This article will walk you through creating an SMS campaign step by step.
Preparation
There are a few preparation steps that you can take before you start creating a campaign. You can do most of these actions right from the campaign creation wizard, but it's recommended that you have all the data ready in advance.
Set custom domains or domain pools
When you have prepared the data, click Campaigns in the main menu and then Create New Campaign.
You will see a pop-up window. Select one of the campaign types, depending on your needs:
Outbound Only - send SMS campaigns
Inbound & Outbound - use your DID numbers to send SMS campaigns and manage two-way conversations.
Then, the Create New Campaign window with several sections will open. Expand each section and fill in campaign details, recipients, sender IDs, message body, sending schedule, and other settings.
Alternatively, you can duplicate an existing SMS campaign right from the Campaigns table. To duplicate it, navigate to Campaigns in the main menu, locate a campaign in the table, and click Duplicate from the three-dot menu on the right side of the row. This will create a draft clone of the selected campaign.
Campaign Details
The wizard starts by entering campaign details.
Campaign Name - enter a meaningful name to locate the campaign quickly.
Description - provide more information that will be visible when you open the campaign.
Tags - click Add New Campaign Tags to create tags, then select the tags from the drop-down list and apply them to the SMS campaign immediately to categorize your campaigns and quickly find the ones you need (optional).
NOTE
You can save the campaign as a draft on each step by clicking Finish Later. It will be added to the campaign list with the Draft status. Then you can click Edit to return to the campaign and complete its creation.
Clicking Reset will remove all the data entered and let you start campaign creation again.
After you click Save & Next, the step will be completed and the next tab will expand.
Send To
On this tab, define SMS recipients. Choose one or several existing contact lists or segments from the dropdown or create a new list or segment right away.
The number of recipients equals the total number of contacts in selected lists or segments.
For two-way conversations, select the country where your messages will be sent and make sure the uploaded contact list contains numbers from this country only.
From
Here, select one or more existing sender IDs or add a new sender ID. In case of multiple sender IDs, set custom or equal senders ratio. By setting the distribution ratio, you can control how frequently each sender ID is used in your SMS campaign.
Message
On the Message tab, make various settings related to the message you will be sending:
Select and use a previously created message template, or modify and save it as a new one. You can also add a new template right away.
Modify the message body as needed.
If your message template contains tags, fix any missing data.
Add word groups.
If your message template contains short or opt-out URLs, add them.
For templates with several text variants, define the variants ratio.
Preview your message and send a text SMS.
You can find more information in the following sections.
Tags
If you use tags pulled from contact fields in your message template, check if all the recipients have data for all the used variables.
If any data is missing, the number of recipients with the missing data will be shown in red next to the tag.
To fix the recipients with missing data:
Hover over the number of recipients who have missing data and click on the link to manage replacement options.
A window pops up. You have two options to enter missing text or exclude recipients with the issue from the SMS campaign:
Enter the text to replace the variable
Toggle the switch to the left, and the recipients who have missing data will be excluded from the campaign.
Click Apply Changes. The number of recipients with missing data will turn green.
Opt-Out and Short URLs
In Tools, you can set the short and opt-out URLs to be used in the message. At this point, the buttons for the tools used will be red.
To add short or opt-out URLs to SMS message body:
Make sure you have configured custom domains for your URLs.
Click on the button for the tool used. You will see a pop-up window for adding an opt-out or short URL.
Select previously configured custom domains manually or choose a pool with domains.
The system will create a unique URL for each message by adding a code with six symbols after the slash to the domain.Choose a domain distribution strategy while sending the messages:
spread the domains evenly (default)
use each domain until its limit is reached, then proceed to the next one.
Select a previously created URL offer.
After filling in all the data, click Add URL.
NOTE
1. You will be able to select a domain with the Configured status only.
2. You should add multiple domains because they get burnt quickly. Usually, providers block domains as spam if they appear in ten thousand messages.
3. The system will display a warning if insufficient domains are selected. Add more or modify the global limit.
As soon as you have completed the URL settings, the button in Tools will turn green.
Word Groups
You can add manual or automatic word groups to your message. Words belonging to a word group are randomly selected for each sent message. Your recipients will get unique messages, which will help avoid detecting them as spam.
You can learn more about word groups and how to add them in a dedicated article.
Variants Ratio
If you use several text variants in your template, set equal or custom ratios for them. For custom percentages, choose colors for displaying statistics per variant in Analytics and Insights.
Saving As a New Template
If you have changed your template, you can save it as a new one for future use.
Select the corresponding checkbox and specify the new template's name and description.
Preview
Preview how the text of the message will look on a mobile phone. You can find the preview on the right.
Test if the message has been received:
Click Test SMS.
Fill in the fields in the window that pops up.
Then click Send Test and wait for the message to be received.
Sending Schedule
In the Sedning Schedule section, you can set the time and date when your SMS messages will be sent.
To set SMS campaign sending time:
Go to Activity hours and set the hours and days when the system will send messages. Optionally, you can choose the starting and ending dates of your campaign.
Configure the Timezone for the campaign from several available options:
Recipient's local time: the local timezone of each recipient depending on their country (the system will determine it based on their phone number)
My local time: the timezone you chose in Settings
Select timezone: a specific timezone that you can select from the dropdown list.
NOTE
We recommend using the recipient’s local time.
Some countries have regulations as to the allowed time for sending SMS messages.
If you set the sending time for your own time zone, a recipient in a different time zone can miss your message if the sending time doesn't fit into the allowed limits.
If some contacts won’t be able to receive your message, you will be notified about it later when you check the campaign details.
Campaign Settings
On the Campaign Settings tab, you can define the following settings for your campaign:
You can choose if you want to start the campaign immediately or pick a date in the future.
Select the checkbox next to Pause campaign if you wish to pause your campaign once or each time after a certain number of messages has been sent.
This allows you to review your campaign's performance and make adjustments to improve its results while the campaign is running.Optionally, you can set CTR (click-through rate) indicators for this campaign that will be considered as good and bad. The system will calculate the mid-CTR for you.
Reviewing Your Campaign
After you have saved all the steps, you will be asked to review:
Click the edit icon to make changes in any tab you need.
At the bottom of the page, you can find the estimated price of your future SMS campaign.
When you finish reviewing the campaign, click Start Campaign.
Click Done in the window that pops up.
The new campaign will appear at the top of Campaigns.