Bulk Text

Navigate to https://aicpanel.smsit.ai/home

Click on "Quick Links"

Click on "Bulk Text"

Dashboard Overview

At the top of the dashboard, you'll see a few key elements:

Message Count On the left side, there is a running count that displays the total number of messages you have sent. This provides a quick overview of your SMS activity and campaign performance.

Quick Access Links On the right side, you'll find easy access links to common features:

• Create a Group: Allows you to build contact lists for targeted messaging.
• Buy a Number: Lets you acquire a dedicated phone number for your SMS campaigns.
• Import Contacts: Provides a way to upload your existing contact databases.
• Gateways & SMPP Connections: Manages your SMS gateway integrations and SMPP settings.
• Message Calendar: Gives you a visual calendar of your upcoming SMS messages.

These shortcuts make it simple to navigate to the functions you use most, improving your workflow and efficiency when sending bulk SMS communications.

Selecting Your Contacts

When sending an SMS bulk text campaign, you'll first need to choose where your contacts are located in the system.

For this example, we'll select the "Groups" option.

Selecting Your Contacts (Continued)

From the dropdown menu, you can then choose one or multiple groups of contacts you want to send your message to. This allows you to target your SMS communication to the specific audiences you want to reach.

Location Filters

In addition to selecting your contact groups, you can further segment your audience by using optional location filters such as:

• City
• State
• Postal Code

These filters allow you to hone in on very specific geographic areas with your SMS messaging, ensuring your bulk texts reach the most relevant recipients.

However, it's important to note that if these location fields are not filled out in the contact form for your group members, the message will not be sent to those individuals.

Make sure your contact data is complete and accurate to maximize the reach and effectiveness of your bulk SMS campaign..

Choosing Your Communication Method

For this example, we'll be using SMS (Short Message Service) as our communication method.

SMS has some key benefits:

• Highest Delivery Rate: SMS messages have the highest successful delivery rate compared to other messaging channels.
• Cost-Effective: SMS is generally the least expensive option for bulk communications.

However, it's important to note that as of the making of this tutorial, iPhones do not receive RCS (Rich Communication Services) messages. So if your contact list includes iPhone users, you'll want to stick with the standard SMS format to ensure all recipients can view your messages properly.

By selecting SMS as our communication channel, we can take advantage of its widespread reach and cost-efficiency for this bulk texting campaign.

Selecting a Message Template

If you have already created a message template, you can find it in the pull-down menu. Once you select the template, the message text field will automatically populate with the pre-written content.

This allows you to easily reuse and repurpose message templates that you've created previously, saving you time and ensuring consistency across your SMS campaigns.

Creating Your Message

You have a few options for creating the content of your SMS message:

1. Using a Template If you've previously created message templates, you can select one from the dropdown menu. This will automatically populate the message text field with the pre-written content.

2. Importing from a File You can also import message text by clicking the "Pick File" button and selecting a file containing your desired SMS content.

3. Starting from Scratch Alternatively, you can compose your message completely from scratch in the text field provided.

This flexibility allows you to leverage existing templates, import content, or craft a new message - whichever best suits your current SMS campaign needs.

Personalizing Your Message

To make your SMS messages more personalized and engaging, you can insert dynamic merge tags that will automatically populate with the recipient's contact information.

To select a merge tag, click on the "Tag" icon located near the message text field. This will display a list of available dynamic fields you can choose from.

For example, let's select the "%%First Name%%" tag by clicking on it. This will automatically insert the merge field into your message text, so each recipient will see their first name populated in the message.

Using these dynamic tags allows you to create more targeted and relevant SMS communications, improving the overall effectiveness of your bulk texting campaign.

The merge tag has been inserted in the text.

Click on the "Red Cross" icon.

Name your template.

Click on "Save"

Template saved for future use.

Using a Spinner in SMS-iT

SMS-iT includes a "spinner" feature that allows you to randomize the order of specific elements within your message text. This is a great way to add a personal touch to your bulk communications and help avoid your messages being perceived as spam.

For example, in SMS-iT you could set up a spinner with a few different greeting options, using the format: {Hey|Hello|Hi}, %%First Name%%!

When you send your bulk SMS through SMS-iT, the spinner will randomly select one of these greetings to use for each recipient, such as:

• "Hey, %%First Name%%!"
• "Hello, %%First Name%%!"
• "Hi, %%First Name%%!"

This adds a more natural, conversational tone to your messages, rather than having the same generic greeting each time. By avoiding a uniform, bulk-sent appearance, you can help ensure your communications don't get flagged as spam.

Incorporating a spinner in SMS-iT allows you to quickly create unique variations that feel less "bulk" and more personalized for each contact. It's a simple way to make your SMS marketing more engaging and improve deliverability.

The spinner feature in SMS-iT is flexible, so you can apply it to other parts of your message as well, like closing phrases, emojis, or even product descriptions. Get creative with how you use it to make your bulk texts stand out and connect with your audience.

Scrolling down in the SMS-iT interface, you'll find the "Spin" icon. Clicking this will let you preview how the different options appear in the "Message Preview" screen.

Additionally, clicking the "Variations" option will display the number of unique message variations you've created using the spinner. This allows you to ensure you have enough personalized content to avoid repetition in your bulk SMS campaign.

Feel free to experiment with the spinner settings to find the right balance of personalization and creativity for your SMS marketing needs. The spinner is a powerful tool for making your bulk messages more engaging and conversational.

Personalizing with the AI Spin

When using the SMS-iT platform, you can take personalization to the next level with the "AI Spin" feature. This allows the system to automatically generate unique spin combinations for your messages.

On the SMS-iT interface, you'll find the "AI Spin" icon. Simply click this to let the AI algorithm analyze your message and dynamically create personalized variations.

"AI Spin" has created multiple variations.

The "Message Preview" screen will then display these AI-generated spin combinations, giving you a glimpse of the unique messages that will be sent to your contacts. (Just click on the "Spin" icon to see new messages.

Additionally, clicking the "Variations" option will show you the number of distinct messages the AI Spin has produced (243 for this example). This ensures you have plenty of personalized content to engage your audience without repetition.

The "Appended (Opt-Out) Message" feature in SMS-iT allows you to automatically include a short message at the end of each bulk SMS, providing recipients with instructions on how to unsubscribe from your messaging list, such as by replying with a keyword like "STOP". This ensures compliance with SMS marketing regulations, gives your contacts control over their preferences, and helps maintain a positive reputation by empowering your audience to opt-out as needed.

Click on the "Schedule Delivery" field to schedule when your messages will be sent.

Scheduling Your Bulk SMS Delivery

In this example, we're setting the bulk text delivery to begin at 10:00 AM on April 8th.

Click on "10:00"

Delivery time is set.

Using a Number Pool for Higher Volume

If you need to handle a higher volume of bulk SMS messages, SMS-iT offers a "Number Pool" feature that can help.

The Number Pool consists of all the long-code and toll-free phone numbers assigned to your user account. When you send a message, the "From" number will be automatically rotated through this pool of available numbers.

This allows you to distribute your message load across multiple phone numbers, rather than relying on a single number. This can improve deliverability and help avoid any potential throttling or blocks that could occur from sending high volumes from a single number.

The Number Pool gives you the flexibility to leverage your full set of assigned phone numbers to support your high-volume SMS campaigns. The system will automatically cycle through the available numbers, ensuring an even distribution and maximizing your overall throughput.

This feature is particularly useful if you're running large-scale bulk texting initiatives that require sending thousands of messages at once. The Number Pool helps optimize your SMS delivery for those scenarios.

Consistent Sender with Sticky Sender

In addition to the Number Pool feature, SMS-iT also offers a "Sticky Sender" option that can enhance the consistency of your bulk SMS communications.

When Sticky Sender is enabled, all messages sent to a particular recipient number will use the same phone number from your assigned pool. As long as that specific number remains available, it will be the consistent "From" number for that contact.

This creates a more recognizable and coherent experience for your SMS recipients. They will always receive messages from the same familiar phone number, allowing them to maintain conversation history and feel like they are communicating with a known entity.

The Sticky Sender feature is especially beneficial if you're running ongoing SMS campaigns or nurturing subscriber relationships. It helps build trust and familiarity, rather than having the "From" number change with each message.

By combining the Number Pool for high-volume delivery and the Sticky Sender for consistent branding, you can optimize your bulk SMS strategy to maximize both efficiency and the quality of your customer interactions.

Utilizing Toll-Free Numbers

In addition to the standard long-code phone numbers in your SMS-iT Number Pool, you also have the option to use toll-free numbers exclusively.

Toll-free numbers can be a great choice for certain bulk SMS use cases, as they are often more recognizable and trustworthy to recipients. Customers are generally more accustomed to seeing toll-free numbers associated with official business communications.

By selecting the "Toll-Free Only" option within the SMS-iT platform, you can ensure that all messages in your bulk campaigns are sent from your available toll-free numbers. This can help improve open rates and engagement, as contacts may be more likely to engage with messages from a familiar toll-free format.

The Number Pool functionality still applies when using toll-free numbers. Your messages will be rotated through the available toll-free numbers assigned to your account, providing the same benefits of load distribution and consistent sender branding.

Consider your specific SMS marketing needs and target audience when deciding whether to utilize the full number pool or focus exclusively on toll-free numbers. Either option can be an effective strategy within the SMS-iT platform.

Carrier Round Robin for Better Delivery

When sending high-volume bulk SMS campaigns, SMS-iT employs a "Carrier Round Robin" distribution method to help optimize delivery rates.

This approach cycles through the various cellular networks when sending your messages. Rather than sending all messages through a single network, the round robin technique will distribute the load across multiple carriers.

The benefit of this is that the individual networks are not seeing a sudden spike in traffic all at once from your campaign. Instead, the messages are spread out more evenly across the different carrier infrastructures.

By taking this gradual, round-robin approach, the cellular networks are less likely to interpret the activity as suspicious or to start throttling or blocking your messages. This results in better overall delivery rates for your bulk SMS communications.

The Carrier Round Robin method is automatically handled by the SMS-iT platform, so you don't have to worry about the technical details. Just focus on crafting your compelling message content, and let SMS-iT's intelligent routing handle the backend for optimal deliverability.

This feature, combined with the Number Pool and Sticky Sender options, makes SMS-iT a powerful tool for executing high-volume, high-performance bulk SMS campaigns.

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Selecting Carriers for Carrier Round Robin

When setting up your bulk SMS campaign in SMS-iT, you can choose which cellular carriers you want to include in the Carrier Round Robin distribution.

To do this, simply navigate to the "Carriers" section of the platform. Here, you'll see a list of the available networks that SMS-iT can utilize.

Select the specific carriers you want to engage in the round robin process. This allows you to tailor the distribution to the networks most relevant for your target audience and geographic areas.

However, before you can select the carriers, you'll need to make sure you have the "Look up a Number" feature activated with your SMS gateway provider, such as Telynx. You'll also need to ensure your API key is properly installed in the SMS-iT global settings.

These integrations allow SMS-iT to dynamically identify the carrier associated with each recipient's phone number and route the messages accordingly through the Carrier Round Robin.