An SMS is short, personal and nearly always read. That is its strength, and also why a badly written one wastes money. A few simple habits make every message cheaper and more effective.
Know the 160-character rule
One SMS holds up to 160 characters. A longer message is split into parts of 153 characters, and each part costs one credit. So a 161-character message costs two credits, and a 310-character message costs three.
Your SwalaSMS compose screen counts characters and parts for you as you type, and shows the cost before you send. Glance at it before every campaign.
Watch out for emoji and special characters
An emoji, or certain special characters such as curly quotes copied from Word or WhatsApp, switch the whole message into a different encoding where a part holds only 70 characters (67 per part when it is split). One smiley can turn a two-credit message into a five-credit message. If cost matters, leave them out and use plain letters, numbers and straight quotes.
A formula that works
- Who you are. Your sender ID does most of this, but naming the shop or school in the first words helps.
- The one thing you want them to know. A date, a price, an offer.
- What to do next. Pay, reply, visit, call. One action only.
Habari {first_name}! Ofa ya Jumamosi: punguzo la 20% kwa viatu vyote. Karibu dukani Kariakoo, saa 2 asubuhi hadi saa 12 jioni.
Use their name
Messages that start with the recipient's name get noticeably more replies. Add the name once to your contacts and insert it into the message; it is written once and correct for everyone.
Send at the right time
- Mornings between 8 and 11 work well for reminders and offers.
- Avoid very late evenings; a message at 11 at night annoys people.
- For fee or contribution reminders, send two or three days before the deadline, not on the day.
- Schedule campaigns in advance so they go out on time even when you are busy.
Respect opt-outs
Only message people who expect to hear from you, and let them stop. When somebody opts out, SwalaSMS records it and will not message that number from your account again, so you never annoy a customer by accident.
Check the delivery report
After sending, open the delivery report. It shows, message by message, what the mobile network confirmed. Numbers that fail again and again are usually wrong or no longer in use; clean them from your list and your next campaign costs less.
