SMS Templates are reusable short messages which can be repeatedly used in a broadcast thus saving time and reducing chances of human error during repetitive SMS campaigns.
How to browse the SMS Template
Step 1: CMS users must select CAMPAIGN >> SMS >> SMS TEMPLATE within the Menu pane of Admin Portal.
Step 2: Select "SMS Template" from the menu, and the user will be able to access the page to create/manage SMS templates (SMS Template Dashboard). The highlighted section below lists all the available SMS Templates within the LOB/BU the user has logged in.
In a scenario where there is no existing SMS Template, the below blank page will be displayed.
How to Create an SMS Template
Step 1: Users can click on the highlighted button in the image below to create/add a new SMS template.
Step 2: Click on the "Add SMS Template" button, 'Add SMS' page will open. This will be used to draft the SMS Template.
Step 3: All the fields which have a * mark are considered mandatory and must be filled/selected to save this template.
Description of SMS Template:
| Form Fields | Description |
|---|---|
| Line of Business | These can be referred to as different departments within an organisation. The user must select the correct LOB to be able to reuse the SMS template with the right contacts. The Line of Business is for internal classification only, and the SMS recipient will not see the details. A user will only see LOB in the dropdown to which they have access. |
| Name | This is any meaningful name the user can give to identify the SMS Template. Using naming conventions relevant to an SMS campaign helps in selecting the correct template while broadcasting an SMS campaign. The name is for internal reference only, and the SMS recipient will not see the details. |
| Body | This is the message the recipient receives on their mobile device. Free Text, Dynamic Tags, URLs, Unicode Characters etc. are supported in the message body as of now. |
| Encoding | Short messages are broadly put under GSM-7 or UCS-2 encoding. The system automatically shows encoding based on the message body. If any Unicode character is used in the message text, encoding will automatically change to UCS-2. |
| Character Count | The total number of characters in the message body is shown here. |
| SMS Required | The total number of SMS segments expected out of the message body. Message segments are typically 160 characters and 70 characters respectively for GSM-7 and UCS-2 encoding types. If there are Dynamic Tags used in the message body the values shown in the Encoding, Character Count, and SMS Required fields are not guaranteed as they are dynamically fetched from the customer uploads or contact directory. |
| Dynamic Tags | These are placeholders in the message body assigned dynamic values while the SMS broadcast is triggered. For. e.g. if an SMS is sent to 100 people from the contact directory, and the SMS body has [FIRST NAME] dynamic tag placeholder, the system will pick the first name for each contact (if available) and send the custom SMS with their name. When there is no data available against Dynamic tags, SMS will be received without any data against the placeholder in the message, the remaining SMS will be delivered as it is. |
A sample filled SMS Template is added below. Highlighted text in the message body is a Dynamic Tag which will be sent as per details added by the user using either new contact upload or existing contacts from the directory. Double Clicking can add dynamic Tags on individual dynamic tags, or the user can use drag-n-drop in the message body section.
How to Edit/Delete an existing SMS Template
The SMS Template is available for re-use and can be seen on the SMS Template default page.
Users can click on the EDIT button to see the edit page and make any further changes to the SMS template already created. Users can also select all or custom checkboxes for the SMS templates. All the SMS Templates which are checked can be deleted in one go. The below screenshot shows the DELETE button as disabled as none of the available SMS Template(s) is selected. Once selected, the DELETE button will be available to be clicked.
How to Search for an SMS Template
Step 1: Click on the "Advanced Search" button as shown in the below screenshot.
Step 2: After clicking, you will see the below screen. Enter the "Keyword/name" of the template and Line of Business and click "Search". Click clear to discard the search.
Step 3: You will see the results below in the following format.
Glossary
|
Abbreviation |
Full Name |
| BU | Business Unit |
| CMS | Central Management System |
| GSM-7 | encoding standard which packs the most commonly used letters and symbols in many languages into 7 bits each for usage on GSM networks. |
| LOB | Line of Business. Different organizations refer to LOBs as BU or Departments. |
| SMS | Short Message Service |
| UCS-2 | the standard used to represent any non-GSM-7 characters. UCS-2 represents all characters with 2 bytes. |