How do keywords work?

Keywords are used to distinguish between queries.

When using SMS or Instant Messaging, there is only one base phone number or Instant Messaging Name users can connect to, so to distinguish between end user queries, a keyword must be used.

Thus, the format of a query could be like:

[Keyword],[User Input1],[User Input2],...,[User Input n]

or

a keyword could be used alone if the query does not need any user input.

Email addresses are different. You can setup one email address and use it for all queries, in which case a keyword would be needed for each query, or you can create unique email addresses for each query, and a keyword would not be needed.

The case of using unique email addresses is more efficient as you could store all the email addresses in the users address book and give them unique names such as 'Sales contacts' or 'stock levels'.