Types of SMS messaging
There are multiple ways to send SMS campaigns from your Dotdigital account:
Broadcast
Broadcast SMS is an excellent way of sending links or promotions to your contacts. After importing your contacts, create an SMS campaign and choose which lists, segments, or marketing preference groups you want to send it to.
Automated
Automated campaigns are used for SMS auto-responders, which automatically send a reply to contacts that message to you. For example, this can be used to alert a contact that a number isn’t monitored and include a link back to a Contact us page.
Chat
SMS is a supported channel for Dotdigital Chat. Manage conversations with your customers in a single user-friendly interface, and automatically link inbound SMS enquiries to your existing contacts.
Programs
You can also send SMS messages from your account using an automated program, which is ideal for sending personalised alerts, reminders, and notifications. You can automatically send SMS campaigns to contacts by creating a program that sends your SMS campaigns when triggered by the actions or behaviours you define.
Dotdigital API
We offer one all-encompassing messaging API which we refer to as the Omnichannel API. This API lets you send messages to your customers across all supported channels, including SMS, using a RESTful service and JSON data.
Learn more in our Developer hub.
Use cases
Here are a few examples of how you can use SMS:
Confirmation messages
Send a short message to acknowledge product purchases or signing up to your services.
Alerts and notifications
Remind your contacts of upcoming deliveries or appointments.
Marketing messages
Engage your contacts by sending them links to your pages and forms.
Reporting
Analyse your SMS campaign performance using analytics and SMS reports. Examine details on sends, deliveries, and failures for your SMS campaigns and see where you can improve.
Customer support
Using SMS for Dotdigital Chat, provide an efficient, personalised, and conversational customer service experience.
First steps for SMS
Get started with SMS using one of our guides:
Start an SMS free trial
Activate your SMS free trial and start testing.
Purchase an SMS number
Purchase a new long or short SMS number to use with your SMS campaigns.
Understand SMS pay-as-you-go and spend limit
Learn about SMS pay-as-you-go and how to use the rate card.
Create SMS campaigns
Create an SMS campaign
Create your own SMS campaigns and engage with your contacts.
Use branded short links in SMS campaigns
A branded short URL looks professional and helps to reinforce your brand.
WinstonAI for SMS
Leverage the power of AI to help you craft engaging messages to boost ROI.
Regional SMS
Useful articles to help you navigate the regional rules of using SMS in certain regions: