Program messaging channel: SMS

Learn to use the SMS node in your programs.

Overview

Use the send SMS node to automatically send an SMS message to your contacts.

This node lets you re-engage with your contacts through SMS. You can also use contact data field values in the SMS node to personalise your message. 

Before you start

Things you need to know:

• You must create a Triggered SMS profile in your account settings before you can use the SMS node in the program builder.
  

  To learn how, check out the section Create a triggered SMS profile on this article.

Create a triggered SMS profile

Each SMS profile must be linked to a unique SMS from name. To create a triggered SMS:

1. Go to Settings > Channel management > Triggered SMS.
   
   
   
2. Select New profile.
3. Enter a name for your profile.
4. From the 'Choose a from name' dropdown, select the SMS from name that you want your contacts to see when they receive a message from you.
5. From the 'Choose a data field' dropdown, select the name of the contact data field that contains your contacts' phone numbers. The phone number must be a text data type. 
   

   International calling codes

   Phone numbers must be prefixed with an international calling code, for example +44 for the UK.

6. Make sure the status of the profile is Enabled.
7. Select Save.

Use the send SMS node in a program

Add a send SMS node to your program at the point where contacts who reach that node are automatically sent the SMS message.

1. On the program builder, drag the SMS node onto the canvas.
2. Select the node to open the settings.
   
   
3. From the Profile drop-down menu, select a profile. By default, your default profile is selected.
4. Enter the SMS message you want to send. You can personalise your message with contact data field values.
5. For Links, select Shorten if you want to shorten the URL of any links in your SMS message.
   

   Shorten links to reduce the size of your message.

6. If the SMS is time-sensitive, for Expiry after, enter a number of hours for the SMS to remain valid. If undelivered after this timeframe, the SMS will expire and not be delivered to the contact.
   

   The custom expiry is useful if your SMS is time-sensitive, for example, a 24-hour sale or travel updates.

   
7. Select Preview to review your message

• We'll check whether any phone numbers you're sending to in a program have previously unsubscribed from your SMS messages. If they have, they won't get sent to. You can see a list of phone numbers that have unsubscribed in your broadcast SMS suppression list.
• If want to receive webhook events optionally whenever an SMS is sent, delivered, fails to send or a link is clicked on, check out our developer documentation Message Events.

View usage statistics for a triggered SMS profile

Usage statistics display reports for your triggered SMS profiles.

1. From your account settings, go to Channel management > Triggered SMS
2. Select the profile to open the triggered SMS profile page

This page displays the total number of messages that have been delivered from this profile in the last seven days. If any messages were not sent, this page displays the error and the reason for the error.

Viewing more details about a statistic

Select the link under Messages delivered in the last 7 days. This link opens a page, which displays the following information:

• The date the message was sent
• The number of messages that were sent
• The number of messages that were delivered
• The number of contacts that were not sent a message and the reason for it

You can filter the details by warnings, messages sent, and messages delivered. You can also filter the details by date.

Viewing which contacts were sent messages, which contacts were delivered messages, and which contacts were not sent messages

Select the number under the Messages sent column, the Messages delivered column, or the Warning message column.

Delete or disable a triggered SMS profile

Before you start

• You can't delete or disable a profile that's in use in an active program
• Disabling a profile stops users from selecting the profile in a node until you enable the profile again

To delete a triggered SMS profile:

1. From your account settings, go to Channel management > Triggered SMS.
2. Select the checkbox next to the name of the profile you want to delete.
3. Select Delete.

To disable a triggered SMS profile:

1. From your account settings, go to Channel management > Triggered SMS.
2. Select the profile you want to disable.
3. Select Disabled next to the 'Status' field.