05. SMS (Text)

Send Outbound Messages 

This task will show how to schedule, send, and track SMS messages used in your Marketing Automation workflows. SMS is used to reach Contacts on their mobile phones via SMS (a.k.a. "text messaging").

Some possible use cases with SMS: Schedule Lead Alerts, Send Trade Show Notifications, Text An Appointment/Event Reminder, Send Confirmation Messages, etc.

Note:

The SMS App uses multiple shared long-codes. Dedicated long codes are available upon request.

Prerequisites:

Before getting started, you should have completed the following tasks:

Understanding SMS Rules and Best Practices How?

Create a Program in Studio How?

Create a Campaign in Studio How?

Instructions:

Send an Outbound Message

1. Prepare Your Data

• Assign a field in your Contact Management to house the Mobile Number
  • Typically this is ##mobile##
  • Be sure to include the Country Code for each contact (for U.S. numbers, this is a "1")

2. Configure a Target Audience

3. Drag the SMS Element onto the Canvas

• Double-click the element that you just dragged onto the canvas

4. Configure the General Tab

5. Click on the Configuration Tab

• Select "Mobile"

  • Enter the variable that corresponds to the field in the Contact Database that contains the mobile number

• Select "Message"

  • Message can include static and variable content

  • Studio will automatically Shorten all URLs starting with "HTTP" within the content of the message

  • Your message must include an opt-out option (for example, "Reply STOP to cancel")

  • The message body will support 160 characters (Use your favorite Text Editor to help you get this count)

Note:

Using variables in your message could cause the message to exceed 160 characters.

6. Click on the Schedules Tab- Add a basic schedule

7. No configuration is necessary under the Events tab for this task

Note:

No message will be sent until your changes are published.

8. Publish your Program