Overview:
Managing sendouts, or drops, is a critical aspect of executing your SMS marketing campaigns. In SMSWiser, a drop refers to the process of sending out your SMS messages to a selected list of contacts. Proper management of drops ensures timely delivery, effective targeting, and optimal engagement.
Steps to Create a Drop:
1. Access the Drops Section:
- Log in to your SMSWiser account.
- Navigate to the Drops section in the top menu bar.
2. Create a New Drop:
- Click on the + Add Drop button.
- Fill in the required fields:
- Name: Enter a unique name for the drop.
- Sender: Specify the sender name. You can use A/B testing for different sender names.
- SMS Text: Compose the SMS message. You can use A/B testing for different message texts.
- Country: Select the country for the sendout.
- Campaign: Choose the campaign associated with the drop.
- SMS Gateway Route: Select the SMS gateway route for sending the messages.
- Leads List: Choose the list of contacts to whom the messages will be sent.
- Amount: Specify the maximum amount of messages to be sent.
- Price per SMS: This is auto-filled based on the selected gateway route.
- Shortlink Extension: Select the shortlink extension.
- Send Time: Choose to send the drop Now or Scheduled for a future time.
- Send in Batches: Option to send the messages in smaller batches.
- AI Optimisation: Enable AI optimisation to send batches based on performance.
- Send to Contacts Who Already Received an SMS Today: By default, one phone number can receive only one SMS per day. Use this tickbox to override this setting.
- Redirect Domains: Ensure redirect (“shortening”) domains are enabled for the targeted country. Without this, the drop cannot be sent.
3. Save as Draft:
- You can save a drop as a draft to review or edit later before finalising it.
Process of Sending a Drop:
- Once a drop is created and due to be sent, the system will:
- Select the leads from the chosen list.
- Ensure all mobile phone numbers are unique.
- Generate SMS messages with shorteners included, pairing each “short” URL with the “long” tracking URL.
SMS Character Limit:
- SMS messages are limited to 160 characters. If a generated SMS text exceeds 160 characters, such an SMS will not be sent and will be marked as a Length error in the reporting.
- If SMS message contains at least one Unicode (UC-2) symbol, the limit will be deduced from 160 characters to 70 characters.
- Refer to our Encoding page for more details.
Sending Speed:
- The speed at which drops are sent depends on several factors:
- The number of leads in the list.
- The total number of SMS messages to be sent.
- The sending capacity of the selected SMS gateway.
- Usually, sending on SMSWiser is fast.
Batch Sending and AI Optimisation:
- Batch Sending: Sending messages in smaller batches can help manage gateway limitations and optimise delivery. This option is useful if your gateway has limits on the number of SMS messages sent per second or other constraints.
- AI Optimisation: This feature sends drops in batches, but only proceeds with the next batch if the previous one meets performance criteria such as ROI or CTR. This ensures that only well-performing sendouts are proceeding.
- A/B Testing: This tool allows you to compare different versions of your SMS messages or sender names to determine which performs better. This helps in optimising your campaigns based on real-world performance data.
Important Notes:
- Unique Name: Each drop must have a unique name to distinguish it from other drops.
- Redirect Domains: Ensure that redirect (“shortening”) domains are enabled for the targeted country to successfully send the drop and that there is a sufficient amount of such domains.
- Link Placeholder: By default, every drop must include a %link% placeholder. Contact SMSWiser support if you need to send SMS without a %link% placeholder in the SMS text (in case you are using the hard-coded domains or no domains at all in your sendouts).
- Advanced Features: For detailed information on batch sending, AI optimisation, and A/B testing, please refer to the Advanced Features section of this website.
By effectively managing your sendouts (drops), you can ensure timely delivery, accurate targeting, and high engagement rates, leading to more successful SMS marketing campaigns.