SMS in Campaigns allows you to reach your customers quickly and effectively even when access to email and the internet is limited, so your clients will get your promotions.
Before You Begin
You need to have your contact's phone number in an international format: +11231234567 (+ country-code area-code phone number)
You need to have contacts subscribed to the SMS channel. To send SMS messages to US customers, you must collect TCPA consent and opt-in records.
You do not have to use your phone number to send SMS campaigns via Omnisend.
SMS channel is included in the Free and Standard plan ($1 worth of SMS credits) and Pro plan; you can also purchase SMS credits as a subscription service (on the paid plans).
Add a link to your store to track the click rates for your SMS campaigns. Note that we shorten your URLs on SMS; this article explains how and why.
Setup Process
Step 1. To send an SMS campaign, go to Campaigns → New campaign → SMS Campaign → Create SMS.
Step 2. Once you click Create SMS, you will be brought to the SMS Campaign editor, where you set the message, add the campaign name, sender's name, the text of your SMS, and opt-out instructions.
The Message Text field is where you create the main content of your SMS campaign. This text will be sent directly to your recipients, so it's important to keep it clear, concise, and actionable. Here’s how to make the most out of this step:
Write a Clear Message. Be concise. SMS messages have a character limit of 160 for standard messages, so prioritize your key message. For example:
Celebrate the season! 25% OFF sitewide. Sale ends today at midnight! Shop now: [[account.website]]. Also, use a friendly and approachable tone that matches your brand voice.
Note: Special characters reduce the SMS character limit from 160 to 70, which could increase the message count. Learn about SMS character counting
2. Include a Call to Action (CTA). Prompt your recipients to take action. For example: "Shop now: [[account.website]]"
3. Consider Personalization. Add personalization to include the recipient’s name or other details, making the message feel tailored and relevant.
4. Preview as You Go. On the right side of the editor, you can see a live preview of how the message will appear to recipients in the US/CA and non-US/CA regions. This helps ensure your message looks exactly how you intend.
Step 3. We are adding two options for customers to unsubscribe from your SMS marketing: Reply Stop to unsubscribe for US/CA customers and an Unsubscribe link for all non-US customers.
Add an unsubscribe link to the SMS
Even though adding the Unsubscribe link is optional, we highly encourage you to add it to your SMS campaign's content. SMS marketing is more sensitive compared to Email marketing. The customer can't choose when he wants to check the message, and it is almost impossible to ignore it. To avoid receiving spam reports or customer complaints, you should allow them to unsubscribe from your marketing.
When it comes to the SMS messages sent to the US/CA customers, adding the Unsubscribe option to the marketing SMS is mandatory. When a customer replies with STOP keywords, Omnisend should respond and update your opt-in list. Therefore, we allow you to include different opt-out instructions for US/CA and non-US/CA customers. Check this article for more information on TCPA-compliant marketing.
Please note keyword replies can be used only for US/CA customers. Therefore, we advise adding a "reply STOP to opt-out" text for the US/CA subscribers and an Unsubscribe link for the rest of the recipients from different countries.
In the Preview section, you will see how both messages will look.
Important! Unsubscribing from the SMS message will ONLY unsubscribe the customers from the SMS channel; they will still receive the email campaigns if they don't unsubscribe via the Unsubscribe link in the email.
The table below defines which SMS types can be sent to different contacts in your Audience. Please be aware that according to CTIA regulations, transitional messages like Order, Shipping, and Cancellation Confirmations are not and will not be delivered to the US market. Therefore, these messages can only be sent to subscribed contacts in your Audience.
Step 4. If you have enough credits, you will have the option to send a test SMS. You can send a test SMS to any mobile phone number. Test SMS is priced like a regular SMS message; check SMS pricing here.
You will need to refill if you need more SMS credits. All the customers on the Pro plan will get SMS credits equivalent to the monthly subscription plan payment. These credits can also be ordered as an additional service within your Free, Standard, or Pro subscription plan. The billing tiers for the SMS credits subscription start from $20.
Find more information on SMS pricing in this article.
Important note: SMS credits should not be mixed with your monthly email credits limit.
Step 6. Once you have the required number of ad credits and are happy with the message, click the Next step to select the recipients. You can send it to all SMS subscribers or subscribers of a particular segment. Also, you can exclude some segments, for example, a segment of contacts that haven't opened a couple of previous SMS campaigns.
Step 7. After selecting your recipients, you will get the price estimation for the total SMS campaign.
If you need to send SMS messages to US/CA numbers, you will see the price for all non-US/CA and US/CA customers calculated separately on the Price Estimation stage of the SMS campaign. The final amount will include the cost of the SMS messages sent to non-US/CA customers to US/CA customers.
Tip 💡Exclude countries you have no interest in sending SMS to, and reduce the total price for the campaign using the toggles next to each country line.
Find more information on SMS pricing for US/CA customers here.
Step 8. Review your SMS campaign and send it out immediately, or schedule it for later.
You are all set! In the reports, as for any campaign sent, you will have the statistics of your SMS campaign.
Reports
Reports for SMS campaigns contain:
SMS Sent. Subscribers that were in the chosen segments.
Revenue. If your customer placed an order after clicking on a link in SMS, you would see the tracked sales.
Click rate. If your message had any link, you would see how many recipients clicked on it.
Unsubscribe rate. The number of unsubscribed customers out of those that had this option.
Campaign cost. The total price for this SMS campaign.
Important note! Open rates cannot be tracked in SMS campaigns. Ensure you include a clickable link in your SMS messages to see how much action was initiated. Adding a link will let you know the click rates and measure client engagement via the SMS channel.
FAQ
Something needs to be fixed?
Please have a look at our Troubleshooting SMS channel article.
If you have more questions or need assistance, do not hesitate to contact our support team. We are available 24/7 and can be reached via In-app chat or email at [email protected].