6 mistakes to avoid while planning SMS campaigns

SMS marketing is just as demanding as it is desired. There are various factors to consider prior to running a proper SMS campaign. In order to meet your key performance indicators, you must properly structure your messages as part of bigger campaigns to make sure they get delivered accurately.

The delivery rate is a measurement of how successful your SMS marketing efforts can be. It is the percentage of SMS that get delivered successfully. Many factors can either increase or decrease this percentage, such as grey routes, spam filters, and number portability.

One of the most important yet overlooked factors, however, is the common mistakes you might make during planning your campaigns. Such mistakes can significantly decrease delivery rates while leaving you at a loss. Luckily, these can be easily fixed to keep your delivery rate as high as possible while using our Communication Platform.

Let's look at the most common mistakes to avoid before running SMS Campaigns:

1. Sending with an unregistered Sender ID

Various destinations require Sender IS registration before terminating an SMS. This is done through CEQUENS via a NOC letter. Be sure to register your required Sender IDs before using them in your campaigns. For more information about how to register, click here.

2. Sending with an incorrect Sender ID

After registering a Sender ID, you should send your SMS with the exact Sender ID that was registered to avoid rejection by the operator. Common mistakes might include:

1. Wrong Capitalization: Senders IDs are case sensitive.
2. Wrong Spelling.
3. A space included before or after the Sender ID.
4. Not including ‘-AD’ suffix for promotional SMS in required destinations.
5. Sending with disallowed senders (ex: ‘Apple’ cannot be used in some destinations).

3. Sending to wrongly formatted numbers

Sending SMS to a number with a wrong format, such as a wrong prefix or wrong number length, will cause the SMS to fail. Performing regular cleanup of your database is recommended to maintain a high delivery rate and lower unnecessary costs. Check here for a list of some countries with their number lengths. You can use this to remove or check numbers in your database that are too long or too short.

Another common mistake is sending to numbers as they are dialed locally. For example, when dialing mobile numbers locally in Saudi Arabia, a “0” is included before the number. Yet when dialing the same number internationally, or in our case sending an SMS, the number should not include the “0”. Check the requirements of your destination countries then find wrongly formatted numbers in your database. In Saudi Arabia’s example, search for “9660” as there should not be any numbers starting with this sequence of numbers.

4. Sending to non-working/absent numbers

Often campaigns are sent to non-working or absent numbers. This will decrease your ROI as SMS will be charged while not being delivered to a valid number. Make sure to monitor your undelivered attempts daily through a manual log. Investigate and/or remove consistently undelivered numbers to avoid being charged unnecessarily.

5. Sending from a wrong account* (Local vs. International)

Your sub-accounts are designated to be either Local or International. Sending International traffic from your Local account will cause the SMS to be undelivered. Sending Local traffic from your International account will get delivered but will incur unnecessary costs (in KSA they will be undelivered). Make sure you are using the correct account when planning your campaign and consult with your Account Manager regarding what constitutes Local vs International traffic.

The same concept applies to OTP and Advertising accounts, mixing them will cause your SMS to be undelivered.

*KSA and UAE only.

6. Sending to destinations outside of coverage

If your account is limited by coverage, it will be unable to deliver to destinations outside that coverage. Make sure of what countries/networks are allowed in your coverage and speak to your account manager about increasing it if you wish to add more destinations.

Conclusion

With the help of these tips, you can achieve maximum success with your campaign delivery rates and send messages to as many customer as you can. A small mistake can affect your SMS campaigning efforts. Stay tuned to more of these insights in our upcoming blogs and more as notifications on CEQUENS Communication Platform. Until then, don’t hesitate to reach out to our team for any questions. Happy campaigning!

CEQUENS can help

CEQUENS is a global Communication-Platform-as-a-Service (CPaaS) provider that aims to bridge communication gaps in a communication-driven world.

Powered by innovation and guided by a cloud-first and mobile-first approach, CEQUENS provides omnichannel communication services and APIs that enable businesses to communicate with their customer base worldwide.

CEQUENS proprietary, PCI/DSS compliant Communication Platform leverages the latest cloud technologies and features a comprehensive portfolio of services that are industry-focused, agile, scalable, and cost-effective.

As an Endeavor Entrepreneur and GSMA Associate Member, CEQUENS plays a pivotal role in transforming business communication.