Most business SMS in Kenya is one-way: a bank alert, a delivery notice, a promotion. Two-way SMS lets customers reply, and those replies reach your team or your software. It turns a broadcast channel into a conversation — on any phone, without an app.
How two-way SMS works
- You send a message to a customer, or publish a number or keyword they can text.
- The customer replies from their phone as a normal SMS.
- The provider receives the reply and delivers it to you — in a dashboard inbox, or to your system through an API or webhook, with the sender’s number and a timestamp.
- Your team or your software responds, and the conversation continues.
What businesses use it for
- Appointment confirmations — “Reply 1 to confirm, 2 to reschedule.”
- Customer support — customers text a question and an agent replies from a shared inbox.
- Surveys and feedback — ask a rating question after a delivery or service visit.
- Voting and competitions — see SMS voting.
- Balance and information requests — customers text a keyword and get an automatic answer, common in SMS banking.
- Farmer and field feedback — see mFarming.
Things to plan for
- Who answers? Decide whether replies go to people, to software, or to software first with a hand-off to people.
- Keywords — if you use keywords, accept common variations and misspellings.
- Opt-out — always honour STOP requests. It’s good practice and it keeps you aligned with telecom rules.
- Response time — customers who reply expect an answer. An automatic acknowledgement buys your team time.
Two-way SMS vs USSD
Two-way SMS is best when conversations are open-ended or spread over time. USSD is better for structured, menu-driven tasks completed in one session, like checking a balance. Many services use both.
Two-way SMS with Connect Media
Connect Media’s Bulk SMS API includes a two-way inbox, with replies available in the dashboard and through inbox endpoints documented in the developer docs. Create an account to try it with your own number.
