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3. How to send an SMS
3.1. Send a message to an individual (one contact)
3.2. Send a message to a group (many contacts)
3.3. Send a personalised message
3.4. Send messages from an uploaded file
3.5. Send a scheduled message
3.6. Send to groups from your mobile phone
3.7. Set-up an automatic responses
3.8. Save a message
3.9. Retrieve a saved message
3.10. Delete a saved message
3.1. How to send a message to an individual:
In this section we provide a step by step guide to take you through the process of sending an SMS text message to one or more individuals in your contact list.
Step 1: Log in to your BulkSMS account and go to the ‘My Accounts’ page.
Step 2: Click 'Send messages to individuals' under 'Send SMS'
Step 3: Enter the mobile number of the 'Recipient', (country code and number with no spaces or leading zero, e.g. 27820010001 for South Africa or 44123123456 for the UK) or Click 'from phonebook' to use numbers already in phonebook.
Step 4: To send a new message, type up to 160 characters in the 'Message' box. The 'Characters left' box will show the number of characters, up to 160, that can be added to the message. The number of characters left will automatically update as the message is typed. Should you wish to save this message in order to send it again at a later stage, Click ‘Save msg’.
Step 5: If you wish to check the cost, click 'Confirm cost' to see current your current credits available and the cost to send the text message.
Step 6: Click 'Send now' to send the SMS text message. A confirmation note indicating that your SMS text message has been sent will appear.
When 'Use tagline discount' is checked, the text " via: bulksms.com" will be added to your message. This will provide a 25% discount. The tagline will reduce the number of characters available for the message by 17 characters.
'Send as Unicode' is checked when sending messages of a non-European language. This allows for a maximum SMS of 70 characters.
3.2. How to send a message to a group
This section shows you how to send a message to one or more groups.
It is RECOMMENDED that you send a test message prior to sending the message to groups.
Step 1: Log in to your BulkSMS account and go to the ‘My Accounts’ page.
Step 2: Click 'Send messages to a group’ under 'Send SMS'
Step 3: To send a new message, type up to 160 characters in the 'Message' box. The 'Characters left' box will show the number of characters, up to 160, that can still be added to the message. Should you wish to save this message in order to send it again at a later stage, you can Click ‘Save msg’.
Step 4: 'Recipient groups' show all the current groups you have entered into the system. Tick the 'groups' to which you want the message sent. To set up a group, see ‘Adding Groups'
Step 5: If you wish to check the cost, Click 'Confirm cost' to see your current credits available and the cost to send the message.
Step 6: Click 'Send now' to send the message. A confirmation note indicating that your SMS has been sent will appear.
Please note: The message will only be sent to the first 20,000 group members. This means that each group may NOT have more than 20,000 members.
When 'Use tagline discount' is checked, the text "via: bulksms.com" will be added to your message. This will provide a 25% discount. The tagline will reduce the number of characters available for the message.
'Send as Unicode' is checked when sending messages of a non-European language. This allows for a maximum SMS of 70 characters.
Personalising the message:
3.3. How to send a personalized message
This section shows you how to send a message to one or more groups.
It is RECOMMENDED that you send a test message prior to sending the message to groups.
Step 1: Log in to your BulkSMS account and go to the ‘My Accounts’ page.
Step 2: Click 'Send messages to a group’ under 'Send SMS'
Step 3: To send a new message, type up to 160 characters in the 'Message' box. The 'Characters left' box will show the number of characters, up to 160, that can still be added to the message.
Should you wish to save this message in order to send it again at a later stage, you can Click ‘Save msg’.
Step 4: If you would like to personalize your SMS text message, you can Click 'Add Name'. This will insert the text from the first name field in the phonebook into the message. For each number the message is sent to, the system will insert up to 11 characters of the corresponding first name (this means that only the first 11 characters of the first name will be included).
OR
Step 4: Click 'Add Surname' to insert the text from the surname field in the phonebook into the message. For each number the message is sent to, the system will insert up to 9 characters of the corresponding surname (this means that only the first 9 characters of the surname will be included).
Step 5: 'Recipient groups' show all the current groups you have set up on the system. Tick the 'groups' to which you want the message sent.
Step 6: If you wish to check the cost, Click 'Confirm cost' to see your current credits available and the cost to send the message.
Step 7: Click 'Send now' to send the message. A confirmation note indicating that your SMS text message has been sent will appear.
Reminder: The message will only be sent to the first 20,000 group members. This means that a group must be limited to 20,000 members.
When 'Use tagline discount' is checked, the text "via: bulksms.com" will be added to your message. This will provide a 25% discount. The tagline will reduce the number of characters available for the message.
'Send as Unicode' is checked when sending messages of a non-European language. This allows for a maximum SMS of 70 characters.
3.4. How to send messages from a file upload
You can send many different messages to many different individuals through a file upload. To do this:
Step 1: Create a Text (Tab delimited) File. This should contain the relevant mobile phone number and each unique message. If you are not sending unique messages to different individuals then you should rather use 'Send messages to a group'.
Create your 'Multi-Message Text (Tab delimited) File'. This file must be in the format: cellular or mobile phone number(TAB)message. It should have only one record per line. It is best to enter mobile numbers with a country code. (If the number starts with zero, not a country code, the default country code can be added during the upload).
Below is an example of what the text file should look like:
When typing the message in the file, please note that only the first 160 characters (excluding the mobile number that the message will be sent to) of the message will be uploaded. The recipient will not receive anything more than 160 characters.
Step 2: Log in to your BulkSMS account and go to the ‘My Accounts’ page.
Step 3: Click ‘Send multiple messages from a file upload’ under ‘Send SMS’.
Step 4: Click 'Browse' to select the 'Multi-Message Text (Tab delimited) File' to upload from your computer. Once you have located the file select it and Click Enter/Ok.
Step 5: Click 'Upload' to begin uploading the file. This does NOT send the message.
Step 6: A status of the upload will be displayed. Verify that the actual numbers match the expected numbers.
Step 7: If you would like to schedule the message to be sent at a later stage – Tick ‘Schedule this message’.
Step 8: If you wish to check the cost, Click 'Confirm cost' to see current credits and the cost to send the message.
Step 9: Click 'Send now' to send the message. A confirmation note indicating that your SMS has been sent will appear.
Please note: The maximum number of messages that can be in a file for upload via the Browser is 13,000. This means that there may be no more than 13,000 lines.
3.5. How to send a scheduled message
In order to send a scheduled message from your BulkSMS account, message scheduling should be enabled
To send a scheduled message:
Step 1: Log in to your BulkSMS account, go to the ‘My Account’ page and click on either 'Send Messages to Individuals', Send Messages to a Group', or 'Send Multiple Messages from File Upload' under the 'Send SMS' heading.
Step 2: After typing in or uploading your message tick the box that says 'Schedule this message?'
Step 3: Enter the date and time for the scheduled message to be delivered, or Click ‘Calendar’ to select the date. Type or use the calendar to specify the time and date that you want the message to go out. The date/time is set according to the time zone that your account is configured for.
Step 4: Type a description for the scheduled message which will be shown in the scheduled message history to help you identify your scheduled messages.
Step 5: Click 'Send Message'. You will be told that 'Your message has been scheduled for later sending.' You can check the cost of sending this message by clicking on ‘Confirm Cost’.
You can view all scheduled messages should you need to
3.6. How to send to groups from your mobile phone
(only available in South Africa and the United Kingdom)
Mobile to Group allows you to enjoy out of office mobility and still be able to access BulkSMS text messages online solutions. It allows you to send SMS text messages to your online phonebook groups using your cellphone.
Mobile to Group can be used to:
- Stay in touch with your work team when you are travelling.
- Update colleagues on various items when you do not have access to email.
- When you need to get a message out urgently to a number of people, but don’t have time to log in to the Internet.
To enable this feature, go to (Advanced/other features) Mobile to Group
Step 1: Log in to your BulkSMS account and go to the ‘My Accounts’ page.
Step 2: Click on 'Phonebook Groups' in the ‘Online Phonebook’ section.
Step 3: Click on 'Group name' to select the group you wish to send to with Mobile2Group.
Step 4: In 'Edit Group' find the 'Group Id' heading and write down the number that is next to the heading (e.g. 12340). The Group Id must be included as the first characters of the SMS text message that you will send to Mobile2Group.
You are now ready to send the SMS text message from your mobile phone to your contacts using Mobile2Group. To send the SMS text message from your mobile phone, follow the rest of the steps:
Step 5: Create a new SMS text message on your mobile phone (this must be sent from the mobile phone number that you entered in the 'Allowed mobile numbers' section).
Step 6: Enter the 'Group Id' number, a space, and then the message (e.g. “57957 Reminder: staff meeting at 9am on 12 July”).
Step 7 (South Africa only): Send the SMS text message to 32018. This will cost R1.00 to send the SMS to this short code number. The message will be sent to your group and will be recorded in the message history of your account.
For ease of use, save the Mobile2Group number (32018) to your cell phone.
Step 7 (UK only): Send the SMS text message to 077 978 03200. To send an SMS text message to this short code number will cost the same as a standard text message. The message will be sent to your group and will be recorded in the message history of your account.
For ease of use, save the Mobile2Group number (077 978 03200) to your cell phone.
We suggest you test the Mobile2Group service by sending an SMS from your cellphone to a small group of 2 or 3 contacts. Use the steps above to enable Mobile2Group. Include your cell phone number in the phonebook group.
The successful receipt of the message in your cell phone's SMS inbox will confirm that the Mobile2Group service has delivered the SMS to your contact group.
3.7. How to send automatic responses
An Automatic response can be used to gather information about your database. You could ask your respondents a question, which they answer and in return a second, third, up to ten responses can be sent to the recipients cellular/ mobile phone– asking more questions, or giving the customer more information.
For example, you would like to give customers free samples of your product. In order for the customer to be eligible for the sample, they need to answer a few questions. An SMS text message would be send to the customer requesting their participation, and telling them of the rewards. Each response i.e. yes or no, could receive a second message giving further instructions, or asking another question.
To find out how to enable this feature, go to Auto Response
Step 1: Log in to your account, go to the ‘My Account’ page
Step 2: Click 'Auto Response' in the ‘Folders' section.
Step 3: Enter a message to be sent to a recipient should the response that they send be invalid (i.e. not a response that has been requested).
Step 4: Enter the email address that you would like ALL responses to go to.
Step 5: Enter a key word or phrase that the consumer needs to send in order to receive the next message
Step 6: Enter the message that the customer will receive once they have sent the key word or phrase above. (e.g. thank you for your response)
Step 7: Click Save
Step 8: Click ‘My Account’ at the top of the page to return to the main menu.
You can have up to ten keywords with various responses. They would be entered in the same way as in Step 6 to 9, in the rule 2 to rule 10 blocks.
3.8. How to save a message
This section shows you how to save a message to be sent at a later stage, or re-sent.
Step 1: Log in to your BulkSMS acount and go to the ‘My Accounts’ page.
Step 2: Click 'Send messages to a group’ or 'Send messages to individuals' under 'Send SMS'
Step 3: To save a new message type up to 160 characters it in the 'Message' box.
The 'Characters left' box will show the number of characters, up to 160, that can be added to the message. The display will automatically update as the message is typed.
Step 4: Click ‘Save msg’
Once you have saved the message, the message box will be automatically cleared in order for you to type a new message.
3.9. How to retrieve retrieve and send a saved message
This section shows you how to retrieve and send a saved message.
Step 1: Log in to your BulkSMS account and go to the ‘My Accounts’ page.
Step 2: Click 'Send messages to a group’ or 'Send messages to individuals' under 'Send SMS'
Step 3: Use the drop down arrow to choose the SMS text message you would like to send.
Step 4: Enter all the relevant details as per “Send messages to an individual” or “Send messages to a group” to fill in any further details.
3.10. How to delete a saved message:
This section shows you how to delete a previously saved message.
Step 1: Log in to your BulkSMS account and go to the ‘My Accounts’ page.
Step 2: Click 'Send messages to a group’ or 'Send messages to individuals' under 'Send SMS'
Step 3: Use the drop down arrow to choose the saved SMS text message you would like to delete. This should show in the ‘Message’ block below.
Step 4: To delete the message completely, Click 'Delete Msg'. This will permanently remove the currently displayed message from your BulkSMS account.