Connect Powered By Text to Avid to pull text messaging data into Avid Insights and push Avid audiences to Powered By Text segment lists through Pathways. Enter your Client ID and Client Secret in Avid, then select an organization when your credentials can access more than one. One connection covers one Powered By Text organization.
Use this article when
- You need to connect Powered By Text to Avid for the first time.
- You need to reconnect or update an existing Powered By Text connection.
- You want Powered By Text data to appear in Avid Insights reporting.
- You want to push an Avid audience to Powered By Text subscribers through Pathways.
Applies to
| Requirement | Details |
|---|---|
| Avid plan | All plans above Benchmarks (Intelligence, Playbooks, Pathways, or Operating System), or an active trial. If you do not see Connections under Settings or Pathways in the sidebar, contact your Account Manager or submit a support ticket. |
| Avid permission | Access to edit Settings > Connections (Connections & Files Edit). Using Pathways also requires the Pathways > Edit or Direct Mail > Edit permission. |
| Powered By Text account | A valid Client ID and Client Secret with access to at least one organization (org unit or brand). Credentials come from your Powered By Text Implementation Specialist. See the Powered By Text API docs. |
| Time estimate | About 5–10 minutes once you have your Powered By Text credentials. |
Permission matrix
| Role in Powered By Text | Required permission | What it enables in Avid | Where to verify |
|---|---|---|---|
| API credential holder | Valid Client ID and Client Secret | Connect and verify credentials in Avid | From your Powered By Text Implementation Specialist |
| API credential holder | Access to at least one organization | The Organization dropdown appears in Avid after credentials succeed | Avid connect flow after you save valid credentials |
| API credential holder | Access to create and manage segment lists for the connected organization | Pathways can find or create segment lists and add or remove subscribers | Powered By Text admin for the connected organization |
Before you connect
Powered By Text is a text messaging platform. Avid connects with a Client ID and Client Secret, not your Powered By Text login password.
Get your Client ID and Client Secret from your Powered By Text Implementation Specialist before you start in Avid.
Keep the Client Secret private. Treat it like a password. Share it only with trusted administrators, and never paste it in emails or support tickets.
Step 1: Connect in Avid
- Open Settings > Connections in Avid.
- Select the Systems tab.
- Click Add System. The Add a System window opens.
- Select Other in the type filters, or search for
Powered By Text. - Select the Powered By Text card. The instructions and credential fields appear. The tile shows Insights and Pathways badges. Insights means text messaging data syncs into Avid reporting. Pathways means the connection can receive audience syncs.
- Enter your Client ID and Client Secret.
- Click Save. This connection uses Save, not Authenticate.
If your credentials can access more than one Powered By Text organization: Avid saves the connection as Powered By Text (unconfigured) and prompts you to choose an Organization. Select the organization you want to connect, then click Save again. If your credentials can access only one organization, Avid completes the connection automatically.
What you will see
| When | What appears |
|---|---|
| After you save with one organization | A connection named Powered By Text: {org name} appears in Settings > Connections with Insights and Pathways badges. The status starts as Initializing, then moves to Active after the first sync. |
| After you save with multiple organizations | A connection named Powered By Text (unconfigured) appears with an Error status and the message The organization has not been selected. Select an Organization and save to finish. |
| After the first sync | Avid syncs groups, contacts, message reports, and subscribers on a daily schedule. The status shows Active. You may also see Syncing or Retrying while a sync runs. |
What the connection enables
Insights reporting
After the connection reaches Active, Avid pulls groups, contacts, message reports, and subscribers from Powered By Text into Insights on a daily schedule. Data is not real-time.
Wait for the next daily sync before you look for Powered By Text data in Insights.
Audience push via Pathways
Push an Avid audience (a saved group of people, also called a segment) to Powered By Text subscribers using Pathways (the Avid feature that sends audiences to connected platforms).
- Go to Pathways and click Add a new Pathway.
- In Step 1: Select Audience, choose the audience you want to send.
- In Step 2: Choose a Destination, select your Powered By Text connection.
- For Destination Object, select Subscribers.
- Map Mobile Number as the required match-key field from a real phone column in your audience. Do not map it again under Additional Columns.
- Optionally map First Name, Last Name, Email, Image URL, or Region.
- Select a Method of Sync:
-
Mirror -
Records will added, updated, and removed to keep the sources in full sync -
Update or Create -
Update existing destination records when IDs match, otherwise create new ones if they're missing
-
Mirror -
- Review the Pathway Summary and click Confirm.
Sync Frequency for platform destinations is Daily. You cannot change this frequency.
Avid finds or creates a Powered By Text segment list named AVID - {audience name} and adds or removes subscribers by mobile number. Subscribers are uploaded to the segment list only. Attach the list to a group in Powered By Text when you are ready to send.
Phone numbers must be present on the Avid profiles in your audience. Rows without a mapped mobile number do not sync.
Test and verify
| Checkpoint | What to look for |
|---|---|
| After you save | The Powered By Text connection on Settings > Connections shows Active with your organization name, not (unconfigured). |
| After the first Insights sync | Powered By Text data appears in Avid Insights. The sync runs daily. |
| After a Pathway push | Go to Pathways > Manage Pathways and check the sync status. In Powered By Text, confirm the segment list AVID - {audience name} exists with the expected subscribers. |
Update credentials or reconnect
- Open Settings > Connections and find the Powered By Text connection.
- Open the actions menu and select Update Credentials.
- Paste the new Client ID and Client Secret, then click Save.
- If needed, reselect the Organization and save again.
Existing Pathways keep syncing once the connection is active again.
Troubleshooting
| Error message | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
Client ID and Client Secret are required. |
One or both credential fields were left blank. | Enter both the Client ID and Client Secret, then click Save. |
Could not verify Powered By Text credentials: Unable to authenticate with Powered By Text: HTTP 401 |
The credentials are invalid, expired, or copied incorrectly. The HTTP status number at the end can vary. | Confirm the Client ID and Client Secret with your Powered By Text Implementation Specialist. Paste them again in Avid and save. |
The API credentials provided do not have access to any Powered By Text organizations. |
The credentials do not include any organization. | Ask your Powered By Text Implementation Specialist to grant access to at least one organization. This is a Powered By Text configuration step, not an Avid setting. |
The organization has not been selected. |
The connection was saved but no organization was chosen. | Open the connection, select an Organization from the dropdown, and click Save. |
Unable to refresh your Powered By Text connection. Please update your Client ID and Client Secret and try again. |
Avid could not refresh access with the stored credentials. | Use Update Credentials. Enter the current Client ID and Client Secret, then save. |
Your Powered By Text credentials do not have access to any organizations. Please try again. |
When Avid loaded the Organization dropdown, the credentials had no organization access. | Ask your Implementation Specialist to grant organization access, then reopen the connection and update the credentials. |
You do not have access to update this client |
Your Avid user role cannot edit connections for this organization. | Ask an administrator to grant you access to Settings > Connections, or have them complete the connection. |
The Powered By Text credentials provided do not have access to {connection name}. |
The credentials cannot access the organization on this connection. | Confirm the correct credentials and organization access with your Implementation Specialist, then use Update Credentials. |
Known limitations
- One organization per connection. To connect a second Powered By Text organization, run the connect flow again with credentials that can access that organization.
- Segment lists, not send groups. Pathways uploads subscribers to a Powered By Text segment list. You attach that list to a group in Powered By Text when you are ready to send.
- Playbooks SMS deployment is not available. This connection does not deploy Playbook SMS touchpoints to Powered By Text.
- Daily sync only. Avid syncs Powered By Text data once per day. Deep sync is not available for this connection.
- Credentials come from your Implementation Specialist. Self-serve portal steps to create a Client ID and Client Secret are not documented here.
For agency partners
Powered By Text authenticates with a Client ID and Client Secret (OAuth2 client credentials). Each connection maps to one Powered By Text organization. Inbound sync pulls groups, contacts, message reports, and subscribers on a daily schedule.
Pathways uses the Powered By Text Segment List API. Each pathway finds or creates a list named AVID - {segment name} and syncs subscribers by subscriberNo (mobile number). Supported operations are mirror and upsert.
On non-production Avid environments, an Environment field appears with Sandbox and Production options. Production Avid hides this field and always uses Powered By Text production APIs.
When you manage multiple clients, use separate credentials and connections per client organization so each connection stays clear in Settings > Connections.
When to contact support
Contact Avid support if:
- The connection fails repeatedly after you re-enter the credentials and retry.
- The connection shows Error and the message is not listed in the troubleshooting table above.
- Powered By Text data does not appear in Avid Insights after a daily sync, even though the connection shows Active.
- A Pathway shows repeated errors after the connection is Active and your audience includes valid mobile numbers.
Include this information so support can investigate faster:
- Avid client or organization name
- Powered By Text organization name
- The exact error message shown on the connection card or Pathway
- Whether your credentials can access at least one organization (confirmed with your Implementation Specialist)
- Last successful sync date, if any