Sending a Customized SMS
This option allows you to send a message with custom parameters within the template that can be dynamically replaced when the message is sent. Choose the column ranges to pick the contacts, to send messages. You can send messages to bulk recipients in a batch of 5 Lakh numbers in one go. Customized messages enable you to create replaceable parameters for a template. Let’s say, the message is “You’ve 300 credits in the account. Your bill will be generated on 1st May.” In the message above credits and the bill generation date will be replaceable and independent to multiple customers and the same can be specified through customized messages.
Detailed below is the procedure to send customized SMS.
Click on the side menu from the alerts/ promo application.
Select the “Send SMS” option and click on “Customize SMS”
The following terms are displayed upon choosing the “Customize SMS”:
To Mobile Number(s): This is where you need to add the message recipient details. Click on "Browse File" to select and upload a file in .csv/.xls/.txt format containing details such as Mobile Numbers and the corresponding information that needs to be sent to the recipients. Have a look at the sample file format if you want to have an idea of how it should look.
Sender ID: To send an SMS campaign, select the desired Sender ID from the drop-down menu.
Template: The templates linked to the sender ID that you have selected will be available for selection in the drop-down menu. Select this option only if the sheet has 1 template that needs to be sent out to all the recipients in the datasheet you have uploaded.
Favorites: You can choose any favorite templates from the drop-down. Favorites are the pre-defined templates to be used within messages.
Campaign Name: Write a unique name for your message campaigns. To filter your Sent messages, a relevant campaign name plays a key role.
Select Column containing Mobile Number: Select Mobile number fields' column name. This column ensures that the mobile number is picked up from the ‘X’ column from the uploaded document.
Select Columns containing Ref Number: Select any column name if you wish to nominate it as a reference id column. The same number shall be useful while generating reports too.
Select Column containing Template ID: Select the column name which you have assigned for the Template ID in the sheet that you have uploaded. This will ensure the correct and relevant template ID is picked up for the message if there are multiple templates within the same sheet.
Template ID: Select the Template ID of the corresponding template that you have selected. This ensures that for the selected template, only that template ID gets pushed along with the message when sending the messages out to the recipients within the datasheet. You may leave this blank in case you have multiple templates and template IDs in the datasheet that you have uploaded or if you are unsure of the template ID that corresponds to the template you have selected and the system will pick up the template and trigger the messages accordingly.
Message: Write your text message here. 1 SMS can contain a maximum of 160 characters and 4000 characters after concatenation. After entering your message, the number of characters of the entered message will be displayed. You can click on the “i” icon to check Unicode SMS charges and character limitations.
Flash (checkbox): You can tick this checkbox to send flash SMS. It will appear on the recipient notification screen directly rather than the inbox. If the recipient accepts, then it will be added to the inbox automatically. Your templates will still need to be registered within the DLT platform even if it is a Flash message.
Signature: If you have added any signatures to your account, you can directly add in your message by choosing from the left menu. Signatures can help your customers understand your brand identity.
Contacts: On the rightmost side, you can choose any group to send your message campaigns to only those contacts who have been added to your group. If you select any group, automatically contact numbers will appear in the “To Numbers” section. You can also create a new group of contacts using the “New Group” button.
Once your message campaign content is ready, you need to click on the “Preview & Send Now” button to launch the campaign. A pop-up will be displayed on the screen and the message can be previewed.
You can also select any range of rows to whom you want to roll this SMS campaign.
You can also schedule your SMS campaign for any time using the “Schedule Now” button.
Once you are done with the SMS campaign, click on Send Now button to send the messages to your customers.