Sending SMS
This section will provide details on how to send SMS' through your account. Below are the instructions to enable one successfully complete this operation.
Steps to be taken to send SMS':
- Once logged in, one can send sms’s by accessing the messages icon and navigating to the blasts tab on the navigation panel as shown on the image below.
- On clicking the blasts icon, a dashboard is displayed, with a
send smsicon on the top-right side of the page.
- Clicking the
send smsicon prompts a pop-up menu with the following options as shown below.
Our platform offers 3 types of sms Products:
Broadcast SMS:
Sends SMS’ to multiple recipients using a contact list which a user uploads.
To send Broadcast SMS’, follow the steps below:
Send Broadcast SMS Video Tutorial
Video Tutorial
- Select a valid sender from the drop-down menu on clicking
Sender - Select the targeted contact list as per the one you have uploaded.
Before selecting your preferred contact list, you first have to upload it by following these steps.
Uploading Contact List Video Tutorial
Video Tutorial
- Navigate to the contacts tab on the navigation panel
- Click on the contact lists icon
- Click on the new list button on the top-right of the page
- Give your list a name,specify its use case(bulk-multiple recipients, alert- 2 way sms & express-similar to bulk but can be used for one recipient) and upload the list. The list should be of the format .xls or .csv.
- Once uploaded click on the pending contact icon to confirm the file has been processed before using it.
- Type the message intended to be sent
- Select the start and end dates for that broadcast(time between start and stop date should be at least 2 hrs apart)
- Set the priority depending on the number of broadcasts you have running.
Express SMS:
Can also be used to send sms’ to multiple / single recipient(s) where the contacts are input manually.
To send Express SMS’, follow the steps below:
Send Express SMS Video Tutorial
Video Tutorial
- Select a valid sender from the drop-down menu on clicking
Sender - Input your recipient's phone number using the format
254712345… - Type the message intended to be sent
- Select the start and end dates for that broadcast
Note
Time between start and stop date should be at least 2 hrs apart
- Set the priority depending on the number of broadcasts you have running.
Templated SMS:
They are typically broadcast messages.
One can complement them with extra data by providing an annotated contact file (contact file with the extra data fields describing each contact e.g. names, title) and are used to send sms’ with a specified format e.g bank account balance, kplc token balance.
To send Templated SMS’, follow the steps below:
Send Templated SMS Video Tutorial
Video Tutorial
- Select a valid sender from the drop-down menu on clicking
Sender - Choose a receivers file with the format shown below.
The Receiver's file
The receiver's file is a list of contacts that is optionally annotated with extra data.
| Mobile | Names | rank |
|---|---|---|
| 722000000 | John Doe | Corporal |
| 722000000 | Jane Doe | Private |
| 722000000 | Mary Jane | Major |
- Type the message intended to be sent
- Select the start and end dates for that broadcast(time between start and stop date should be at least 2 hrs apart)
- Set the priority depending on the number of broadcasts you have running.
