Conduct SMS Survey

Overview

This guide shows how to conduct an SMS survey using Plivo’s APIs and Node.js. This involves two parts: sending an initial question via the REST API, and then handling the user’s reply via a webhook.

How it works

Initiate Survey: Your application makes a POST request to a /send-survey/ endpoint. This triggers Plivo’s Send Message API to send the first survey question to the user.
Handle Response: The user replies to the SMS. Plivo sends a webhook with their reply to a /survey-response/ endpoint. Your application processes their answer (“Yes” or “No”) and replies with a thank-you message using Plivo XML.

Prerequisites

A Plivo account — sign up for free.
An SMS-enabled Plivo phone number. You can rent a number.
Node.js and ngrok. See our Node.js setup guide.

Create the survey application

Create a file named survey.js and paste in this code. It sets up an Express server with two endpoints: one to start the survey and one to handle replies.

const express = require('express');
const plivo = require('plivo');
const app = express();
const port = 3000;

app.use(express.json());
app.use(express.urlencoded({ extended: true }));

// This endpoint triggers the initial survey question via the REST API
app.post('/send-survey/', async (req, res) => {
    const client = new plivo.Client('<auth_id>', '<auth_token>');
    try {
        const response = await client.messages.create({
            src: '<sender_id>',
            dst: '<destination_number>',
            text: 'Did you find out all the information you needed? Please reply "Yes" or "No"'
        });
        res.status(200).send(response);
    } catch (error) {
        console.error(error);
        res.status(500).send(error);
    }
});

// This endpoint handles the user's reply via a webhook
app.post('/survey-response/', (req, res) => {
    const from_number = req.body.From;
    const to_number = req.body.To;
    const text = req.body.Text;
    console.log(`Message received - From: ${from_number}, To: ${to_number}, Text: ${text}`);

    let message_body;
    if (text && text.toLowerCase() === "yes") {
        message_body = "Thank you for your feedback";
    } else if (text && text.toLowerCase() === "no") {
        message_body = "We apologize for the inconvenience. A representative will contact you to assist you";
    } else {
        message_body = `Response received was "${text}", which is invalid. Please reply with either "Yes" or "No"`;
    }

    const plivoxml = plivo.Response();
    const params = { 'src': to_number, 'dst': from_number };
    plivoxml.addMessage(message_body, params);

    res.type('application/xml');
    res.status(200).send(plivoxml.toXML());
});

app.listen(port, () => {
    console.log(`SMS survey app listening on port ${port}`);
});

Test

Run the application: node survey.js.
Expose your local server to the internet using ngrok: ngrok http 3000.
Create a Plivo Application with the Message URL set to https://<your-ngrok-url>.ngrok.io/survey-response/.
Assign a Plivo number to the application.
Use a tool like Postman to send a POST request to http://localhost:3000/send-survey/ to start the survey.
Reply “Yes” or “No” from the destination phone to see the auto-response.

Overview

This guide shows how to conduct an SMS survey using Plivo’s APIs and Ruby on Rails. This involves two parts: sending an initial question via the REST API, and then handling the user’s reply via a webhook.

How it works

Initiate Survey: Your application receives a POST request at a /send-survey/ route. This triggers Plivo’s Send Message API to send the first survey question to the user.
Handle Response: The user replies to the SMS. Plivo sends a webhook with their reply to a /survey-response/ route. Your application processes their answer (“Yes” or “No”) and replies with a thank-you message using Plivo XML.

Prerequisites

A Plivo account — sign up for free.
An SMS-enabled Plivo phone number. You can rent a number.
Ruby on Rails and ngrok. See our Ruby setup guide.

Create the survey application

In app/controllers/plivo_controller.rb, paste this code. It defines two actions: one to start the survey and one to handle replies.

include Plivo
include Plivo::Exceptions
include Plivo::XML

class PlivoController < ApplicationController
    skip_before_action :verify_authenticity_token

    def send_survey
        api = RestClient.new("<auth_id>", "<auth_token>")
        begin
            response = api.messages.create(
                src: '<sender_id>',
                dst: '<destination_number>',
                text: 'Did you find out all the information you needed? Please reply "Yes" or "No"'
            )
            render json: response
        rescue PlivoRESTError => e
            render json: { error: e.message }, status: :internal_server_error
        end
    end

    def survey_response
        from_number = params[:From]
        to_number = params[:To]
        text = params[:Text]

        if text&.downcase == "yes"
            message_body = "Thank you for your feedback"
        elsif text&.downcase == "no"
            message_body = "We apologize for the inconvenience. A representative will contact you to assist you"
        else
            message_body = "Response received was \"#{text}\", which is invalid. Please reply with either Yes or No"
        end

        response = Response.new
        params = { src: to_number, dst: from_number }
        response.addMessage(message_body, params)
        xml = PlivoXML.new(response)

        render xml: xml.to_xml
    end
end

In config/routes.rb, define the routes for these actions:

Rails.application.routes.draw do
  post 'plivo/send_survey' => 'plivo#send_survey'
  post 'plivo/survey_response' => 'plivo#survey_response'
end

Test

Run the application: rails server.
Expose your local server to the internet using ngrok: ngrok http 3000.
Create a Plivo Application with the Message URL set to https://<your-ngrok-url>.ngrok.io/plivo/survey_response.
Assign a Plivo number to the application.
Use a tool like Postman to send a POST request to http://localhost:3000/plivo/send_survey to start the survey.
Reply “Yes” or “No” from the destination phone to see the auto-response.

Overview

This guide shows how to conduct an SMS survey using Plivo’s APIs and Python with Flask. This involves two parts: sending an initial question via the REST API, and then handling the user’s reply via a webhook.

How it works

Initiate Survey: Your application receives a POST request at a /send-survey/ endpoint. This triggers Plivo’s Send Message API to send the first survey question to the user.
Handle Response: The user replies to the SMS. Plivo sends a webhook with their reply to a /survey-response/ endpoint. Your application processes their answer (“Yes” or “No”) and replies with a thank-you message using Plivo XML.

Prerequisites

A Plivo account — sign up for free.
An SMS-enabled Plivo phone number. You can rent a number.
Python and ngrok. See our Python setup guide.

Create the survey application

Create a file called survey.py and paste into it this code.

from flask import Flask, request, Response, jsonify
import plivo
from plivo import plivoxml

app = Flask(__name__)

@app.post("/send-survey/")
def send_survey():
    try:
        client = plivo.RestClient("<auth_id>", "<auth_token>")
        response = client.messages.create(
            src="<sender_id>",
            dst="<destination_number>",
            text='Did you find out all the information you needed? Please reply "Yes" or "No"',
        )
        return jsonify(response.to_dict()), 200
    except plivo.exceptions.PlivoRestError as e:
        return jsonify({"error": str(e)}), 500

@app.post("/survey-response/")
def survey_response():
    from_number = request.values.get("From")
    to_number = request.values.get("To")
    text = request.values.get("Text")

    if text and text.lower() == "yes":
        message_body = "Thank you for your feedback"
    elif text and text.lower() == "no":
        message_body = "We apologize for the inconvenience. A representative will contact you to assist you"
    else:
        message_body = f'Response received was "{text}", which is invalid. Please reply with either "Yes" or "No"'

    response = plivoxml.ResponseElement()
    response.add(plivoxml.MessageElement(message_body, src=to_number, dst=from_number))
    return Response(response.to_string(), mimetype="application/xml")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    app.run(host="0.0.0.0", debug=True)

Test

Run the application: python survey.py.
Expose your local server to the internet using ngrok: ngrok http 5000.
Create a Plivo Application with the Message URL set to https://<your-ngrok-url>.ngrok.io/survey-response/.
Assign a Plivo number to the application.
Use a tool like Postman to send a POST request to http://localhost:5000/send-survey/ to start the survey.
Reply “Yes” or “No” from the destination phone to see the auto-response.

Overview

This guide shows how to initiate an SMS survey using Plivo’s APIs and PHP. This code covers sending the initial question.

Note: This example is incomplete. It only covers the first step of sending the survey question. You would need to build a second endpoint to receive and process the user’s reply, similar to the other language examples on this page.

Prerequisites

A Plivo account — sign up for free.
An SMS-enabled Plivo phone number. You can rent a number.
PHP, Composer, and ngrok. See our PHP setup guide.

Create the survey application

Create a file called send_survey.php and paste this code into it.

<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';
use Plivo\RestClient;
use Plivo\Exceptions\PlivoRestError;

try {
    $client = new RestClient("<auth_id>", "<auth_token>");
    $response = $client->messages->create([
        "src" => "<sender_id>",
        "dst" => "<destination_number>",
        "text" => "Did you find out all the information you needed? Please reply \"Yes\" or \"No\""
    ]);
    print_r($response);
} catch (PlivoRestError $e) {
    echo "Error: " . $e->getMessage();
}
?>

Test

Save the file and run it from your terminal to send the initial survey question.

php send_survey.php

Overview

This guide shows how to conduct an SMS survey using Plivo’s APIs and .NET. This involves two parts: sending an initial question via the REST API, and then handling the user’s reply via a webhook.

How it works

Initiate Survey: Your application receives a request at a /Survey/Send route. This triggers Plivo’s Send Message API to send the first survey question.
Handle Response: The user replies. Plivo sends a webhook to a /Survey/Response route. Your application processes their answer and replies with a thank-you message using Plivo XML.

Prerequisites

A Plivo account — sign up for free.
An SMS-enabled Plivo phone number. You can rent a number.
.NET and ngrok. See our .NET setup guide.

Create the survey application

In Controllers/SurveyController.cs, paste this code. It defines two actions: one to start the survey and one to handle replies.

using System;
using Plivo;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;

namespace Demo.Controllers
{
    public class Survey : Controller
    {
        [HttpPost]
        public IActionResult Send()
        {
            var api = new PlivoApi("<auth_id>", "<auth_token>");
            try {
                var response = api.Message.Create(
                    src: "<sender_id>",
                    dst: new List<string> { "<destination_number>" },
                    text: "Did you find out all the information you needed? Please reply 'Yes' or 'No'"
                );
                return Content(response.ToString());
            } catch (Plivo.PlivoRestException e) {
                return Content("Error: " + e.Message);
            }
        }

        [HttpPost]
        public IActionResult Response()
        {
            string from_number = Request.Form["From"];
            string to_number = Request.Form["To"];
            string text = Request.Form["Text"];
            string body;

            if (text != null && text.ToLower() == "yes")
            {
                body = "Thank you for your feedback";
            }
            else if (text != null && text.ToLower() == "no")
            {
                body = "We apologize for the inconvenience. A representative will contact you to assist you";
            }
            else
            {
                body = $"Response received was '{text}', which is invalid. Please reply with either 'Yes' or 'No'";
            }

            var resp = new Plivo.XML.Response();
            resp.AddMessage(body, new Dictionary<string, string>()
            {
                {"src", to_number},
                {"dst", from_number}
            });

            return Content(resp.ToString(), "text/xml");
        }
    }
}

Test

Run the application.
Expose your local server to the internet using ngrok.
Create a Plivo Application with the Message URL set to https://<your-ngrok-url>.ngrok.io/Survey/Response.
Assign a Plivo number to the application.
Use a tool like Postman to send a POST request to https://<your-ngrok-url>.ngrok.io/Survey/Send to start the survey.
Reply “Yes” or “No” from the destination phone.

Overview

This guide shows how to conduct an SMS survey using Plivo’s APIs and Java with Spring. This involves two parts: sending an initial question, and then handling the user’s reply.

How it works

Initiate Survey: Your application receives a POST request at a /send-survey/ endpoint. This triggers Plivo’s Send Message API to send the first survey question.
Handle Response: The user replies. Plivo sends a webhook to a /survey-response/ endpoint. Your application processes their answer and replies with a thank-you message using Plivo XML.

Prerequisites

A Plivo account — sign up for free.
An SMS-enabled Plivo phone number. You can rent a number.
Java and ngrok. See our Java setup guide.

Create the survey application

In your main application file, paste this code. It defines two endpoints.

package com.example.demo;

import com.plivo.api.Plivo;
import com.plivo.api.exceptions.PlivoRestException;
import com.plivo.api.exceptions.PlivoXmlException;
import com.plivo.api.models.message.Message;
import com.plivo.api.models.message.MessageCreateResponse;
import com.plivo.api.xml.Response;
import org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication;
import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.SpringBootApplication;
import org.springframework.http.MediaType;
import org.springframework.http.ResponseEntity;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.PostMapping;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RestController;
import java.io.IOException;

@SpringBootApplication
@RestController
public class SurveyApplication {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SpringApplication.run(SurveyApplication.class, args);
    }

    @PostMapping(value = "/send-survey/", produces = {MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON_VALUE})
    public ResponseEntity<MessageCreateResponse> sendSurvey() throws IOException, PlivoRestException {
        Plivo.init("<auth_id>", "<auth_token>");
        MessageCreateResponse response = Message.creator(
                "<sender_id>",
                "<destination_number>",
                "Did you find out all the information you needed? Please reply \"Yes\" or \"No\"").create();
        return ResponseEntity.ok(response);
    }

    @PostMapping(value = "/survey-response/", produces = {MediaType.APPLICATION_XML_VALUE})
    public String handleSurveyResponse(String From, String To, String Text) throws PlivoXmlException {
        String message_body;
        if (Text != null && Text.toLowerCase().equals("yes")) {
            message_body = "Thank you for your feedback";
        } else if (Text != null && Text.toLowerCase().equals("no")) {
            message_body = "We apologize for the inconvenience. A representative will contact you to assist you";
        } else {
            message_body = String.format("Response received was %s, which is invalid. Please reply with either \"Yes\" or \"No\"", Text);
        }

        Response response = new Response().children(
                new com.plivo.api.xml.Message(message_body, To, From));
        return response.toXmlString();
    }
}

Test

Run the application.
Expose your local server to the internet using ngrok.
Create a Plivo Application with the Message URL set to https://<your-ngrok-url>.ngrok.io/survey-response/.
Assign a Plivo number to the application.
Use a tool like Postman to send a POST request to http://localhost:8080/send-survey/ to start the survey.
Reply “Yes” or “No” from the destination phone.

Overview

This guide shows how to conduct an SMS survey using Plivo’s APIs and Go. This involves two parts: sending an initial question via the REST API, and then handling the user’s reply via a webhook.

How it works

Initiate Survey: Your application receives a POST request at a /send-survey/ endpoint. This triggers Plivo’s Send Message API to send the first survey question.
Handle Response: The user replies. Plivo sends a webhook to a /survey-response/ endpoint. Your application processes their answer and replies with a thank-you message using Plivo XML.

Prerequisites

A Plivo account — sign up for free.
An SMS-enabled Plivo phone number. You can rent a number.
Go and ngrok. See our Go setup guide.

Create the survey application

Create a file called survey.go and paste this code into it.

package main

import (
    "encoding/json"
    "fmt"
    "net/http"
    "strings"
    "[github.com/plivo/plivo-go/v7](https://github.com/plivo/plivo-go/v7)"
    "[github.com/plivo/plivo-go/v7/xml](https://github.com/plivo/plivo-go/v7/xml)"
)

func sendSurvey(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
    client, err := plivo.NewClient("<auth_id>", "<auth_token>", &plivo.ClientOptions{})
    if err != nil {
        http.Error(w, err.Error(), http.StatusInternalServerError)
        return
    }
    response, err := client.Messages.Create(
        plivo.MessageCreateParams{
            Src:  "<sender_id>",
            Dst:  "<destination_number>",
            Text: "Did you find out all the information you needed? Please reply 'Yes' or 'No'",
        },
    )
    if err != nil {
        http.Error(w, err.Error(), http.StatusInternalServerError)
        return
    }

    w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
    json.NewEncoder(w).Encode(response)
}

func surveyResponse(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
    from_number := r.FormValue("From")
    to_number := r.FormValue("To")
    text := r.FormValue("Text")
    var message_body string

    if strings.ToLower(text) == "yes" {
        message_body = "Thank you for your feedback"
    } else if strings.ToLower(text) == "no" {
        message_body = "We apologize for the inconvenience. A representative will contact you to assist you"
    } else {
        message_body = fmt.Sprintf("Response received was %s, which is invalid. Please reply with either 'Yes' or 'No'", text)
    }

    response := xml.NewResponse()
    message := xml.NewMessage()
    message.SetText(message_body)
    message.SetSrc(to_number)
    message.SetDst(from_number)
    response.Add(message)

    xmlBytes, _ := response.ToXML()
    w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/xml")
    fmt.Fprint(w, string(xmlBytes))
}

func main() {
    http.HandleFunc("/send-survey/", sendSurvey)
    http.HandleFunc("/survey-response/", surveyResponse)
    http.ListenAndServe(":8080", nil)
}

Test

Run the application: go run survey.go.
Expose your local server to the internet using ngrok: ngrok http 8080.
Create a Plivo Application with the Message URL set to https://<your-ngrok-url>.ngrok.io/survey-response/.
Assign a Plivo number to the application.
Use a tool like Postman to send a POST request to http://localhost:8080/send-survey/ to start the survey.
Reply “Yes” or “No” from the destination phone.

Getting Started

Concepts

API Reference

XML Reference

Tutorials

Migration Guides

Troubleshooting

​Overview

​How it works

​Prerequisites

​Create the survey application

​Test

​Overview

​How it works

​Prerequisites

​Create the survey application

​Test

​Overview

​How it works

​Prerequisites

​Create the survey application

​Test

​Overview

​Prerequisites

​Create the survey application

​Test

​Overview

​How it works

​Prerequisites

​Create the survey application

​Test

​Overview

​How it works

​Prerequisites

​Create the survey application

​Test

​Overview

​How it works

​Prerequisites

​Create the survey application

​Test

Overview

How it works

Prerequisites

Create the survey application

Test

Overview

How it works

Prerequisites

Create the survey application

Test

Overview

How it works

Prerequisites

Create the survey application

Test

Overview

Prerequisites

Create the survey application

Test

Overview

How it works

Prerequisites

Create the survey application

Test

Overview

How it works

Prerequisites

Create the survey application

Test

Overview

How it works

Prerequisites

Create the survey application

Test