What is an SMS Campaign?
SMS Campaign allows you to send bulk SMS messages to a list of up to 20,000 recipients. It’s an efficient way to communicate with your audience; whether you’re sharing promotions, updates, or alerts.
Before you begin creating an SMS campaign, ensure that you have a prepared contact list that adheres to the ClickSend requirements for upload. Each contact list can include up to 20,000 recipients. For MMS campaigns, ensure phone numbers are placed in the designated Phone Number column to avoid errors.
Campaigns are customisable, trackable, and can be scheduled to send at the perfect time.
SMS Campaigns vs Quick SMS
While both SMS Campaigns and Quick SMS allow you to send text messages, they serve different purposes.
SMS Campaigns
Best for sending messages to a large audience. Includes advanced features such as link tracking and personalisation. Ideal for marketing and mass communication.
Quick SMS
Best for sending single messages or small batch messages quickly. It’s great for immediate, one-off communications. QuickSMS supports a maximum of 1,000 recipients per message. Exceeding this limit requires segmenting lists or switching to SMS Campaigns.
Preparing and Uploading Your Contact Lists
Preparing Your Data for Import
Prepare a CSV or Excel file for your contact list. Ensure the first row contains headers like First Name, Last Name, and Phone Number. Format phone numbers with the correct country codes and ensure they are digits-only. Additionally, for MMS campaigns, confirm that all phone numbers are placed in the Phone Number column as this column is required to properly process the recipient list.
Uploading Your Contact List and Mapping Fields
Go to the Contacts or Lists section in ClickSend.
Create or select your intended contact list.
Use the Import/Upload option to import your file.
During the upload process, map columns in your file to ClickSend fields, e.g., map "Phone Number" to the corresponding field.
Complete the upload, and your contacts will appear in the list.
How to set up a campaign
Login to the ClickSend Dashboard and check your credit balance.
Navigate to SMS campaigns.
Click Add new campaign.
Create a campaign nickname. Don’t think too hard, it’s for your reference only.
In the To field, select the contact list you want to send the campaign to. If you haven't uploaded a contact list yet, refer to the 'Preparing and Uploading Your Contact Lists' section. If the uploaded contact list does not appear after refreshing your screen, reload the campaign creation page or verify if the list is accessible from the dropdown menu.
In the From field, select the type of number or sender you want to send from.
Write your message content in the Message section. You can add placeholders, templates, emojis and shorten links. If you use our link shortener, you can track link clicks.
If you’re sending marketing messages, add your opt out according to which sender you selected in the From field.
Select Send Now or schedule the campaign by clicking on the clock icon.
A confirmation box will pop up. Make sure you review the date and cost of the campaign. Click Send.
If you're sending marketing messages, opt-outs are important. Learn about what opt-out to use for each sender type.
Adding URLs to campaigns
Adding links to your SMS campaigns is a simple way to drive traffic, boost conversions, and track engagement.
Link shortening is available in the SMS campaign feature. It’s simple to use and each link click is recorded, you can view the data in the Dashboard. Learn about URL shortening.
To keep customers safe, links do have to be vetted by our team. It’s an easy to follow process. However there can be a small sending delay while your links are being checked for safety.
Frequently asked questions
What do I do if my contact list upload fails?
If your list upload fails, ensure the file has correct headers (e.g., 'Phone Number') and numbers are formatted correctly with symbols or extra spaces removed. Re-upload the corrected file to enable the Confirm button.
How do I personalise messages?
How do I personalise messages?
Use tags like [First Name] in your message to include recipient names automatically. Just remember that your contact list will need to have the relevant customer data so that we can pull this information.
Can I send SMS campaigns internationally?
Can I send SMS campaigns internationally?
Yes, ClickSend supports international SMS campaigns. Find out more about compliance and regulations in the Global Sending section.
What happens if a message fails to deliver?
What happens if a message fails to deliver?
Some messages may fail due to invalid numbers or compliance restrictions. If you have a high number of failed messages, please contact support. They’re online 24/7.
How can I monitor conversions for links in my SMS messages?
How can I monitor conversions for links in my SMS messages?
Use ClickSend’s link shortener to track clicks on URLs in your messages. However note that this is only applicable to links sent via SMS campaigns.
The preview shows 0 recipients. Why?
The preview shows 0 recipients. Why?
If the QuickSMS preview shows 0 recipients, check that all phone numbers are correctly formatted and ensure the total recipient count does not exceed 1,000.