How to send an SMS campaign

Overview

SMS campaigns are one-time, broadcast-style SMS text messages that you can use to send updates, announcements, or other marketing content to your audience. Read on to learn how to build and send an SMS campaign.

In this guide:

đź’ˇ SMS compliance tips

    Do

    • Collect contacts’ documented permission to send them SMS marketing messages
    • Explain the frequency of sends in your content pitch (“Sign up to receive weekly updates and deals!” is better than “Sign up to receive updates!”)
    • Send SMS campaigns between the hours of 8 AM and 8 PM EST
    • Be aware of SHAFT guidelines. Do not send SMS content about Sex, Hate, Alcohol, Firearms, or Tobacco (including cannabis and vaping)

    Don’t

    • Send content about illegal actions or substances, violence, adult content (including nudity), profanity, hate speech, or any other restricted content according to Sendlane's Terms of Service
    • Send contacts more than one SMS message per day.

    Sendlane's built-in compliance tools

    • Contacts will not receive SMS messages until their consent to receive SMS marketing messages is documented in their contact Profiles
    • If SMS messages are scheduled or attempted to send immediately after 8 PM in the time zone of the contact's area code, the campaign will be sent the following morning at 8 AM due to quiet hour legal restrictions

1. Create an SMS campaign

To create an SMS campaign:

  1. Click the Campaigns icon 
  2. Click New Campaign 
  3. Click Create SMS Campaign

2. Configure SMS campaign settings

In the Campaign Name field, enter a descriptive name to identify your campaign. This name is only visible in your Sendlane account and will not be visible to contacts.

Audience
  • Send to dropdown: Select lists, segments, or tags that you want to send your SMS campaign to
  • Don't send to dropdown*: Select lists, segments, or tags that you do not want to receive your SMS campaign
  • To see how many contacts are estimated in your selected audience, check the Audience size estimate section

*Note that the don't send to section overrides the send to section. For example, if the Jewelry list is in the  Send to section and the Apparel tag is in the Don't send section, contacts with the Apparel tag applied to their contact profile will not be sent the SMS campaign, even if they are also on the Jewelry list.

Advanced

If you'd like to override your global UTM settings, check the Customize UTM tracking checkbox and make your desired changes.

3. Add SMS campaign content

Your SMS campaigns should always include text and a tracking link. You can also optionally include images, audio files, video files, and emojis; these optional elements turn your SMS campaign into an MMS campaign, which uses more credits. Read the following section to learn how to construct your SMS campaign message. 

Text Message

Enter your SMS campaign’s content in the Text Message box and see a preview of your campaign as it will appear in your contacts’ text messaging app.

The SMS campaign builder will automatically alert you if you include a word that is considered a spam indicator by carriers and will not let the SMS campaign go out until the potential spam keyword is removed.

Use the buttons in the bottom right corner to:

  1. Insert MMS - MMS Messages are limited to JPG, .JPEG, .PNG, .GIF, .MP3, .MP4 .AC3, .WAV, .MIDI, and .AMR files of 500KB or less. MMS Messages have a flat cost of 3 credits and a 1,000 character limit.
  2. Tracking link builder
  3. Add personalization
  4. Add a unique coupon code
  5. Add custom data
  6. Add an emoji
⚠️ Use emojis with care; inserting an emoji causes your message's character count to double

    Characters in the ASCII format (A - Z, a - z, 0-9, spaces, and most common punctuation) are 8 bits each. Inserting an emoji into an SMS message removes ASCII formatting and causes all characters to use more bits (roughly 16 bits each).

    If your message is Flash sale today only!! your message will equal 8 bits x 23 characters for a total of 184 bits. If your message is 🎉 Flash sale today only!! each character now requires roughly 16 bits; 16 bits x 23 characters equals a total of 368 bits. Adding a single emoji roughly doubles the size of every character in the message, additional emojis after the first take up the same amount of space as any other character. The message đźŽ‰đźŽ‰đźŽ‰ Flash sale today only!! is 16 bits x 25 characters for a total of 400 bits.

    TL;DR, adding even a single emoji greatly increases the size of your message, so take care when deciding which messages really need them. 

Tracking Link

To track engagement (clicks), you must add a link to your SMS message that leads back to your website. SMS messages cannot collect open rates because there is no tracking pixel in an SMS message. All tracking links must begin with  HTTP:// or HTTPS://

You can use the tracking link builder to create individual tracking links or automatically turn all links in the Text Message window into tracking links by checking the Automatically Track Links checkbox:

You can use the tracking link builder to select a tag to apply to the profiles of contacts who click the tracking link. To use the link builder:

  1. Click the Create Link icon
  2. insert your link, starting with HTTP:// or HTTPS:// 
  3. select a Tag to apply from the Tag dropdown.
  4. Click Create to save your tracking link!

Whether you check the Automatically Track Links checkbox or use the link builder, ensure the tracking link is highlighted in green in the Text Message box. Links that are not highlighted in green will not track clicks.

⚠️ Do not copy tracking links from previous messages into new messages

    Tracking links are permanently tied to the message they were created in. If you create a tracking link for campaign A, then copy and paste the tracking link from campaign A into campaign B, click and revenue data from campaign B will be attached to campaign A where the tracking link originated.

4. Note the estimated cost of your SMS campaign

Use the credit counters in the bottom left of the Message screen to estimate how many credits your SMS campaign will cost per message, the total number of credits that will be used based on the Audience you selected, and the number of SMS credits remaining in your account.

The actual cost of your SMS campaign may not be reflected in the counter because:

  1. Your business name will be appended to all SMS messages to identify you as the sender
  2. Emojis change your message's encoding and increase the number of credits used
  3. Contacts receive an opt-in confirmation when they receive their first SMS message from you

5. Send a test message

Send a test of your SMS campaign by clicking Send Test SMS. Enter phone numbers separated by commas and click Send to send your test. Test messages will use SMS sending credits to send.

Try sending a test message to different devices and operating systems to ensure your content displays properly for all your contacts!

Click Next to Summary to save your message’s Content and continue!

6. Set SMS campaign schedule

Schedule

Select one of the following options for your SMS campaign:

  • Save as Draft Save your campaign in your Sendlane account to send later
  • Send Immediately Send your campaign right away
  • Schedule Select a date and time for your campaign to be sent

When your campaign sends, you’ll see its progress on your SMS campaigns page! Once it’s out, come back in 24 hours to dive into your campaign’s reporting.

Optional Settings

Select the Skip contacts during quiet hours checkbox if you want contacts who will be in quiet hours when your campaign sends not to receive your SMS campaign once they are out of quiet hours. Leave the box unchecked to send the SMS campaign to quiet hours contacts once they are out of quiet hours.

⚠️  SMS messages will not deliver or be queued for contacts who have not provided consent

    SMS messages will not send to contacts without consent recorded. contacts who have not opted in will not receive the message or have it queued to send when consent is recorded, and contacts will not be included in report numbers.

What if someone responds to your SMS campaign message? Check out our guide to the Sendlane Reply Center to engage directly with your contacts!

Troubleshooting

Why does my SMS campaign say "Stopped" on the SMS campaigns page?

SMS campaigns are generally stopped due to being blocked by wireless carriers. If you have questions about a stopped campaign, please contact your Customer Success Manager or our 24/7 Product Support team!

Why didn't my SMS campaign go out?

Your SMS campaign may not have gone out if:

  • Your account didn't have enough SMS credits to complete the send. Upgrade your SMS account to send your campaign!
  • You have a custom SMS plan and were out of credits when your campaign started sending. Custom SMS plans do not auto-upgrade. contact your Customer Success Manager for more details.
  • You attempted to send a campaign earlier than 8 AM or later than 8 PM. If SMS messages are scheduled or attempted to send immediately after 8 PM, the campaign will be sent the following morning at 8 AM due to quiet hour legal restrictions.

 Please contact your Customer Success Manager or our 24/7 support team if none of the above situations apply so we can get your SMS campaign out as soon as possible!

My campaign report shows that I received replies to my campaign, but I don't see them in the reply center!

Replies recorded in your campaign report that do not appear in the reply center are messages containing STOP or other unsubscribe keywords. Unsubscribe messages are not visible in the reply center.

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