SMS in Scenarios

Bloomreach Engagement enables you to quickly run personalized SMS campaigns through scenarios that allow for one-to-one communication with your customers. This article will walk you through the steps of how to set up such a campaign where you use the SMS single action node.

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Refer to our main SMS Campaigns documentation which will guide you through the needed prerequisites, elaborate on the message's size, show you how to customize SMS, elaborate on the consent policies, illustrate how to include links in your messages, and present an example of where SMS messages can be used to your advantage.

1. Create a Scenario

You need to create a scenario to build an SMS campaign. Learn how to work with scenarios here.

2. Insert the SMS Action Node

Add the SMS action node to your scenario.

3. Choose Your Template

You can either build your SMS campaign from scratch or use our Predefined templates or Project templates.

  • Predefined templates are part of the built-in library of templates that can be easily reused during the campaign creation process.
  • Project templates are templates you build within the Asset Manager. These templates can be re-used during the campaign creation process.

Access to a list of predefined or project templates is visible when you click on the SMS node in your scenario.

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SMS template settings are disabled by default. If you enable its settings, it includes:

  • Link shortener
  • Transfer identity to URL links
  • Link transformation
  • Custom campaign tracking

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When you create a new SMS campaign using a template, the campaign settings will be prefilled if the template Settings are enabled.

Therefore, you do not have to configure the settings every time for the same template. When you change a template in an existing campaign, you will have the option to apply the settings from the template or to not apply them, and keep the existing campaign settings unchanged.

4. Customize Your SMS

Once you choose your template, you can adapt the message to your needs and personalize it. Choose the sender and customize.

The message and media to be sent can be typed within a user-friendly editor with an option to include Jinja personalization. The editor also displays a ‘characters counter’ and automatic highlighting of special characters, as well as the option to define fallback SMS with limited automatic message splitting.

The SMS action node

The SMS action node

5. Configure the Settings

You can access SMS campaign settings through SMS action node in Settings. In this tab, you can configure various SMS parameters:

FunctionDescription
Frequency PolicyIt defines the number of SMS messages that a customer can receive within a specified timeframe.
Consent categoryChoose which consent is required for a customer to have to receive this campaign.
Tracking consent categoryEnsure that you only track those customers who have given you specific permission to do so. Opens and clicks in email/SMS/MMS/push campaigns will not be tracked without selected consent.
Link shortenerWhen enabled, it automatically shortens all hyperlinks in SMS/MMS.
Transfer identity to URL links- It can be managed only if the Link shortener is enabled.
- Using URL links for customer identification.
- Options:
1. Disabled
2. Enabled - first click only (recommended)
3. Enabled - all clicks
Link transformationAuto: default UTM settings
Manual: modify the UTM tags utm_campaign, utm_medium, and utm_source
Custom campaign trackingIt allows you to add custom event attributes to be tracked in the campaign events for all statuses of the campaigns.

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Consent Policy

Keep in mind to always set the right Consent category to comply with the applicable regulations. Read more about how to manage consents here.

6. Test the Message

You can preview your final SMS message before you actually send it or test it for the selected group of your customers.

You can test your SMS message through the editor when you click on the Send test SMS button. Here, you have two options:

  1. You can send it to a specific provided phone number (e.g., you can send it to yourself).
  2. You can send it to the previewed customer.

7. Run the Campaign

Once you created your Scenario and made all the adaptations needed, you are ready to run the campaign.