How to Create an SMS Campaign

To create an SMS Campaign with Factoreal, perform the following steps:

1. Click Campaigns.
2. Click SMS. Prerequisite: SMS senders have to be configured before you can send an SMS Campaign.
3. Click Create New SMS Campaign.
4. Enter a campaign name. Click Next.
5. Describe your campaign (optional). Click Next.
6. Choose your Target Destination which are available from the list of destinations that were earlier configured – a) India | b) United States | c) Canada. Click Next.
7. Choose recipients for this campaign from a List, Audience or Individual contact (you can choose multiple lists, audiences and contacts). Prerequisite – Recipients who have given SMS consent can only be targeted in USA or Canada. Click Next.
8. Choose if you want to exclude DND marked contacts. Click Next.
9. If you have not selected India as a target destination – a) Choose between Composing Text or Use a template and click Next. | b) If you choose Use a template select one of the available templates and click Next. | c) Enter your SMS message characters here and keep in mind the character limit. You can also use Merge Tags to personalize your SMS content by using FIRSTNAME, LASTNAME etc. | d) Organization prefix allows the branding prefix configured in SMS settings to be prefixed to the outgoing text. | e) Opt-Out Language can be enabled or disabled using the slider. If enabled, it will insert the respective destination’s opt-out suffix in the text. This will be specific to each country as saved in the SMS settings. | f) Shorten URL option can be enabled or disabled using the slider. Enable this option to shorten your long URLs and make their clicks trackable.
10. If you have selected India as a target destination – a) For India, you have to get the message approved from DLT portal beforehand and save the message as a template and only then can you send the message to your recipients. So, you cannot use Compose option. | b) If you choose Use a template select one of the available templates and click Next. | c) Organization prefix is not applicable for India. | d) Opt-Out Language can be enabled or disabled using the slider. If enabled it will insert the respective destination’s opt-out suffix in the text. This will be specific to each country as saved in the SMS settings. | e) Shorten URL option can be enabled or disabled using the slider. Enable this option to shorten your long URLs and make their clicks trackable.
11. Click Next.
12. You are now in the summary page. You can review and make changes, if necessary, before finalizing your campaign.
13. You can view the SMS previews for respective destinations.
14. You can send a test SMS to a registered number by clicking Test SMS.
15. Click Schedule Later to send at a later date. Select a time and date and click schedule.
16. Click Send Now to start the SMS campaign immediately.

For a simple overview, refer to [How to Create an SMS Template].