Requirements
Your business must have the Mobile Text Marketing feature enabled in order to use this module. Please check your Feature Dashboard to verify Mobile Text Marketing has a green checkmark. If its red, click the red button to request enabling of the module.
In addition, your business should also have the Digital Coupons feature enabled to link to redeemable offers or mobile friendly advertisements from inside your text message campaign.
Once the module is enabled on your account, perform the following steps when logged into the back office with either Administrator or Marketing security clearance.
1. Click MARKETING> Mobile Text Marketing from the back office.
2. Click Create Mobile Campaign.
3. Enter a name for your campaign to identify it. Recipients do not see the campaign name. This value is only for internal reporting purposes.
4. Determine if your campaign will include digital coupon(s) that link to a redeemable offer or mobile friendly advertisement above and beyond the actual text message. If No, skip to Step 5. If Yes, use the Add Coupon button and either select the Load button to load a previously created coupon or craft a new one and click save. See How to Create Digital Coupon Offers for instructions. Repeat this step to add additional digital coupons to your campaign. Adding at least one (1) digital coupon will automatically add the {coupon} tag to the message box. The {coupon} tag links to a mobile friendly webpage (see example image below) that stacks your offers when received by recipients. The {coupon} tag also consumes message characters which limits the text that can be included inside the Message box field.
MARKETING TIP: You can use Digital Coupon Templates to create mobile friendly advertisements that have no Redeem button to highlight an event, product/item or service. No discounting necessary.
5. Scroll down to the Message box field and start typing out your offer. Abbreviate where you can and watch character count closely which will alert you when going over the character limit.
6. If linking to a specific webpage hosted on your server or website domain, use the Compact URL button to create an abbreviated link to consume fewer characters then a bare URL and follow the on screen prompts to add the shortened URL to the Message box. Otherwise, skip this step and move on to Step 7. In most cases, marketers will either use the Digital Coupon Offer feature to create a link OR use Compact URL button to create a link (but not both) due to character count limitations.
7. **IMPORTANT**. Test your campaign by using the Send Test field to send the campaign to your phone or the phone(s) of colleagues and verify accuracy of your message, including accuracy of content embedded in optional digital coupon(s).
8. Choose Recipient List(s) by highlighting the recipient list you wish to send your campaign. The ‘All Opted In Mobile List’ at the top contains EVERY mobile phone number opted into your official mobile marketing list. Therefore, assuming you intend to send to everybody possible then select the ‘All Opted In’ list. Additional virtual subscriber lists are also available for selecting to more effectively target your campaign to a specific audience. Hold down the CNTL key and you’ll be able to select multiple list(s), if applicable. You can review descriptions of the virtual subscriber lists we maintain and refresh daily from the Mobile Text Marketing> View Lists page. Or, create your own list from Mobile Text Marketing> Create Custom Subscriber List.
9. Schedule your campaign for delivery using the Send Now or Send Later field. Alternatively, tap the Save button to save your campaign as a draft and work on it later at your convenience. Saved drafts are available for editing from Mobile Text Marketing> View Campaigns.
10. Monitor the status of your campaign from Mobile Text Marketing> View Campaigns. Please wait up to 15 minutes for campaigns scheduled to “Send Now” to process and deliver to recipients. Further delays may be possible based on your campaign’s position in the queue.
Black-Out Window: Mobile marketing campaigns are only sent between 10:00 AM and 8:00 PM Central time. If you schedule a campaign outside these hours it will be delayed until the black out window ends.
Example Text Message Campaign Containing a Digital Coupon Link
If your message has only text characters with no call to action hyperlinks then creating a campaign is very simple and straightforward. You only need to worry about the character counter and remaining under the limit. However, using the Add Coupon feature to advertise a redeemable deal or mobile friendly advertisement as a call to action is more complex so we’re going to take you through an example and show screen shots.
Let’s assume at least one (1) digital coupon is added to your campaign using the Add Coupon field. Your sample text message could be written in the Message field as follows:
The {company} tag will automatically insert your business name at send time. **IMPORTANT** If you remove the {company} tag then don’t forget to manually type out your business name to identify your business. Otherwise, patrons may have no idea who the text is coming from at send time.
The {coupon} tag will include a hyperlink to EITHER your mobile friendly digital deals page if sending MORE than one (1) digital coupon OR open your digital coupon offer template if sending only one (1) offer. This means in the case of a single digital coupon, recipients will not see the View Deal Theme. Instead, recipients who tap that link will be routed directly to the digital coupon template wrapper of the specific offer to save a step.
Here is how the above message will display when received as a text message.
Hypothetically, let’s say you add three (3) digital coupons to your campaign. This means the {coupon} tag hyperlink is going to open a special mobile friendly deals page showing each offer’s deal theme stacked as follows:
When recipients tap any of the deal themes his or her phone will open the digital coupon template associated with that offer for recipients to scan and view individually. Patrons simply tap and open any of the digital deals on screen to pull up details of your offers and either initiate a redemption at checkout or follow on screen instructions inside the offer.
We highly recommend reviewing the related articles below to get accustomed to navigating digital coupon templates and offers inside the system.
This article covers how to create a mobile text marketing campaign to deliver to recipients via SMS.
Requirements
Your business must have the Mobile Text Marketing feature enabled in order to use this module. Please check your Feature Dashboard to verify Mobile Text Marketing has a green checkmark. If its red, click the red button to request enabling of the module.
In addition, your business should also have the Digital Coupons feature enabled to link to redeemable offers or mobile friendly advertisements from inside your text message campaign.
Once the module is enabled on your account, perform the following steps when logged into the back office with either Administrator or Marketing security clearance.
1. Click MARKETING> Mobile Text Marketing from the back office.
2. Click Create Mobile Campaign.
3. Enter a name for your campaign to identify it. Recipients do not see the campaign name. This value is only for internal reporting purposes.
4. Determine if your campaign will include digital coupon(s) that link to a redeemable offer or mobile friendly advertisement above and beyond the actual text message. If No, skip to Step 5. If Yes, use the Add Coupon button and either select the Load button to load a previously created coupon or craft a new one and click save. See How to Create Digital Coupon Offers for instructions. Repeat this step to add additional digital coupons to your campaign. Adding at least one (1) digital coupon will automatically add the {coupon} tag to the message box. The {coupon} tag links to a mobile friendly webpage (see example image below) that stacks your offers when received by recipients. The {coupon} tag also consumes message characters which limits the text that can be included inside the Message box field.
MARKETING TIP: You can use Digital Coupon Templates to create mobile friendly advertisements that have no Redeem button to highlight an event, product/item or service. No discounting necessary.
5. Scroll down to the Message box field and start typing out your offer. Abbreviate where you can and watch character count closely which will alert you when going over the character limit.
6. If linking to a specific webpage hosted on your server or website domain, use the Compact URL button to create an abbreviated link to consume fewer characters then a bare URL and follow the on screen prompts to add the shortened URL to the Message box. Otherwise, skip this step and move on to Step 7. In most cases, marketers will either use the Digital Coupon Offer feature to create a link OR use Compact URL button to create a link (but not both) due to character count limitations.
7. **IMPORTANT**. Test your campaign by using the Send Test field to send the campaign to your phone or the phone(s) of colleagues and verify accuracy of your message, including accuracy of content embedded in optional digital coupon(s).
8. Choose Recipient List(s) by highlighting the recipient list you wish to send your campaign. The ‘All Opted In Mobile List’ at the top contains EVERY mobile phone number opted into your official mobile marketing list. Therefore, assuming you intend to send to everybody possible then select the ‘All Opted In’ list. Additional virtual subscriber lists are also available for selecting to more effectively target your campaign to a specific audience. Hold down the CNTL key and you’ll be able to select multiple list(s), if applicable. You can review descriptions of the virtual subscriber lists we maintain and refresh daily from the Mobile Text Marketing> View Lists page. Or, create your own list from Mobile Text Marketing> Create Custom Subscriber List.
9. Schedule your campaign for delivery using the Send Now or Send Later field. Alternatively, tap the Save button to save your campaign as a draft and work on it later at your convenience. Saved drafts are available for editing from Mobile Text Marketing> View Campaigns.
10. Monitor the status of your campaign from Mobile Text Marketing> View Campaigns. Please wait up to 15 minutes for campaigns scheduled to “Send Now” to process and deliver to recipients. Further delays may be possible based on your campaign’s position in the queue.
Black-Out Window: Mobile marketing campaigns are only sent between 10:00 AM and 8:00 PM Central time. If you schedule a campaign outside these hours it will be delayed until the black out window ends.
Example Text Message Campaign Containing a Digital Coupon Link
If your message has only text characters with no call to action hyperlinks then creating a campaign is very simple and straightforward. You only need to worry about the character counter and remaining under the limit. However, using the Add Coupon feature to advertise a redeemable deal or mobile friendly advertisement as a call to action is more complex so we’re going to take you through an example and show screen shots.
Let’s assume at least one (1) digital coupon is added to your campaign using the Add Coupon field. Your sample text message could be written in the Message field as follows:
The {company} tag will automatically insert your business name at send time. **IMPORTANT** If you remove the {company} tag then don’t forget to manually type out your business name to identify your business. Otherwise, patrons may have no idea who the text is coming from at send time.
The {coupon} tag will include a hyperlink to EITHER your mobile friendly digital deals page if sending MORE than one (1) digital coupon OR open your digital coupon offer template if sending only one (1) offer. This means in the case of a single digital coupon, recipients will not see the View Deal Theme. Instead, recipients who tap that link will be routed directly to the digital coupon template wrapper of the specific offer to save a step.
Here is how the above message will display when received as a text message.
Hypothetically, let’s say you add three (3) digital coupons to your campaign. This means the {coupon} tag hyperlink is going to open a special mobile friendly deals page showing each offer’s deal theme stacked as follows:
When recipients tap any of the deal themes his or her phone will open the digital coupon template associated with that offer for recipients to scan and view individually. Patrons simply tap and open any of the digital deals on screen to pull up details of your offers and either initiate a redemption at checkout or follow on screen instructions inside the offer.
We highly recommend reviewing the related articles below to get accustomed to navigating digital coupon templates and offers inside the system.
