Introducing Zoho Campaigns' own gateway for SMS campaigns

Introducing Zoho Campaigns' own gateway for SMS campaigns

We are excited to announce the launch of our SMS Gateway to send SMS through Zoho Campaigns. We have also made a few other changes in our current SMS Campaign model to improve your over all user experience.

These updates are planned with an aim to expand our product's potential by catering to the needs of businesses interested in both email and SMS marketing. 

Zoho Campaigns' Own SMS Gateway


Right now we are integrated with thirteen third party applications, to support the SMS sending process for the users. However, these third party integrations create an extra signup step for you to send SMS campaigns and manage multiple bills.
 
To overcome this hindrance and to improve the user experience, we are partnering with a vendor & offering our own SMS gateway.
 
With this, you can send SMS campaigns to mobile numbers in the US and Canada without any hassle.
In future updates we are also planning to include India and multiple countries from the EU region.



Improving the user experience of SMS Campaign feature 




1) Efficient way to manage Mobile number within Zoho Campaigns 

a) SMS field standardization 

The "Mobile number" will be the default field to store the contact number. We will also eliminate the phone number and country selection steps from the SMS creation process.
 
Moreover, the standardization of the contact number field will:

a) Simplify the SMS creation process
b) Make the identification of phone number duplication process easier
c) Effectively maintain SMS channel unsubscribe & DND registry for phone numbers 
d) Reduce the data processing time
e) Ensure organized storage and easy tracing of contact numbers
 
b) Contact number will be mapped to "Mobile Number"

In our current model, during the contact addition process the " email address" has always been the default field to add contact's email address. Henceforth, " Mobile number" will also be shown as a default field to add their contact number. 

c) Recommended to import mobile number with area code

You can add contacts without an area code, but you won't be able to send SMS campaigns to those contacts. We advise that you update your contacts' phone number along with the area code in the Mobile Number field to send SMS campaigns without any hiccups.
 
Accepted format for Mobile Number field : +1 967899090
 
Numbers like 9289098909 will be added, but won't be included for campaign sending, as the area code is missing.


2) Unsubscribe from all SMS marketing communication

Zoho Campaigns ensures that email recipients have the entire control over acceptance and denial of email campaigns through unsubscription option.

This similar best practices will be implemented in the SMS Campaign, with the introduction of the " Unsubscribe" option. With this, contacts can easily opt out from receiving SMS communications.



3) Option to add sender address during SMS creation process


Sender address is the first thing a receiver looks out for, in order to ensure that the communication is received from an authentic source.

So, we will support Long code & Alphanumeric sender address format in this update. And soon we will also support short codes.

So, SMS Campaign users can now select the Sender address format supported in their respective country.
 
We will help our users with the registration process to obtain the respective sender address format from within the product.
 

4) Prepaid, add-on-credit-based pricing

We will be following a pre-paid credit based pricing model for SMS. The user has to separately purchase the required add-on credits to send SMS Campaign.The credits will be automatically added on a recurring basis after every billing cycle.The purchase of credits from 1K to 1M can be made online.
 
Credits per SMS
 
US/ Canada-  4 credits

 

a) Can the un-used credits be carried forward to the next billing cycle?

In case, if the user has any un-used credits in a particular billing cycle, then the un-used credit will be carried forwarded to the next billing cycle.


b) How to procure long codes?

Long codes will be a separate recurring add-on. To begin with, US/Canada long codes will be 1$/month.

Know more about SMS Campaign pricing

Note: The SMS updates will be made live only to the new users. Existing users can migrate to the new update only after 45 days from the launch date.


      • Sticky Posts

      • Tip of the week 03 - Sending emails in batches

        Today's marketers not only want their email marketing to be efficient, but also smart. For an email campaign, you may think you have all the essential elements for lead conversion—a big mailing list, an attractive template design, and the most-engaging message content, but after hitting the ‘send’ button, you may not get the expected conversions. Wondering why? Here’s one of the major reasons. Many marketers miss out on sending the email campaign the right way. Did you know that you should not be
      • Tip of the week 04 - Know about your recipients' 'prime open time.'

        In today's market, the importance of customer behavior is astounding, with a vast amount of research and resources going into finding how customers make decisions. The process of persuading your customers to open your email and click on your call-to-action becomes easy when you understand the psychology behind their behavioral traits. Time to turn into a psychologist! Let's get to the basics—you want your emails to resonate well with your recipients. So, what's the primary thing involved here? It's
      • Zoho Campaigns Expert Diaries on SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube

        Hi email champs,  As email marketers, we find great lessons in each other's works—be it the subject lines that worked good, the design that was received well, or the CTA that had the maximum clicks. Email marketing encompasses a wide variety of topics spanning everything from creation and design to development and deliverability.  Here's when we from the Zoho Campaigns team found the need to build an email marketing community comprising of seasoned marketers and email geeks who can help each other
      • Email Deliverability Tip #3: Seal the deal with the preheader

        In the last post, we learned about the subject line. Today we'll be learning about the preheader. A preheader is the short text that follows the subject line in an email. The preheader is designed to hint at what your email message is all about. A good preheader should act as a second subject line and convince your contacts to open the email. Now, let's learn the best way to craft a preheader. Your subject line and preheader should work together and accurately convey the gist of your email. Keep
      • Tip of the week 15 - Add subscription-preferences option. Drive more engagement.

        If crafting content for emails, getting creatives done, and running email campaigns is your love, then unsubscribes are the heartbreakers.  You can save your emails from being unsubscribed/trashed by adding a proper subscription-preferences option in your emails (works best at the time of signup). Giving subscribers the option to choose what they want to receive from you and decide how often (frequency of the emails) your emails should hit their inboxes will increase the reach of your campaigns manifolds. 

        • Recent Topics

        • Zoho Inventory | Can't uncheck/turn off Advance Tracking

          Hi, I wanted to know if there's a way to turn off Advanced Tracking (such as Serial Number or Batch Tracking) for an item in Zoho Inventory. I’ve read that you might need to delete associated transactions and clear the opening stock to disable these features.
        • Landed Cost application to Vendor Bills from dropship Purchase Orders

          When trying to apply a Landed Cost to a Vendor Bill generated from a dropship Purchase Order, the Landed Cost pop-up window generates a message that "Landed Cost cannot be applied to Bills from dropship Purchase Orders" when trying to save the landed
        • Condition-based data sharing rules are now available in CRM

          Dear All,   We are excited to introduce a much awaited feature: condition-based data sharing rules. We'd love to explain more about this enhancement.   Specify record conditions in data sharing rules Data sharing rules enable you to share all the CRM
        • 2 serial numbers for 1 item (Mac address and Serial number)

          There is a way to track 2 serial number type for 1 Item. Ex: Some electronic devices have a MAC address and a serial number. I need to track those 2 numbers
        • Zoho Projects Roadshow, USA - 2024

          Dear Users, We are happy to announce the Zoho Projects Roadshows 2024 in USA. This is an excellent opportunity to learn more about Zoho Projects and gain in-depth knowledge of the advanced features. Our team will also discuss industry specific solutions
        • [Zoho Writer Webinar] Tips on collaboration control in Writer

          Hi Zoho Writer users, We're excited to announce the Zoho Writer webinar for the month of October 2023: Tips on collaboration control in Writer. This webinar will help you understand the various features available in Writer to control collaboration. We'll
        • [Zoho Writer Webinar] Working with tables in Zoho Writer

          Hi Zoho Writer users, We're excited to announce the Zoho Writer webinar for the month of September 2023: Working with tables. This webinar will help you understand the various ways you can use tables to meet your specific needs. The webinar will take
        • [Zoho Writer Webinar] Customize Writer to suit your business process

          Hi Zoho Writer users, We're excited to announce the Zoho Writer webinar for the month of August 2023: Customize Writer to suit your business process. This webinar will cover the various ways to customize Writer to streamline business processes and improve
        • Is there a way to print the dashboard?

          I would like the capability of printing the dashboard - is that possible?
        • Workflows for Timesheet

          Good day, Any way to have timesheet as triggers? I looked into Zoho Flow and into Zoho Project automation but no where can I have timesheet as a trigger. Basically, I would like to trigger something upon timesheet approval. Right now, the only way to
        • Linkedin - Recruiter System Connect

          Hi there! Does anyone here know how to connect Zoho Recruit to Linkedin Recruiter via Recruiter System Connect?
        • [Webinar] A recap of Zoho Writer in 2024

          Hi Zoho Writer users, We're excited to announce Zoho Writer's webinar for December 2024: A recap of Zoho Writer in 2024. This webinar will provide a recap of the features, enhancements, and integrations released in 2024 to enhance your productivity. There
        • Learn how to automate IT asset and incident management with Zoho Writer

          Hi Zoho Writer users, We're excited to announce the Zoho Writer webinar for November 2024: Learn how to use Zoho Writer's fillable forms for IT asset and incident management. This webinar will focus on how Zoho Writer can help you automate your organization's
        • [Webinar] Learn how Zoho Writer can streamline your finance and admin operations

          Hi Zoho Writer users, We're excited to announce the Zoho Writer webinar for October 2024: Streamlining finance and admin operations with Zoho Writer. This webinar will focus on how Zoho Writer can help you generate payslips and automate claim processes.
        • [Zoho Writer Webinar] Learn how Zoho Writer can enhance the productivity of sales teams

          Hi Zoho Writer users, We're excited to announce the Zoho Writer webinar for August 2024: Streamlining sales operations with Zoho Writer. This webinar will focus on how Zoho Writer can help you create sales documents and automate sales routines. There
        • [Zoho Writer Webinar] Learn how to simplify your HR operations: Part 2

          Hi Zoho Writer users, We're excited to announce the Zoho Writer webinar for July 2024: Learn how Zoho Writer can simplify your HR operations: Part 2. This webinar will focus on how Zoho Writer can help HR teams streamline and automate their entire hiring
        • [Zoho Writer Webinar] Learn how to simplify your day-to-day HR operations

          Hi Zoho Writer users, We're excited to announce the Zoho Writer webinar for June 2024: Learn how Zoho Writer can simplify your day-to-day HR operations. This webinar will focus on how to automate your entire hiring process and generate various types of
        • [Zoho Writer Webinar] Use formulas and conditions in Zoho Writer's document automation

          Hi Zoho Writer users, We're excited to announce the Zoho Writer webinar for May 2024: Learn how to use formulas and conditions in Zoho Writer. This webinar will focus on how to use formulas and conditions when automating document generation in Zoho Writer.
        • [Zoho Writer Webinar] Personalize Zoho Writer to suit your needs

          Hi Zoho Writer users, We're excited to announce the Zoho Writer webinar for April 2024: Learn how to personalize Zoho Writer to suit your needs. This webinar will focus on how to easily customize Writer's features at the user and organization level for
        • How to refresh/update module fields in

          Hi, I created a Workspace for CRM years ago. Since that time I've updated the layouts in several modules in CRM but Zoho Analytics displays the previous state fields only. How to refresh the module fields to reflect the actual state in Analytics? BR
        • Data update/pull from a specific field or module

          Hi Team, Currently, if I need a data from a newly added field on a product like Zoho CRM, I need to refresh the whole module to get the new field. This is taking much time for the data to be visible. If the data pull/refresh can be granularized to fetch
        • Lookup field in User module cannot look up to custom modules!

          Hi there, Expense has been great so far but it's sad to see that a simple thing such as allowing a lookup to custom modules from the Users module is not yet implemented. Hope to see this in the next release. Do you have any plan for that?
        • Trigger Zoho Cliq Channel Workflows for API Messages

          Dear Zoho Cliq Team, I hope this message finds you well. We have noticed that reminders or messages posted to Zoho Cliq channels via the API do not trigger channel-based workflows. This limitation means that any bot configured with a participation handler
        • Webhook Trigger for New Messages in Cliq Channels

          Hello, I would like to request a feature to enable webhook triggers when a new message is added to a Cliq channel. This functionality would allow us to seamlessly send important information from Cliq to other relevant systems. This webhook trigger can
        • Ability to Edit the "Current Job Title" dropdown field

          Current experience/Issue: When a user (candidate) uploads resume to Zoho Recruit candidate portal, some fields are prefilled with the info from the resume/cv correctly. However, we've observed that; 1. the "Current Job Title" dropdown field is usually
        • I'm getting an "Invalid_scope" error, even though I used an access token generated with the correct scope.

          I'm getting an "Invalid_scope" error, even though I used an access token generated with the correct scope. Here’s what I did in Postman: Generated the code to create an access token using the following URL: https://accounts.zoho.eu/oauth/v2/auth?scope=ZohoCampaigns.contact.UPDATE&client_id=<client_id>&response_type=code&access_type=offline&redirect_uri=https://1882-2-26-193-161.ngrok-free.app
        • Problem viewing document imported from google drive.

          Hello, When I add a document via my google drive, it is impossible to preview it. I get the error “Files without extensions cannot be previewed. Download to view this file”. Could you please help me? Also, and this is more of a question: is there a way
        • Problem configuring/customizing sales pipeline steps

          Hello, I have created several sales pipelines with different stages in them. Unfortunately I forgot to properly configure these steps (conversion probability, forecast category). How can I modify and customize all these steps? Thnak you by advance M
        • workflow for bounced email gets triggered, but email is status = opened

          Hello, I have a workflow that sends me an email if outgoing email are bounced. Now I got some kind of this emails, but the corrosponding contacts have status = open at the email. Why this bounce-workflow is triggered? Reports > Email Reports > Bounce
        • Power of Automation :: Automatically start / pause / stop timer on task status update.

          Hello Everyone, A Custom function is a user-written set of code to achieve a specific requirement. Set the required conditions needed as when to trigger using the Workflow rules (be it Tasks / Project) and associate the custom function to it. Requirement:-
        • Website Access Blocked (from one pc only) when attempting unattended access to any device

          Hello From one of my laptops I cannot access any remote device using unattended access. A Zoho Assist error page didplays 'Website Access Blocked. See attached.
        • Zoho sheets to crm and mapping

          i want to know more about mapping the contacts that i upload from the spreadsheet also couldnt able to understand flow
        • Zoho Analytics to Zoho Sheets - automatic update?

          Hi all, If I create a zoho sheet from an Analytics Report or Analytics Data, is there a way for the zoho sheet to automatically update as the Report / Data in analytics updates?
        • Update Zoho Flow on Sprint Work Item Status Change

          Hello, I've contacted Zoho One support but have been unable to help in a timely manner, so I'm asking the community. I want to start using sprints, but I'm having an issue. I need to post updates to Slack when a Work Item has a status change. My understanding
        • Fixed Assets Register

          Thank you Zoho Books for adding fixed assets register. BUT there are certian tweeks that needs to be implemented. I found the following issues and seek improvements. 1) Fixed Asset Register Report in the Report Section has columns which are so much confusing.
        • Why can't I sync my Zoho Mail tasks and notes with my mobile device, and is there a way to fix this issue?

          I'm having trouble syncing my Zoho Mail tasks and notes with my mobile device. Despite following the usual steps, the tasks and notes don't appear on my phone. Is there a way to fix this issue? Regards, Adamjes, Tekskills India Pvt Limited, India.
        • Link to Desk tickets

          Hello, We are using Analytics to analyze data in Desk. Is there a way to embed a link to a ticket in reports? We'd love to be able to see the drill down data, and click a value in a result row that would launch the Desk Ticket in another window/tab. Thanks
        • Announcing new features in Trident for macOS (v.1.11.0)

          Hello everyone! Trident for macOS (v.1.11.0) is here with interesting features and enhancements to elevate your workplace communication and productivity. Let's take a quick look at them. Export emails. You can now export emails in the .eml file format
        • Zoho Sign Product updates - H2 2024

          Hello! We have almost come to the end of 2024! Here's a list of features and enhancements that went live in the later half of the year. NOM 151 certification Witness signing Formula, conditional, and custom fields Zoho Sign's extension for Bigin by Zoho
        • Build custom AI solutions with Catalyst’s QuickML capabilities in CRM

          Hello everyone, We’re thrilled to announce an improvement for our Zoho CRM Enterprise users: the ability to create custom AI solutions using Catalyst’s QuickML directly from Zoho CRM. As you may already know, Zia, Zoho CRM’s AI-powered assistant, offers
        • Next Page