SMS campaigns
This article describes how to create an SMS campaign using various advanced options.
Things to know before starting
- Sufficiency of funds at the time of campaign launch to prevent delays, and the requirement of a verified credit card with a positive balance.
- Presence of phone numbers in the contact list under the "phoneNumber" variable in valid E.164 format.
- Use clear, simple names to facilitate easy identification and search.
- Display of available channels according to the active tariff plan.
- Automatic selection of the default contact list during campaign creation.
- Risk of "Failed" status if the same segment is simultaneously included and excluded.
- Inability to stop a campaign once it has reached "Running" status.
- Presence of sending details for the selected contact list in the advanced settings section.
- Option to start campaigns according to the recipient’s time zone for scheduled or recurring launches.
- Requirement for the {{contactTimezone}} variable to be populated for localized delivery or use of the account’s time zone as a fallback.
- Inability to edit campaigns that have reached "Done" status.
- Automatic assignment of "Draft" status to any copied campaign.
- Maximum limit of 3 tags per campaign.
- Recommendation to schedule campaigns at least 24 hours in advance to ensure delivery across all regions before the local scheduled time passes.
Step-by-step instructions
Navigate to the "Outbound" section.
Click the "Campaigns" button.
Click the "Create" button.
Specify campaign title and select target contact list.
Select the segment if necessary. Campaigns are sent only to contacts that match the segment rules.
Use "Add filter" to create one-time segments for a specific campaign. These conditions are not saved in the general segment list. Filtering rules can be modified via the "Edit" button or removed using the "Bin" icon.
Exclude specific segments to prevent delivery to certain contact groups. One-time exclusion filters can also be applied here.
Select the SMS channel, then choose the preferred template from the dropdown menus.
Use the preview on the right side of the page to see how the template will display on a smartphone.
Opening of "Advanced settings" to verify or change the SMS From Name and manage tags.
Add or remove tags to organize analytics reports.
Proceeding via the "Next step" button to view the automatically recalculated campaign cost.
Use of the recalculate button to update the cost based on the number of contacts meeting the pre-set criteria.
Selection of the campaign launch type.
Review all detailed campaign information in the table on the right side of the page before launching.
Click the “Launch campaign” button.
Advanced settings
This section describes advanced settings that can be modified for a specific campaign. These changes apply only to the specific campaign.
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Advanced settings list
- SMS from name
- Tags
Launch Type
Manual - Campaigns are created with a "Ready" status and require manual activation from the management page to begin sending.
Now - Campaign is sent immediately upon clicking the “Launch Campaign” button. It is assigned a “Running” status as the delivery process starts instantly.
Scheduled - Delayed campaigns are created with a “Waiting” status and trigger at the predefined date and time. This launch type supports delivery based on the recipient’s local time zone.
Recurring - The Recurring launch type enables automated campaign repetition based on advanced scheduling. Campaigns are created with a “Waiting” status, switch to “Running” during delivery, and return to “Waiting” for the next scheduled cycle until all completion conditions are met. This type supports delivery based on the recipient’s local time zone.
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Configuration parameters
- Start & Frequency: Campaigns trigger at a specified date and time and repeat daily, weekly, or monthly (including options for the first/last day or specific dates).
- Monthly Scheduling Note: If selected dates (29th–31st) are missing in a particular month, delivery for that period is skipped.
- Termination Rules: Campaigns can be set to repeat indefinitely, stop on a specified date, or end after a fixed number of iterations.
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Details
- Channel - type of the campaign channel.
- Campaign name - campaign title.
- Template - name of the template (click the name to redirect to the editing page).
- From name - sender’s name as it will be displayed on the recipient's device.
- Tags - list of assigned campaign tags.
- Contact list - name of the selected target contact list.
- Segments (Send to / Exclude) - selected segments for targeting or excluding specific groups of contacts.
- Target contacts count - number of recipients the campaign will be sent to (includes a "round arrow" button for recalculation).
- Time zone - sender's account time zone or recipients' local time if enabled in settings.
- Launch time - summary of start date and time, launch type, repeat frequency, and end date.
