How does text-to-join work?

Text-to-join lets someone in your audience join your list from their phone with a few texts. They text a keyword like SLIDES to a short code such as 33777, or they scan a QR code that opens their texting app with the message already written. That first text starts a short automated conversation, called a capture flow, which asks for an email and maybe one more detail, sends what you promised, and hands the contact to your email tool. The person starts it themselves, so every contact on the list is someone who texted in, and you have no clipboard of names to type up later.

What does the audience do, step by step?

Picture the last slide of a talk. It says "Text DEMO to 33777 to get today's deck," with a QR code beside it, and you say it out loud before Q&A.

1. Someone texts DEMO to 33777, or scans the code and taps send.
2. A reply arrives within the same thread asking for their email.
3. They type it. If it doesn't look like an email, they get a retry.
4. If the flow asks a second question (first name, company, zip), it comes next, one at a time.
5. When they finish, they get a link to your slides by text or email.
6. Their details go to wherever you pointed the flow: Mailchimp, Kit, ActiveCampaign, HubSpot, a webhook, or Zapier.

The whole exchange happens in the texting app already on the phone.

What's the difference between a keyword and a QR code?

Both start the same kind of conversation. They differ in how people get there.

	Keyword	QR code
What people do	Type a word to 33777 or 55444	Scan, then tap send on a pre-filled text
Works when said out loud	Yes	No, it has to be seen
Works from the back row	Yes, if the word is readable	Only if the code is big enough to scan
Cost on Textiful	One included, then $10/month each	Free and unlimited

Each Textiful flow has one trigger, so a keyword and a QR code each start their own copy of the same flow and report separately. Using both on one slide is common. Should I use a QR code or a keyword? goes into when each one wins.

What is the short code doing?

A short code is the short number people text, like 33777 or 55444. On Textiful both are shared: many accounts use them, and the keyword is what routes a text to your flow. A keyword is unique on its short code, so nobody else on Textiful can use SLIDES on 33777 once it's yours. If a word is taken on one code, it may be free on the other. A QR code doesn't need a keyword at all; its pre-filled text is addressed to a Textiful short code and routes on its own. More in What is a short code and how does it work?

Where do the contacts go?

When a flow finishes, its actions run. A Textiful flow can text or email a handout, send an email, email you a notification, tag the contact, add the contact to your Mailchimp audience or Kit account, or send it to a webhook as JSON. Zapier's "New Contact" trigger connects everything else, including tools like ActiveCampaign or Google Sheets. Every contact also has a page in Textiful with a timeline of the conversation, and you can export a CSV.

Your email tool handles the follow-up from there.

What counts as a conversation, and what about STOP?

Textiful charges by conversation. A conversation is one person texting your keyword or scanning your QR code and starting your flow. It counts once whether you ask one question or four, and if the same person comes back later and starts again, that's a new conversation. STOP and HELP are handled automatically on every keyword and QR code, and they never count. See How much does text-to-join cost? for the numbers.

How does Textiful help?

Textiful gives you a keyword on 33777 or 55444 and free QR codes, and a capture flow that asks your questions one at a time and sends each contact to your list. Every feature is on every plan.

Try it at your next event → Start a free trial