Integrating with BulkSMS (SMS)

BulkSMS is a leading international SMS provider that lets you send SMS text messages to a range of networks. Once you have integrated your BulkSMS account with ChurchSuite, authorised users can send messages directly from ChurchSuite.

Ensuring message acceptance and delivery

When composing an SMS and clicking Preview SMS, a test message is sent to the BulkSMS official test number 1111111 to verify acceptance and delivery of the message to the recipients, and to ensure there are sufficient credits. Test messages show as failed in your BulkSMS dashboard, and while they appear to be a duplicate SMS, they will not use any credits from your BulkSMS account.

Setting up an account

Organisations supporting communities or causes in the UK, including churches, charities, NGOs, non-profits, and schools, can apply for a Community Messaging account with BulkSMS. If your church or charity fits this description, you should apply for a Community Messaging account with BulkSMS here to open an account with reduced messaging rates. If your organisation doesn't fit this description, or is outside of the UK, you can create a standard BulkSMS account here.

Completing the integration

Having first opened an account with BulkSMS, you are ready to complete the integration with ChurchSuite. From the Integrations section of your Account Settings, select BulkSMS.

Click Add account.

On the Add account pop-up, enter a suitable Name for the BulkSMS account you are integrating - you can integrate multiple accounts if you wish, so choose a name that will help you distinguish the account in a list of accounts. Enter the Token Id and Token Secret obtained from your BulkSMS account - see the next section for instructions. Enter the Sender ID that your SMS recipients will see on their devices. If left blank, the default Sender ID specified in your BulkSMS account will be used. Finally, select the authorised Users who are permitted to send SMS messages through BulkSMS. Click Save when you have entered all the details.

You can return to the integration page at any time in the future to Edit or Delete an integrated account, to Add account if you wish to integrate further BulkSMS accounts, or Reset the integration, which will remove all integrated accounts.

With the integration complete, authorised users can now Send SMS.

Obtaining the API details

Begin by logging into BulkSMS. Navigate to the Advanced settings > API Tokens. Click Create Token.

On the Create API Token pop-up, enter a token Name, then click Create.

The API credentials are generated. Copy and paste the Token Id and Token Secret from the pop-up into the respective fields in the ChurchSuite BulkSMS integration page. IMPORTANT: The token secret is only shown once, so be sure to copy it into the integration page before clicking to Close the Generated Credentials pop-up; otherwise, you'll have to generate new credentials.

Once you have completed the integration, you can Log Out of BulkSMS.