number field in the contact card editor. Where is it?

Iterable automatically adds phone numbers to your contact cards.

When setting up a contact card, you'll associate it with one of your Iterable project's SMS senders. And when you attach the contact card to a campaign, Iterable grabs the sender's phone numbers from the underlying SMS integration, adding them to the contact card. No need to enter the phone numbers manually.

# Are contact cards sent as MMS messages?

Yes, contact cards are sent as MMS messages.

# Can I send a contact card an a separate image in the same campaign?

No. In a given campaign, you can attach an image or a contact card, but not both.

# What if my phone numbers change?

If any of your phone numbers change, you don't need to do anything. The next time you send it, Iterable automatically grabs the latest phone numbers.

Remember, though: changes to a contact card don't automatically propagate to users who've already saved the card. You'll need to send it out again.

# How many phone numbers can a contact card contain?

We've tested cards with up to 50 phone numbers.

# Can I use Handlebars in my contact card definition?

Yes, you can use Handlebars to individualize your contact cards. For more information, read Handlebars in contact cards.

# How many contact cards can I attach to a single SMS campaign?

You can send one contact card per SMS campaign.

# Can I attach a contact card that isn't associated with the same sender as the campaign?

Yes. You can attach any contact card to an SMS campaign, regardless of the template's sender. For example, this might be a useful way to cross-promote different brands.

Be careful, though. Mismatching contact cards and senders may confuse your users, since they may expect that they're saving a contact card for the current sender, even if they're not.

# Can I use Handlebars to individualize the phone numbers in a contact card?

Not yet, but we may add this in a future release. If you'd like to do this, please tell your customer success manager!

# If I modify a contact card, will the change be visible to people who've already saved it to their devices?

No. If you modify a contact card, it doesn't automatically update on devices where it's already saved. If necessary, send out a new contact card and ask people to update.

# What kind of vCard does Iterable send?

Iterable sends vCard 3.0 contact cards.

# Further reading

• Creating SMS Templates