How to Create an SMS Campaign in Zoho Campaigns

How to create an SMS campaign

Sending SMS campaigns is a quick and effective way to reach your audience with important updates, reminders, and offers. With Zoho Campaigns, you can easily create and send SMS messages to your contacts in just a few steps. This document will walk you through how to set up and send SMS campaigns so you can communicate with your audience clearly and on time.
Notes
Note:
Currently, only promotional SMS campaigns are supported. Transactional SMS is not available at this time.

Prerequisites 

Before you can create and send an SMS campaign, make sure the following are in place:


  • Each contact must have a mobile number saved in your Zoho Campaigns contact list. Without a mobile number, the contact will not receive the SMS.

  • You must purchase SMS credits. Credits are consumed each time an SMS is sent. 

  • You must register a sender ID (also called a sender address). This is the name or number that appears as the sender when your contacts receive the SMS.

  • If you are sending SMS campaigns to contacts in India, you must complete the DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology) registration as required by Indian telecom regulations.  Learn more

  • If you are sending SMS campaigns to contacts in the USA, you must complete 10DLC registration.  Learn more

  • If you are using a third-party app to send your SMS campaigns, ensure that you've integrated it with your Zoho Campaigns account.

How to create an SMS campaign 

Once your sender ID is registered and your credits are in place, you are ready to create your SMS campaign. For that,

  1. From the left navigation toolbar, click Campaigns, then select SMS.

  2. Click the Create button at the top-right corner of the screen.

  3. Fill in the SMS campaign details on the configuration screen:
    (a) To: Select the contact lists and segments you want to send the SMS to. Both lists and segments created in your Zoho Campaigns account can be used as recipients.
    (b) Sender: Select the sender number that will appear when your contacts receive the SMS. This is the sender ID you've registered.

  4. Now you can add the SMS content. Use the '@' symbol to insert merge tags and personalize your message. For example, you can include the contact's first name in the greeting.

  5. In the To opt out section, you can include a link to allow recipients to unsubscribe from future messages.

  6. In the Response action section, you can define what should happen when a recipient interacts with your SMS campaign. For example, you can add the contact to a new list, or assign a tag when someone clicks a link in your SMS.

  7. The Credits in Wallet section shows your current available credit balance. Make sure you have enough credits before launching the campaign.

  8. When you are ready to send the campaign, click Launch. You will be given two options:
    (a) Send immediately: sends the campaign right away.
    (b) Send later: lets you choose a specific date, time, and time zone for delivery.

Notes
Note:
  1. If your message exceeds 160 characters, it will be automatically split into multiple messages of up to 70 characters each. This may use additional SMS credits.
  2. If your message contains non-GSM characters (such as characters from languages like Tamil, Hindi, or Arabic), it will be treated as a Unicode message and split into segments of 70 characters or fewer.
  3. You can include one link in the message. Link clicks (other than unsubscribe link clicks) can be tracked. Only unique clicks are counted.

Sending a test SMS 

Before sending your SMS campaign to all recipients, it is a good idea to send yourself or a teammate a test SMS to check how the message appears on a real device. To send a test SMS,

  1. On the SMS configuration page, click the Test SMS button.

  2. Select a phone number from the available options. Note that you can only select one number at a time.

  3. Click Send.