Composing a SMS Message

You can compose a new SMS message from the Messages dropdown menu by choosing New SMS.
 

Similar to the email stepper, you will walk through a series of steps to complete your text message. The first step, similar to the email compose step, involves creating your message. You will need a Title and Message in order to save and continue. Your Messaging Service (which will need to be set up in Twilio) will be preselected in your account (this includes all your SMS phone numbers you can send from). If you have more than one service, you may choose from the list. As in emails, you can use saved contact data as variable content in your SMS message, along with fallback values. At the bottom of the compose window you will also see a checkbox to "Include Opt-out Instructions."

To the right of your compose window are some suggestions. Twilio suggests messages should be under 320 characters and never more than 1,600 characters. Longer messages will be split up in smaller segments and reassembled by the provider. To avoid potential issues, the 320 limit is suggested, but you can create messages up to the 1,600 character limit. NOTE: Be aware that non-standard characters such as emojis do not count as a single character. While emfluence offers an estimation for their size, an individual provider might count them differently. Messages over the 1,600 allowed characters will fail.
 

After saving on a manual SMS message, you will unlock the Recipients tab. There you will choose your group. NOTE: Only contacts with a saved Mobile number will be sent to. As with emails, you can also add individual contacts along with groups for those you also wish to receive the text message.
 

Delivery Options is deactivated on manual SMS sends. After saving your recipients, you can proceed straight to the Send step. As with email, the platform will run a check to make sure there are no issues with your saved messages. If your SMS is ready to send you can click the Send SMS button to deploy your message.