Creating an SMS Campaign

A well-planned and executed SMS campaign is an extremely powerful marketing tool. That’s why we’ve made crafting a successful one intuitive and easy.

In this article, you'll learn how to build a campaign from start to finish.

Setting up the campaign

To set up the campaign:

1. In your Yotpo SMS & Email main menu, go to Campaigns > My Campaigns.
2. Click Create campaign.

Step 1: Choose a campaign name

The first thing you need to do is to give your campaign a name. It won't be visible to customers, so put something short and simple that will help you distinguish this campaign from the others.

If you leave the campaign name field empty, a name will be auto-assigned.

Step 2: Select your target audience

You can target 4 different groups of people:

• All text subscribers: Target all your SMS subscribers
• Specific customers: Target individual customers by typing their names
• Segments: Use segments to target customers based on descriptive or behavioral filters such as how much money they have spent in your store, if they placed an order, the date their account was created, account status, etc.
• Lists: Select from a static list of SMS subscribers

To learn more about segments and lists, see Creating SMS Marketing Segments and Lists and Segments in Yotpo SMS & Email.

You can also exclude audiences by selecting individual customers, segments, and lists from the Exclude audiences drop-down menu.

Segmented campaigns result in better ROI. So if you have a history of selecting only All text subscribers as your target audience, we’ll show you a reminder to start using more personalized campaigns instead. 

Step 3: Set up A/B testing

The A/B testing feature lets you test different versions of your message and find out which performs best. To run an A/B test, turn on the toggle. For more details about how the feature works, see Running an A/B Test on Your SMS Campaigns.

Step 4: Craft your message

We will now walk you through the main ingredients of every successful text marketing campaign.

Copy

This is where you can unleash your creativity by writing a fun and engaging text message. A pre-set copy will appear in the Text message box, but you can always change it, so it matches your brand’s voice. Click the Browse templates button in the top right corner to go through a gallery of ready-to-use top-performing message examples.

Important:

Mobile carriers require opt-out language in text marketing messages to prevent spam complaints. To make sure you stay compliant at all times, the "STOP to opt out" verbiage will be included in all your SMS campaigns.

Make your message visual

To make your text messages even more engaging, click the image box in the bottom right corner of the text editor. This is how you can add an image to your SMS, turning it into a multimedia message (MMS).

Currently, you can attach images and GIFs only for recipients in the US, Canada and Puerto Rico. Recipients outside these countries will automatically receive a standard text message.

Next to the image box, you’ll see a smiley face button, which allows you to add an emoji to your message and even more flavor to your campaign. Just keep an eye on your character count!

Message length

You should always check the symbol counter at the bottom left of the text box. A standard SMS contains up to 160 characters and an MMS - up to 1600 characters. If you exceed the limit, the SMS counter will show you how many text messages per subscriber you will send.

If you go over 160 characters, the count per message goes down to 153 due to the settings needed to combine those messages into one. Emojis, non-Latin, and non-standard characters such as “→” count as special characters and decrease the character limit to 70.

Please note that clicking the flag button allows you to preview how your text message will appear to subscribers in different countries. For example, the "Stop to opt out" verbiage may vary inn visualization.

Shortcodes

Shortcodes fetch dynamic customer information directly. Use them to make your text messages much more personalized and engaging. The most commonly used shortcodes are SiteName, FirstNamе, DiscountCode, and DiscountCodeURL. You can see all available options under the text box. Choose which shortcodes to add to your message by simply clicking each one.

Discount and Loyalty

Including a small incentive in your message will do wonders for your campaign. To set that up, just click on one of the Discount URL, Discount code, or Discount value shortcodes. For more details, see How to Add Discounts to Yotpo SMS Campaigns.

You can also add Loyalty shortcodes to your message to make the most of your Loyalty program if you have one. To learn more, see How to Create Engaging SMS Experiences with Yotpo Loyalty Segmentation.

Virtual contact card

If you want to attach a virtual contact card to your message, mark the checkbox. This allows customers to save your contact details on their phone, helping them recognize future text messages from your brand.

Message strength

Still not sure if your message is good to go?

The Strength meter at the bottom of the editor gives you helpful tips on how you can make your message even more powerful. For additional information, see Crafting Effective Text Messages with the Strength Meter.

Step 5: Preview and test your message

The message preview on the right allows you to see how your text message will appear on recipients’ phones. You can also send yourself a test message by clicking Send test message. Your number will appear in the drop-down menu. You can also add more test numbers to send to if you wish. Make sure that everything works the way it is supposed to - remember always to double-check your links and shortcodes!

Step 6: Scheduling

You can select between sending a campaign right away or scheduling it for a certain time by turning on the toggle in the top right corner.

When choosing an hour, you’ll see a star icon next to some of the choices. These are the best times to send your campaign, based on industry benchmarks and your store’s historical data.

The scheduling is synchronized with your time zone which can be changed from Settings.

If you are on a paid plan, you can send messages based on your subscribers' time zone.

If the time you chose has already passed in the subscriber’s time zone, you need to select one of the following options:

• To send the campaign at the selected time in your store’s time zone
• To send the campaign at the selected time the next day in the subscriber’s time zone

Step 7: Smart Sending

Smart Sending allows you to set a specified time frame that will prevent you from sending messages too soon, one after the other, and spamming each recipient. For more information, see the Smart Sending section in Compliance Settings.

You can access the Smart Sending setup in your Settings > Compliance. By default, we have set an 8-hour recommended period between text messages, but you can change or disable it anytime for special occasions such as holiday campaigns.

Campaign highlights

If you wish, we can send you a message a few days after you launch your campaign to show the revenue it generated for your store. If you want to opt-out, please delete the phone number.

Campaign drafts

You don’t want to rush your campaign. If you need to stop, take some time, do a bit of planning, you can always save your campaign as a draft by clicking the Save draft button. You can find all of your drafts on the My Campaigns page.

Step 8: Final check

Before sending your SMS campaign, review its settings by clicking Review campaign. You will see a summary of its setup, a breakdown of the messages to be sent, and the total cost of the campaign.

Track your campaign’s performance

To track your campaign’s results, go to Campaigns > My Campaigns, identify your campaign from the campaign list, and click See analytics. You can look into metrics such as campaign revenue, campaign cost, and conversion rate. To learn more about how to access and review your campaign analytics, see Reviewing Your SMS Marketing Campaigns in Analytics.