How to send WhatsApp and SMS Messages from Marketo

Are you using Marketo to manage your marketing strategies? 📣 Whether you're a veteran user or a newcomer to the platform, we believe in the power of connecting more personally and directly with your audience.

In the dynamic world of marketing, standing out is key. Email can sometimes feel like shouting into a void, but SMS and WhatsApp messaging are surefire ways to capture attention. Message Dots allows you to seamlessly integrate SMS and WhatsApp messaging into your Marketo workflows, ensuring your messages don't get lost amidst a sea of emails.

Our integration enables you to manage your SMS and WhatsApp campaigns right from Marketo's familiar interface. Plus, our solution is built with an intuitive, real-time performance analytics system to provide you with invaluable insights for strategizing and growing your outreach.

Imagine the possibilities - sending appointment reminders, providing exclusive discounts, or sharing urgent updates directly to your customers' phones. With the power of SMS and WhatsApp messaging, you can deliver engaging experiences that leave a lasting impact. So, are you ready to take your communication strategy to the next level with Message Dots?

🔗 Found this article insightful? Need more guidance on integration? Reach out here or schedule a one-on-one chat with me here.

And for those visual learners out there, check out my step-by-step video tutorial below:

How to send WhatsApp and SMS Messages from Marketo 🚀

The demo walks through setting up webhook in Marketo and connects them to Marketo Smart Campaigns. The scenario is:

  1. Create the webhook into Marketo Integration Webhook both for Whatsapp and SMS.
  2. Create a Smart Campaign in Marketo
  3. Connect the webhook to a user action. For example, when a user fills out a form, he receives the message via Whatsapp.

Add WhatsApp To Marketo

Step 1

Log in to Marketo and navigate to Admin -> My Account.

Marketo Webhook Login

Step 2

In the Admin section, click on Webhooks on the left-hand side. Create a new Webhook by clicking New Webhook

Marketo Webhook 2

Step 3

Compile the name and description field.

Put the following parameters:

  • URL: https://messagedots.com

  • Example body: be sure to replace the to field with your phone number. You can do that by using Marketo Token variable. Use a WhatsApp Template for the first message to your customer, otherwise, the message will be refused by Whatsapp. For details on how WhatsApp works and what templates are, please follow along the article.

Marketo Webhook Login

Note: Using the INSERT TOKEN button, you can also use tokens in the messages body sent via Whatsapp. In the example above, I used campaign id in the message body.

Lastly, select Webhooks Actions -> Set Custom Header and put Authorization: Basic base64(API_KEY:API_SECRET).

If your API key was aaa012 and your API secret was abc123456789, you would concatenate the key and secret with a : (colon) symbol and then encode them using Base64 encoding to produce a value like this:

For example, Authorization: Basic adj0qj30ajf0ajf0a==.

Done!

SMS

Step 1

Log in to Marketo and navigate to Admin -> My Account.

Marketo Webhook Login

Step 2

In the Admin section, click on Webhooks on the left-hand side. Create a new Webhook by clicking New Webhook

Marketo Webhook 2

Step 3

Compile the name and description field.

Put the following parameters:

  • URL: https://messagedots.com

  • Request Type: POST

  • Example body: be sure to replace to field with your phone number.

Marketo Webhook

Note: Using the INSERT TOKEN button you can also use tokens in the messages body sent via Whatsapp. In the example above, I used campaign id in the message body.

Lastly, select Webhooks Actions -> Set Custom Header and put Authorization: Basic base64(API_KEY:API_SECRET).

If your API key was aaa012 and your API secret was abc123456789, you would concatenate the key and secret with a : (colon) symbol and then encode them using Base64 encoding to produce a value like this:

For example, Authorization: Basic adj0qj30ajf0ajf0a==.

Great!

We have successfully created webhooks for WhatsApp and SMS inside Marketo. The last step is to test them in a real scenario.

Marketo Smart Campaign

To test the webhooks we are going to create a Smart Campaign inside Marketo. Go to Marketing Activities:

Marketo Webhook

Create a New Campaign Folder. Then, select the folder and create a new Program.

Marketo Webhook

Create a new Smart Campaign. Select the Smart List tab and pick a condition that will trigger the Webhook.

Marketo Webhook

In this case, we will send a message any time a lead fills out a form we have placed on a Marketo Landing Page.

Select the Flow tab and pick the Call Webhook action.

Finally, go to the Schedule tab and activate the campaign.

Congratulations! Now visit the landing page and try out the webhook!

Conclusion

With this integration, you can trigger a WhatsApp/SMS message in infinite ways using Smart Campaign in Marketo.

For example, you can set up a smart list which, based on the customer preferences, send a message using either the Whatsapp trigger or SMS trigger.

Or, send a message after a scheduled time to ask for feedback to the customer.

I hope you find this article useful. If you need help on implementing this integration, please contact us at Contact Me or schedule a free call with me using the following link: Calendar