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SMS

The SMS integration lets you send text messages to your contacts directly from Mokapen: from the contact card, from the Home page, or automatically through automations. It's built for fast, high-open-rate communication — confirmations, reminders, urgent alerts — without leaving the CRM or copying numbers by hand.

Important: the SMS channel in Mokapen is outbound only. You can send messages to your contacts, but there's no inbound service: a customer can't "text you" and have it appear as a new incoming conversation. You can still continue an exchange you've already started by sending further SMS on the same thread from the Messages inbox.

General integrations overview: Integrations.

Requirements

• A Mokapen plan that includes the SMS integration (Premium — medal icon on the page if not available on your plan).
• A registered and verified sender alias (see next section): it's the "name" the recipient sees as the SMS sender, not a phone number to reply to.
• Credit available in the organization's wallet: every SMS sent deducts credit based on destination country and message length.
• Recipient phone numbers in international format (e.g. +1...): recommended so Mokapen doesn't fail to recognize the number as valid and skip the send.

Registering the sender alias

Unlike other integrations, SMS doesn't connect via OAuth login: you register a sender alias (also called "Sender ID"), i.e. the alphanumeric name — up to 11 characters — that appears as the sender on the recipient's phone (e.g. YOURCOMPANY instead of a number).

1. User menu → Integrations → SMS.
2. Click Connect (requires an adequate Premium plan).
3. Choose Register a new alias if it's the first time your company uses this service.
4. Fill in the required data: the alias you want, company name, address, city, postcode, province, country, VAT number, tax code, company email (generic addresses like Gmail or Yahoo are not accepted), phone, and certified email (PEC) where applicable.
5. Check the declaration confirming you're authorized to use that sender alias.
6. Submit the form.

If your company has already registered an alias with this service in the past (even from another platform), use Recover alias instead of registering a new one: provide the alias, VAT/tax code, and the activation email. The link is completed via a link or verification code sent to that address, without repeating the legal data registration.

Verification and activation

After submitting the form, the alias stays in pending verification status:

1. Mokapen sends a verification email to the company address given during registration. Open the link to confirm the email is valid and under your control.
2. The request then goes to the SMS provider for alias approval (checking the legal data supplied). This isn't instant: until the outcome, the alias stays pending and you can't send messages with that sender yet.
3. Once the alias is approved, the integration card switches to active status and you can start sending SMS.

On the Integrations → SMS page you'll find a card for each linked alias with the legal data entered, its current status, and the available actions: disconnect (removes only the link in Mokapen, the alias stays active with the provider) or delete (requests the alias be deleted at the provider too).

Credit and pricing

SMS sending is pay-as-you-go: it uses the same organization wallet (prepaid credit) used by other pay-per-use features in Mokapen — it's not a separate "SMS credit".

• The cost per SMS depends on the destination country of the number and the number of segments in the message (see the next section on characters): check up-to-date pricing by opening the SMS Pricing section on the Integrations → SMS page.
• The page always shows the organization's available credit, with a direct link to top up the wallet.
• Credit is deducted at the moment of sending, not before: if a message fails on the provider's side, that amount isn't charged.
• If credit isn't enough, sending is blocked and Mokapen shows a warning — "Insufficient SMS credits. Please top up your credits to send SMS." — with a direct link to the top-up page.

Wallet top-up is visible to the Owner and to members with permission on the organization; check the balance before campaigns or bulk sends scheduled via automation.

Sending an SMS manually

Today the SMS send button is available on the contact card (modal and full page) and from engagement cards on the Home page. Pressing the SMS icon:

1. If you have more than one alias linked, choose which one to use as the sender.
2. Select one or more phone numbers among those on the card (phone 1, phone 2, phone 3…).
3. Optional: choose an SMS template already saved for the organization. Unlike automations, here the template is automatically personalized with the contact's data (name, linked fields) before sending.
4. Write or complete the message. Below the field you'll find a real-time counter: characters used and the number of SMS needed to send it (see next section).
5. Press Send. On success the confirmation "SMS has been sent successfully." appears and the message enters the contact's history.

If you don't yet have an active SMS integration, the button redirects you to the Integrations → SMS page to complete the link first.

Characters and segments

An SMS has a character limit that depends on the alphabet used:

• Standard alphabet (GSM) — up to 160 characters per single SMS (basic Latin letters, numbers, common punctuation).
• Unicode alphabet — up to 70 characters per single SMS: it kicks in automatically if you use emoji or special characters not covered by the GSM alphabet.

Past the limit, the message is split into multiple concatenated segments (the recipient still sees it as a single long SMS, but each segment is billed separately). The bar under the message field shows characters used and segment count updating as you type, with a final estimate calculated by the provider after a few seconds without typing. If you can stay within the first segment, the message costs less and is more readable: skip unnecessary emoji if you don't really need Unicode.

SMS templates

In Settings → Templates you can create text templates dedicated to the SMS channel, to reuse for recurring messages (reminders, confirmations, standard alerts). A template can contain placeholders for contact or company data: when you recall it from the manual composer on a card, Mokapen automatically replaces those placeholders with the real values from the card in front of you.

This behavior applies only to manual sending from a card. In automations (next section) the template text is inserted as-is: if you want to personalize the message per contact in a flow, use automation variables directly in the text field, not the template's placeholders.

Sending SMS from automations

The Automations module includes the Send SMS action, useful for immediate alerts on events (urgent ticket, won deal, upcoming deadline) without manual intervention.

In the action's modal you fill in:

• SMS account — choose among the aliases linked to the automation Owner. If the list is empty, that user must first link an alias from Integrations → SMS.
• Template (optional) — inserts the template text unchanged: if you need contact or event data, add it as variables in the Message field after recalling the template.
• Phone — a fixed number or, almost always, a variable taken from the trigger or a previous step (e.g. the phone of the contact that triggered the flow).
• Message — text with automation variables; below the field you'll find the same character and segment counter as the manual composer.

If you edit the flow as a Collaborator rather than the Owner, remember that the one who needs the SMS alias linked and sufficient credit is the automation Owner, not you. Always check credits and alias before activating a flow in production, and check the execution history if a send step fails.

History and conversations

Every SMS sent — manually or from an automation — leaves a trace in two places:

• Contact card — the history/timeline shows the send entry with recipient and message preview (for automated sends the message preview isn't shown, only the recipient number).
• Messages inbox — SMS threads appear alongside WhatsApp and chat in the same unified inbox, with search on the message text. From there you can also send another SMS on the same thread, but it's still a new outbound send, not a received reply.

Limits to know

• Outbound only — there's no inbound SMS reception: a customer can't start a conversation by texting you.
• "Sent" status — Mokapen records the successful send to the provider; the app doesn't automatically update the status to "delivered" or "not delivered" afterwards. If a number is unreachable, you'll find out on the provider's cost/report side, not through a notification in Mokapen.
• Alias, not a dedicated number — the sender is an alphanumeric name (max 11 characters): it's not a number the recipient can call back or reply to by voice.
• One channel on the contact today — the send button is available on Contacts; for Companies or other cards, SMS sending isn't yet exposed in the interface.

Common issues

• I can't find the SMS button — check that you have a plan including the integration and an active alias (not just registered: it must have passed email verification and approval).
• Alias still "pending" — check you clicked the link in the verification email; if you already did, legal data approval can take a few business days.
• Insufficient credits — top up the organization's wallet from the link on the Integrations → SMS page or from the Billing section.
• "No valid phone number" — the number isn't in a recognized format: add the international prefix (e.g. +1) on the contact card and try again.
• SMS doesn't send from an automation — the flow Owner doesn't have an alias linked or doesn't have enough credit: check the execution history for the exact error message.
• The template doesn't personalize in an automation — this is expected: in flows the template text is static, you need to add the variables yourself in the Message field.

Disconnecting

From the alias card in Integrations → SMS you have two distinct actions:

• Disconnect from Mokapen — removes only the link with your organization. The alias stays registered and active with the provider: you'll be able to relink it later with Recover alias.
• Delete alias — requests the alias be deleted at the provider too, on top of removing the link in Mokapen. Use this only if you won't need that sender identity anymore.

In both cases the history of SMS already sent stays visible on contact cards and in the Messages inbox.

Use cases

• Appointment confirmation — before an important visit or call, send a quick SMS from the contact card: more likely to be read and more immediate than an email for a short-term reminder.
• Support SLA — automation on Ticket created with High priority: an immediate SMS to the internal owner plus a linked task, so urgency doesn't get buried in the ticket queue.
• Deal won — automation on Deal modified (stage became "Won") that pairs a welcome email with a confirmation SMS to the customer, for a contact reachable even outside office hours or on a phone without email at hand.
• Deadline reminders — scheduled automation that checks tasks or payments due in the next few hours and alerts the owner by SMS, when an email risks going unnoticed.
• Standardized recurring messages — create an SMS template (e.g. appointment reminder, access instructions) and recall it from the contact card: the text personalizes itself with the card's data, without rewriting it every time.

Frequently asked questions

Q: Can I receive SMS from my customers in Mokapen?

A: No. The channel is outbound only: you can send SMS to contacts, but there's no inbox for incoming messages from external numbers.

Q: Is the sender alias a phone number?

A: No, it's an alphanumeric name of up to 11 characters (e.g. your company name) that appears as the sender on the recipient's phone. It's not a callable number.

Q: How much does it cost to send an SMS?

A: Cost depends on the destination country and the number of segments in the message (160 characters per segment on the standard alphabet, 70 if you use emoji or special characters). Up-to-date pricing is in the "SMS Pricing" section of the Integrations → SMS page. Credit is deducted from the organization's wallet at the moment of sending.

Q: Why can't I send an SMS to a number?

A: The number probably isn't in a recognized format. Add the international prefix (e.g. +1 for the US) to the contact's phone field and try again; if the problem persists, double-check that the number is actually correct.

Q: How long does it take to activate a new alias?

A: After company email verification, the alias moves to legal data approval by the service provider: it can take a few business days before it becomes active and usable for sending.

Q: How do I know if an SMS was read or delivered?

A: Mokapen shows that the send succeeded towards the provider, but today it doesn't automatically update the status to "delivered" or "not delivered" in the interface. For reliable read confirmations, consider an alternative channel (e.g. online acceptance of quotes/orders) when precise tracking is required.

Q: Does the SMS template personalize itself with contact data?

A: Yes, but only when you recall it from the manual composer on a contact card: placeholders are replaced with real data. In automations the template is inserted as fixed text: if you need per-contact personalization, add automation variables in the Message field.

Q: Who can send SMS from automations?

A: The action uses the alias linked to the automation Owner. If you're a Collaborator on the flow, sending still depends on the Owner's alias and credit, not your account.

Q: Can I use more than one alias in the same organization?

A: Yes, if different users link different aliases. In the manual composer, if you have more than one available, choose which one to use as sender before sending.

Q: What happens to the data if I disconnect the integration?

A: With Disconnect from Mokapen, the SMS history stays visible and the alias remains active with the provider for a future relink. With Delete alias you also request deletion at the provider: use it only if you won't need that sender anymore.