How to Send Bulk SMS Messages
SMS is one of the most powerful direct marketing tools available and is provided to you directly from our CRM.
Please read our guide below to understand how to send bulk SMS messages directly to your contacts.
Setup SMS Messaging within your CRM account
1. Go into ‘Settings’ in your CRM account, located along the top menu bar:
2. Next select ‘Global Settings’
3. Click on ’SMS Origination’ field and enter either your mobile number or company name:
Please note: there is a limit of 11 characters to display in the text message so you may have to shorten the company name to fit into the box.
If you choose a phone number then the person can text back to you but if it has just the company name then recipients won’t be able to reply. Please also note that a space counts as a character.
4. Once you have entered your mobile phone number or company name click the Update Settings button to save.
Sending Bulk Messages
1. Provide us with the title heading and text content.
2. Decide which tag groups you wish to send your text messages to in your CRM database i.e. prospect, customer, new-client etc – these groups will be categorise under your TAGS.
3. Once we have all the information the text message campaign will be sent on your behalf by our CRM, contact our support desk.
4. Once the SMS messages have been sent a copy of the message will get populated on the Dashboard in your CRM account in real-time.
5. Click onto the SMS messages on the dashboard (see above example) and it will take you straight into the contact the message has been sent to.
You will always get a copy stored and logged in the history section associated with that contact so you can keep a record and know which SMS promotions you have sent to them and when.
6. Everyone in your team sees this information so it avoids duplication and ensures that everyone is kept up to date on each client.
Auto Response SMS
Schedule your SMS messaging down to date, time with automated SMS campaigns. Bulk SMS is great for appointment reminders to reduce no shows.
Contact our support desk for more information.
Tips on how to create Bulk SMS Message format
1. Decide on the title heading you wish to appear on-screen for your SMS message. You are restricted to just 11 characters in this space. You could use a cut down version of your company name, a telephone number, promotion, reminder (as you can see in examples above), remember that a space counts as a character.
2. Decide on the body of your text. Here you are limited to 160 characters = 1 SMS credit.. 140 characters over multiples. However if you send bulk SMS on a frequent basis we can provide a quotation on this.
If you go over the 160 characters it will automatically cost extra. The cost is worked out in 160 character segments so if you have a text with 480 characters it will cost you more to send, please contact our support desk for pricing.
3. Always include a call to action in the text body i.e. a contact telephone number or a website URL link.
4. It makes sense for a marketing SMS to have the special offer at the top of the text body to grab attention.
5. Keep your message short and straight to the point so it grabs attention and does not cost a lot to send – it is surprising how much you can fit in 160 characters when you really trim down your wording.
6. Personalise the message – it could be from an individual who deals with the customer so they recognise who it is from or it could be from all the team – include company name for brand awareness on all of your SMS messages.
7. SMS origination – decide if you want it to show the company phone number or the company name that the text has come from – please be aware if using company name there is a restriction of 11 characters only.
If you have any questions please contact our Support Helpdesk.