How do I send an SMS message?

After you create a program in the SMS Campaign Manager, you can create and send SMS messages to contacts who opted into SMS programs.

In Acoustic Campaign, go to SMS and create a new SMS message. Configure the message, add settings and delivery options, schedule the message, and then review the message summary before you send the message.

Configure the message

In Enter SMS Details, select a contact source, name the SMS message, select one or more Text to Join programs, and save the message to a shared folder. You can choose more than one Text to Join program if they have the same short code, long code, or Sender ID.

In Enter SMS Message, type your SMS message. Users can send a long text message (up to 800 7-bit characters) that appears as a single message on the recipient's device. Concatenation must be supported by their mobile carrier and device. See Telephone carrier content standards for a list of prohibited content.

Note: Languages that use a Latin-based alphabet (for example, English, Spanish, French) typically use 7-bits to represent each character. Non-Latin based alphabets (for example, Chinese, Arabic, Cyrillic) typically require 16-bits to represent each character. If an SMS message contains 16-bit characters, a long SMS message can contain up to 350 characters.

Adding SMS settings and delivery options

The Delivery Options setting includes the following fields:

Tagging: Add tags to your message so you can quickly organize or report data. The list includes previously created tags for this organization. You can also add a tag.

Throttling: This setting controls the maximum number of messages that are sent to contacts per hour. Click Throttling and enter the maximum number of messages, rounded to the nearest thousand, that you would like to send per hour. After you confirm and send your draft, Throttling will commence.

Note for SMS message: Enter any notes for the SMS message here. Contacts cannot see these notes, only Acoustic Campaign users that have access to this draft can see them.

Note:

  • The minimum throttling rate is 1,000.

  • The throttling rate is in multiples of 1,000. The system rounds the entered number to the nearest thousand. For example, if you enter '1,112' the number is replaced with '1,000'; if you enter '1,850' the number is replaced with '2,000'. The send is divided into buckets of 1,000 and these buckets are evenly distributed over the course of an hour based on the throttling rate.

  • If you enter a throttling rate greater than the number of contacts, throttling is overridden and the SMS message is sent immediately. For example, if the contact list contains 5,000 contacts and you enter a throttling rate to 10,000, the SMS message is sent immediately.

  • The 'one hour' send period begins when you click Send Now or, for Scheduled SMS messages, at the scheduled send time. For example, if the throttling rate is 10,000 and you click Send at 3:15 PM, the SMS message is sent out to 10,000 contacts over the course of the hour (3:15 PM to 4:15 PM).

  • When you use the SMS Link Tracking feature, SMS throttling can be used to prevent failed sends due to Bitly-imposed rate limits.

  • SMS Throttling is supported for SMS sends through Unica Campaign.

  • SMS Throttling is not supported for the following:

    • Throttling for an SMS message used as a program step

    • Throttling for SMS in Groups of Automated Messages (GOAMs)

    Schedule This SMS

    On the Schedule this SMS page, you can choose to send the message immediately, schedule to send the message at a future time, or publish the message to be used in Programs or an API call.

    You can publish an SMS message for an automation program or API call. Published messages appear in the SMS step selector for an SMS step in a Program. When publishing a message, the contact source is determined by the program or API call.

    Confirm and Send

    The Confirm and Send page is the last page in the process and is the final step before the SMS message is sent, scheduled to send, or published. It shows you a summary of all SMS settings. Review all of your SMS settings. If you need to make any changes, click the Cancel button to return to the SMS draft. Otherwise, click the Send Now button for immediate sends, the Send as Scheduled button for scheduled sends, or the Publish button to use the message in Programs or API calls. You can also enter Campaign Name on this page to improve the reporting capability of Acoustic Campaign.

    Note: The system deletes the SMS draft after the email is sent, scheduled, or published successfully.