Who Vonage is
Vonage is a cloud communications company and, since 2022, part of Ericsson. Next to business phone and contact centre products, it offers communications APIs for messaging, voice, video and verification, and network APIs that draw on mobile operators' data.
Its Messages API sends SMS, MMS, RCS, WhatsApp, Viber and Facebook Messenger through one endpoint, so a company can add channels without new integrations. That is why it is one of the SMS and WhatsApp providers our notifications module connects to.
What it does in your platform
Notifications
Sends the platform's SMS and WhatsApp messages through one API: payment and security alerts, delivery updates and, for customers who opted in, campaigns. Each message's status comes back to the module as a signed webhook, and a critical message that fails goes out again on another channel or provider.
How the connection works
One connector in the notifications module talks to Vonage's Messages API through a Vonage application, which holds the platform's public key and its webhook addresses. Requests are signed with the matching private key, which stays in your platform's secrets.
A card is declined
The module picks the alert template your team edited in the backoffice, and the channel that suits the customer, SMS or WhatsApp.
Vonage takes it
The module posts the message to the Messages API with a short-lived token it signs itself, and gets a message ID back.
It is delivered
Vonage delivers it over SMS through the customer's carrier, or over WhatsApp from your WhatsApp Business account.
The status comes back
Vonage posts each status change to the application's webhook, with a token signed with your signature secret.
The module checks it
It verifies the token, and that the body matches the hash inside it, then updates the message's status in the backoffice.
A fallback for what matters
If a critical alert fails, the module sends it again through another channel or provider within seconds.
Next to other providers
Each channel runs on the provider you prefer, with a second one standing by for critical messages. Vonage can carry your SMS and WhatsApp with another provider as the backup, or stand by behind Twilio, Infobip or Bird.
Vonage also offers failover between channels of its own, through its Dispatch API. In the platform, fallbacks are set in the notifications module, so the same rules apply whichever provider sends a message, and switching later does not change your apps.
When Vonage fits best
A strong fit when
- You want SMS, WhatsApp and chat apps such as Viber behind one API.
- You want every status webhook signed, with the body checked against the signature.
- You already use Vonage for business phone or contact centre, and want messaging from the same company.
Also worth a look
- Twilio, when you want messaging and one-time codes for sign-in from one provider.
- A provider your team already uses: its account becomes a connector too.
How we get you live
The contract
We help you get your Vonage account and contract in place, for the countries and channels you need.
Senders and channels
We set up your sender IDs and numbers with you, link your WhatsApp Business account to the Vonage application, and prepare the templates WhatsApp reviews.
The keys
The application's private key and your signature secret stay in your platform's secrets, so every request is signed and every webhook can be verified.
A full test run
Every template goes to your team's own phones, on SMS and on WhatsApp, and the fallback is tested by forcing a failure, before your first customer message.
