SMS Campaigns: Lease a Number, Text a List, Read the Replies
A walkthrough of the SMS Campaigns app: lease a toll-free or 10DLC number, manage contacts and opt-outs, dry-run a campaign, and read two-way replies.
Yantra Team3 min read
On this page
A text gets read. SMS Campaigns gives you a number to send from, a list to send to, a campaign that sends in paced batches, and an inbox for the replies, with opt-outs handled for you.
Open it
Pick SMS Campaigns in the apps launcher, or open /c/<chat-id>/smscampaign. SMS Campaigns owns the chat while it is open, with an Agent pane that drafts SMS copy under 160 characters, plans a campaign, or suggests what to reply to a customer. The hub has five sections: Setup, Campaigns, Conversations, Contacts and Templates.
Setup
Setup runs against your AWS End User Messaging account and shows a Readiness checklist: credentials that work, the inbound pipeline provisioned, at least one phone number, two-way messaging wired, and a default sending number chosen.
Request a number offers four number types:
- Simulator, free, for testing end to end without carrier registration.
- Toll-free, which needs a toll-free registration.
- 10DLC, searchable by area code once you have a registered campaign.
- Long code.
On each number you can Enable two-way messaging and Use as default. Production readiness lists what still needs approving before you can text real customers, such as a verified test handset, an approved carrier registration and a Monthly spend cap.
Keywords
Each number has its own keywords. STOP opts the subscriber out, and HELP should name your business and a contact. You can add your own keyword with an Auto-reply, Opt out or Opt in action. These replies happen at the carrier edge, so they work even when nobody is watching.
Contacts
Contacts holds the numbers you are allowed to text, with tags for audiences. Import contacts takes a CSV or one number per line, can Add tags to all, and applies a Default country to numbers without a country code. A STOP reply flips a contact to opted out automatically. The Carrier opt-out list shows every number that will not be texted. Someone who texted STOP can only come back by texting START.
Templates
Templates keeps the texts you send often: a welcome, an appointment reminder, a promo. Placeholders personalise each message: {{firstName}}, {{lastName}}, {{name}}, {{phone}}, any column you imported, and {{var|fallback}} for when a value is missing.
Campaigns
Start a New SMS campaign with a Name, a Message (type it, or Use a template…), a Send from number and a Type of Promotional or Transactional. Pick the Audience: All contacts, By tag, or specific Numbers. Opted-out contacts are always excluded. Under the message you see the character count, the segment count and a preview with placeholders filled in.
Create draft saves it. Then:
- Dry run validates five sample sends with AWS without delivering anything.
- Launch queues every opted-in recipient and texts them in paced batches.
- Pause and Resume between batches.
The counters show Recipients, Sent, Queued and Failed / skipped, and delivery receipts update them as they arrive.
Conversations
Replies and delivery receipts land in Conversations. Sync inbound pulls them in, and syncing also runs on its own every 30 seconds. Reply from the thread and the customer sees your number. New message starts a fresh text. Use Enable two-way on a number in Setup so replies reach you.
From chat
- "Text my VIP customers about the Friday sale."
- "Show me who replied to the appointment reminder texts."
- "Set up a toll-free number for two-way SMS."
What it is not
- Email campaigns: Mail Campaigns.
- Phone calls: Voice Ops.
- WhatsApp: Connect WhatsApp.