This document provides an overview of cloud communication services and messaging. It discusses how messaging is becoming a preferred channel for customer engagement over voice and traditional channels. Key points covered include an introduction to SMS and emerging messaging channels like WhatsApp, metrics for common use cases like clienteling and transactional SMS, and best practices for optimizing conversion rates and prices.

1. Cloud Communication Services 101
by Twilio Product Leader
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6. Cloud
Communication
Services 101

7. Product Manager
@Twilio
I'm Andrei
18+ years in tech – communication services, video apps, fintech

8. Enterprise
Evolution in Communications
mid 2010's - 2020's
mid 2000-2010's
90s / early 2000's
Buying from vendors
(Call centers, routers, PBX)
Adopting clouds
(cloud contact centers, Hosted
IP telephony etc)
Communication APIs
(programmable logic for
voice, messaging and email)

9. Agenda Introduction to Messaging
01
Use cases and metrics
02
Recap
03

10. Messaging
01
Intro

11. Why messaging?
Only 3% of consumers say
they enjoy automated voice
response experiences.
75% of consumers now
prefer to engage with a
brand over private
messaging channels versus
traditional channels like
calls or offline contacts.*
- Conversocial digital customer experience reasearch

12. SMS
Yes – it's still there!
Acceleration of demand is
driven by marketing
automation, delivery and
logistics - Attentive, Uber,
Instacart, Rappi, DoorDash.
Global Application-to-Person
(A2P) SMS is 60-70B$ market
and growing.
Promotional traffic is another
driver of growth as those
capabilities are limited in
emerging channels

13. Emerging channels
OTT - over the top
RCS - Rich Communication
Services, driven by GSMA and
mobile operators. Global
adoption is <10%. No support
on iOS devices. Limited
phone device support.
Facebook Messenger,
WhatsApp Business, Apple
Business Chat, Google
Business Message

14. Omnichannel
Agent is able to seamlessly
switch between channels
without losing the context
and the chat history
Customer decides which
messaging channel to use for
a particular communication
CUSTOMER

15. Messaging
02
Use Cases &
metrics

16. Use case #1:
Clienteling
Adds a personal touch to the
shopping experience
Clienteling – a sales
technique used by retail
associates to establish
relationships with customers
based on the data about
their preferences and
behaviors.

17. ..before clienteling
A communicaton powered by
CRM is completely detached
from what an associate
discussed with a customer
Associate has no access to
CRM system => no clue about
the customer preferences
and behaviours
CUSTOMER
ASSOCIATE
SMS
in-store interaction

18. ASSOCIATE
next step:
clienteling
A communicaton powered by
CRM is based on the
customer's preferences,
behaviours and previous
purchases
Associate use tablets or other
devices to easily access an
individual customer's
transaction history.
CUSTOMER
SMS
in-store interaction

19. ASSOCIATE
A customer decides which
messaging channel to use.
Associate has their
messaging app integrated
with the company's CRM.
CUSTOMER
SMS
Messaging
Remote
Clienteling
Remote clienteling is done by
a mobile workforce i.e.
deskless workers – 2.7 billion
workers globally.
http://desklessworkforce2018.com/

20. Clienteling: Metrics
Happiness
Engagement
Adoption
Retention
Task Success
GOAL SIGNAL METRIC
Users enjoy the
personalized experience
NPS
Survey completions
Adding rating or review App rating and feedback
Monthly/Weekly/Daily #
of new conversations
New Conversation IDs
Users see the value in
the communication
Users are engaged in
the communication
p99 # of messages per
conversation
Incoming message
(from a user)
Users keep coming
back
New messages in the
existing conv.
# of Daily /Weekly /Monthly
interactions
Users accomplish their
goal
Conversation
completion, purchase
# of "resolved"
conversations,
# of purchases

21. Use case #2:
transactional SMS
Two-factor authentication
(2FA) sends a one-time
password to a person's
mobile phone when they try
logging into one of their
accounts.
Up to 70% of A2P SMS traffic.
Phone verification on sign-
up: sends a one-time
password to verify the phone
number ownership.
2.SMS
3.Confirm
1.Code

22. Transactional SMS:
Metrics
2.SMS
3.Confirm
1.Code
CONVERSION RATE
PRICE
DELIVERY LATENCY (OUT OF SCOPE)

23. Conversion rate
API Request
SMS
SMS
SMS

24. Conversion rate – drop
SMS
SMS
SMS
SMS
X
X
X

25. Conversion rate – drop
(cont.)
SMS
SMS
X
GREY
ROUTE

26. Conversion rate – drop
(cont.)
SMS
SMS
X
SIM
FARM

27. Conversion rate – funnel
CPAAS CLOUD AGGREGATOR OPERATOR YOUR
CUSTOMER
99.99%
YOU
API is down
Network blip
90+%
Queue overflow
Number invalid
80+% 70+% 70+%
Absent subscriber
Queue overflow
Grey routes /SIM farm
blocking
No memory on device
Message barring
API error
Volumetric filtering

28. Conversion rate – reality
Reasons for fluctuation:
Mobile devices go in and out of network coverage
Mobile operators experience congestion and message queuing

29. Conversion rate – how to
(not) measure
Delivery Receipt - A signal sent back to a
cloud provider by a mobile operator
indicating that a message has been
delivered
Optional, not mandatory
Might be delayed (up to few hours)
Faked by bad actors (mostly grey aggregators)
Delivery Receipt is a quick way to gauge if your messages reach your end users

30. Conversion rate – how to
measure
2FA -
one time password
SCENARIO SIGNALS METRIC
Messages sent
Links clicked by users
Password reset via
verification link
# Clicked / # Sent
Messages sent
Passwords entered by
users
# Entered / # Sent
A company has sent 100 verification links over the last minute
Users clicked 96 verification links over the last minute
Conversion Rate over the last minute is 96/100 = 96%
Example:
2.SMS
3.Confirm
code /
click the link
1.Code
/ link
4.

31. Conversion rate – how to
optimize
Feedback – a signal sent back by a
customer to the cloud provider indicating
that a message has been delivered to a
user 2.SMS
3.Confirm
1.Code
4.Feedback
Feedback is used by a cloud provider to
optimize delivery for both aggregate and
for a particular customer based on their
actual conversion rate

32. Conversion rate – how to
optimize
When you send a message, let a cloud
provider know that you are expecting a
trackable user action by including the
ProvideFeedback=true
When the user takes the expected action,
let a cloud provider know by sending a
POST request to the Message Feedback
API, specifying Outcome=confirmed

33. Conversion rate – other
ways to optimize
Ensure phone numbers are correct and can receive SMS messages:
consider a cloud Number Lookup service or in-code validation (e.g.
Google libphonenumber)
Make sure your message is not 'spammy.' Include clear opt-out
instructions, precise language, proper capitalization and
punctuation.

34. Conversion rate vs price –
limited control
Since there's no free lunch, conversion rate often is inversely
proportional to the message delivery price
Aim to maximize conversion to price ratio unless one particular
dimension takes absolute preference (e.g. critical transaction
notification, need to deliver at any price) PRICE
FAILURES

35. price – a couple ways to
optimize
Set the ceiling price (aka max price) per message
if possible with your provider
Domestic vs International
Consider message encoding when crafting a
message template, some characters will make
your message cost more because of the
segmentation*

36. Use case #3:
Promotional SMS
98% average open rate
versus 20%+ for email
Limited promotional
capabilities from OTT
channels 2.SMS
3.Action
1.Code
5 billion people in the
world can send and
receive SMS messages.

37. Promotional SMS:
Metrics
2.SMS
3.Action
1.Code
PRICE
CONVERSION RATE

38. Longcode is a standard 10 digit phone number.
Shortcode is a special 5 or 6 digit number (e.g. 1920). These numbers are pre-approved by
carriers and allow high throughput.
Alphanumeric Sender ID is a personalized sender name (e.g. "Uber"). In some countries the
legislation might mandate that you must register your alphanumeric sender ID with local
authorities . Other countries do not support it at all. Your cloud provider should be able to help
through the registration process.
Short codes and alphanumeric codes come with a price tag though.
optimize conversion rate -
use the right numbers

39. optimize conversion rate -
avoid excessive queuing
There are limits to how quickly messages can be sent to wireless carrier networks.
Examples:
From a longcode to US and Canada: 1 SMS per second
From a toll-free longcode to US and Canada: 3 SMS per second
From a shortcode to US, Canada and UK: 100+ SMS per second

40. optimize conversion rate - avoid
excessive queuing (cont.)
Inbound rate optimisation – consider the maximum rate for a particular country and a
number type to avoid messages dropped because of the time-to-live expiration
Example:
Your campaign audience is 10 000 000 users
Your shortcode's max throughput is 100 messages per second
Queuing time will be greater or equal to 10 000 000 / 100 = 100 000 sec (~28 hours)
Provider queue max TTL is 10 hours. This results in 3600*10*100 = 3.6M is the max queue size
If you send 10M at once, you will likely lose 6.4M messages as expired (CR = 36%)
Question: what could be the max ingress rate to avoid message expiries?

41. Messaging
03
Recap

42. Recap
75% of consumers now prefer to communicate with brands with text
Primary channels – A2P SMS and emerging channels aka OTT (WA, Fb Messenger etc). A2P
SMS market is driven by marketing automation, delivery and logistics. +Promotional.
Omnichannel/multichannel is the biggest trend in messaging customer engagement
Use cases: clienteling (OTT), transactional and promotional (A2P SMS)
Metrics:
Clienteling - see HEART framework
Transactional and Promotional: conversion rate and price
Delivery receipt is not reliable source for conversion gauging, one needs to measure
conversion themselves based on user actions.
Improve conversion with:
Leveraging a cloud provider’s Feedback API
Do a phone number validation and message content cleaning
ConsiderAPI request rate limiting to avoid queueing
Use the proper phone number type depending on the use case

43. thanks for watching!
Andrei Osochenko
https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrei-osochenko-68429b12/

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