Mobile (system field) and Mobile SMS opt-in (custom field created when the SMS module is enabled for your account). Do not use the Phone field.

Country or region codes are required, but the leading ’00’ or ‘+’ are optional. In other words, 

• 4917756578912
• +4917756578912
• 004917756578912 

are all accepted.

No, all three of the variations shown above are allowed, as long as they are correct.

No, please add a prefix to each number.

Spaces are allowed, but not recommended. If in doubt, test this by sending yourself a test SMS.

• Long Code : A normal length cell phone number.
• Short Code: A short length ( usually 6 digits ) number.
• Shared Short Code : A short length code, only applicable for sending in France.
• Toll free Code : A long length number. Its length varies by country or region, but as a general rule, it always starts with a dialing prefix like the geographical area code.
• Vanity Short Code: Thats a short length (like short code ) number, but you can select an easy to remember number.

When using a Toll free number, your customers do not have to pay when replying to your message. However, the cost of your customers' reply messages will be charged to you.

No. Short codes are numbers, which work in a specific country or region only, so, if you want to handle the STOP keyword, or any other keywords, and you are sending to multiple countries or regions, you need to acquire 1 code per destination.

• 1 way: You can only send messages to your customers, customers cannot reply via SMS to your messages.
• 2 way: You send through a cell phone number, so that your customers can reply to this number, and send messages back.

No. If you want to handle ANY keyword, you need to acquire an inbound number (one of the options listed above).

• The shortcode becomes identifiable with your brand.
• Since it is a 5-6 digit number, it is easy to type. Hence, it is also easier to remember.

• Since it is a standard 10 digit number (in many countries or regions), the message feels more like coming from a real person.

It is different from one country or region to the other. Both costs and setup time and process are different. Rental has to be paid monthly for the entire period of usage, and there is a one-time setup fee that is charged by the aggregator.

In some countries or regions, getting a short code requires a due diligence process, which can take a couple of weeks.

Normally not, Emarsys does that for you, and the payments are done in the following way:

You pay Emarsys and Emarsys pays the aggregator.

This is only possible if your Code provider (aggregator) is already integrated with Emarsys as an official SMS provider.

When changing the From Name, you could trigger spam filters. Therefore, always ensure to test your SMS campaigns thoroughly, after changing your From Name.

Yes, it normally uses 23 characters.

Once the first message has been sent in an SMS campaign, you cannot edit any of the content except for the unsubscribe landing page. This applies equally for Automation Center campaigns and for ad hoc and batch campaigns.

Yes it can. However, some SMS routes to the Nordic countries, e.g. Sweden, Finland or Denmark, require the URLs to be registered before you send your campaign. In case you need any assistance, please contact Emarsys Support to register your URLs, which might take a couple of days to complete.

Yes, but please be aware each destination will be charged differently.

Yes, Emarsys provides you with a detailed Campaign summary. For Automation Center programs, we can’t calculate the exact cost, as we can’t predict the amount of SMS that will be triggered.

The campaign will not be launched and you will be notified that you need to top up your balance.

Only a few seconds, as long as we are provided with proof of the transaction.

You can top up your balance in any currency. However, we will convert this in your Emarsys account into one of the following: EUR, USD and HKD. If you would like to use different currency in your account, please contact Emarsys Support.

If there is insufficient credit at the moment of launch the campaign will not be sent and will remain in the Campaigns tab. Once the credit has been topped up you can send it again.

There is no dedicated feature for SMS messages, but you can easily use the Automation Center participation settings to control how many messages a contact can receive.

The number stays valid, because soft bounces mean that the carrier’s message queue was full at the exact time of delivery, or the recipient’s device was temporarily unavailable, and therefore messages can still be sent to it in the future.

Apart from soft bounces, we have:

• Hard bounce – The cell phone number no longer exists on that carrier.
• Unknown – The carrier replied back with an “unknown” reason for the unsuccessful delivery of this message.
• With carrier – The message was delivered to the carrier but they have not returned the status.

Changing a mobile phone number will automatically reset the bounce status for that contact, and they will be able to receive messages again.

Yes. We allow only permission-based marketing for SMS as we do for email. However, since at the beginning no contacts have an explicit True value for the field Mobile SMS opt-in, we do allow to send to contacts with an empty value. Contacts with a False value for this field will not be sent SMS messages. Similarly to the rules applying for email opt-in, you cannot overwrite this field from False to True using .csv data imports.

We have a feature that can be activated on demand, which allows for certain messages in Automation Center and Interactions programs to ignore opt-in. Please note that it is always your responsibility to separate unsubscribes from the batch messages. We suggest using two threads, one for batch messages and one for transactional ones. Please contact Emarsys Support for more information.

Two options are available. The simplest (and cheapest) is to insert an unsubscribe link in your content. The second is 2-Way messaging, for which you need to purchase a short/long code, and then you can ask your customers to reply with a keyword to the message. Note that your customers will also have to pay for their reply.

Contacts who have replied to an SMS campaign are listed on the Inbound SMS tab. Remember that you need a numeric sender ID in order to be able to receive replies.

Sometimes. If you are sending any kind of marketing material, you must do so in order to comply with SMS regulations. Transactional messages (such as a shipping confirmation) do not need an opt-out.

Only if you use an unsubscribe link. “STOP” keywords do not require an Internet connection.

Yes, you can trigger Interactions programs with external events, that can include SMS sending.

Also, you can create SMS campaigns via API (see Create SMS campaign).

The contact will not be unsubscribed completely, as only the record associated with the unsubscribe message will be removed. Make sure to review your database regularly and keep it clean of duplicates.

Currently segmentation based on link tracking is not supported in the Emarsys platform.

Yes, since the link will be shortened. Enabling the link tracking feature will affect the character count, which results in more available characters to use in the SMS text content.

Yes, we have released a partner API integration that allows partners and vendors to integrate with our SMS channel. More information on this integration can be found here.

No, only one SMS provider per Emarsys account is supported.