Before you get started
Here are some key details to note about sending SMS campaigns:
In order for customers to receive SMS messages, their mobile number must be formatted with the country code and no additional characters. Example: +14165550000.
If this is your first SMS campaign, you will be prompted to read and confirm that you understand the SMS Marketing Compliance and have made any necessary updates to your store's settings before proceeding.
If this is your first SMS campaign, your campaign will need to be reviewed for approval by our support team before sending it. Our team will respond with either an approval or a request for more details within one business day of receiving your campaign submission.
💲Pricing Information: SMS is an add-on feature through Marsello. You will need to have an active subscription to SMS before using this feature. To learn more about SMS pricing, click here.
Marsello automatically checks your customers' mobile country codes to ensure SMS messages are sent only during safe hours for both campaigns and automations. Safe sending hours are typically between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Create an SMS campaign
💡Tip: Preview Marsello's SMS template library for inspiration if creating an SMS campaign from scratch or customize and make a template your own!
1. In the Marsello admin, go to Marketing > Campaigns > SMS and click Create Campaign
2. Enter your SMS Campaign content
Campaign name (This campaign name is internal only and is to help you identify your campaign in the Campaigns dashboard_
Message content
Confirm shorten links [optional]
Confirmed UTM parameters [optional]
💡Tip: You can customize your SMS campaign by adding merge tags and emoji characters.
Customize your SMS campaign by adding merge tags
Upon entering the details of your SMS message, you may choose to add a merge tag to auto-include information such as the customer's first name, last name, points balance, and/or VIP tier. To include this information, select the merge tag drop-down menu.
Customize your SMS campaign by adding emoji characters
Customize your SMS message further by including emojis. To open the emoji keyboard select the happy face icon.
📝 Note:
Emoji characters normally take up more character space than 1 normal character. When you add an emoji to your campaign, your character limit will immediately be reduced to 70 characters instead of 160. This limitation is across all providers in all countries.
Please be mindful when adding special characters to your campaign as this will immediately reduce the amount of available characters to send the campaign in a single message. The use of special characters could result in your campaign sprawling across several messages thus increasing the number of credits required to send. This limitation is across all providers in all countries.
3. Click Save & Continue to Recipients
This will automatically save your SMS campaign content ready to send to your customers.
4. Send a preview of the SMS campaign to yourself before you send it
Click Send Preview
Enter your mobile number (including your country code) and then click Send Preview
This will send a test of your SMS campaign to your mobile number.
💡Tips for creating a successful SMS campaign
Keep it short – SMS Campaigns providers have a strict 160-character limit, so make sure your content is clear and concise, and written in plain language. It's also recommended to avoid abbreviations, emoticons, and all caps. You will not be able to move past the edit screen if your message is longer than 160-characters.
Include your store name – It's important to let your customers know it's you. Include your store's name in your SMS content to help promote customer trust. Common ways to do this include "StoreName:" at the beginning of your content.
Add a call-to-action URL – With just 160 characters, you may want to include a link that customers can click to learn more, or go through to your online store. To make things easy, Marsello automatically shortens your URL to be SMS optimized.
Opt-out method – Marsello automatically adds "Reply STOP to opt-out" to the end of every SMS sent via Marsello. This is required to comply with SMS laws and regulations, such as TCPA & TCIA. Please note that this will ONLY unsubscribe the customer from the SMS communication channel, they will still receive email marketing if they don't unsubscribe from that via the Unsubscribe link in marketing emails.
📝 Note: Your store name, any URLs, and opt-out method are counted towards your 160-character limit.
Choose your audience
1. Select to send to your entire customer database, or specific customer segment(s)
⚠️ Important: SMS campaigns will only be sent to customers who are subscribed to your SMS marketing channel, have a valid mobile number (example: +14165550000), and accepts your marketing. Learn more.
2. Click Save & Continue to Review
Review & send (or schedule) your SMS campaign
1. Review your settings
2. Review the Estimated credits to send. This is the estimated number of credits that will be used to send this SMS campaign. Credits are determined based on the customer's location.
⚠️ Important: If you don't have enough SMS credits you may need to upgrade your SMS Subscription before you can send your SMS Campaign.
3. Review your SMS Campaign content
💡Tip: Under SMS Preview, check your SMS campaign content and look carefully for typos before sending your SMS campaign.
4. Choose when to send your SMS campaign
Send now – This will queue your SMS campaign to send right away
Schedule for later – Choose the date and time in the future that you'd like to send your SMS campaign.
⚠️ Important: When scheduling an SMS campaign, you can only schedule it between 8:00a.m. to 6:00p.m in the subscriber's local time. Marsello has put in place safeguards to ensure SMS campaigns cannot be sent to your customers outside of these times (i.e. during quiet hours) to help with TCPA and associated SMS laws and regulation compliance.
5. Click Send Now (or Schedule Campaign). This will set up your SMS campaign to send at your desired time and date.
Understanding your SMS campaigns dashboard
The SMS Campaigns dashboard displays everything you need to know about the success of your loyalty program. With these insights, they will be able to make effective changes and iterations to your email campaign and ultimately sales.
How it works – Your customers' experience
When the customer receives the SMS campaign, they'll be able to open it and engage with your content. If you've included a call-to-action text link, they'll be able to click through and continue their interaction.
🤖 Data Insight: 90% of SMS messages are read within 3 minutes.
If the customer decides they no longer want to receive SMS campaigns from your store, they can reply STOP to the SMS campaign. This will automatically update their Marsello customer profile and remove SMS as an available channel to contact them.
FAQs
Q. Is SMS included in Marsello Pro's pricing?
A. No, SMS is not included in Marsello Pro's pricing. SMS as an add-on feature with separate pricing. Click here for more details on how Marsello bills for SMS.
Q. I have included special characters in my SMS campaign, are these considered normal characters in terms of a character count?
A. If you are using special characters in your SMS campaigns, these will be treated like an emoji character. When you add a special character to your campaign, your available character limit to keep the campaign in a single text message will immediately be reduced. The use of special characters could result in your campaign sprawling across several messages thus increasing the number of credits required to send. This limitation is across all providers in all countries.
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