Mass Opt-in for Marketing SMS

This article explains how to send a campaign to a group of clients, prompting them to opt in to receive SMS marketing messages. 

Things to know:

• The ability to send the marketing SMS opt-in campaign is governed by the "Accessing Email Campaigns" access control setting.
• You are solely responsible for complying with all applicable SMS marketing laws and regulations, including the Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA") and the CTIA's Short Code Monitoring Handbook and Messaging Principles and Best Practices.
• By default, the system will display only recipients who meet the following criteria:
  • Are associated with a location
  • Have a mobile number on file
  • Have the Marketing SMS checkbox selected on their profile
  • Have not completed the double opt-in process for SMS marketing
    
• Clients who have previously opted out or unsubscribed will not be included in the recipient list.
• SMS Segment Calculation & Billing:

  • SMS costs are calculated per segment, not per message. Carriers treat each segment as a separate message for delivery and billing, so every segment is counted and charged individually. This billing method is determined by carriers and is not specific to MyTime.

  • Segments per message are based on length and encoding

  • Encoding Standards 

    • GSM Encoding:

      • GSM-encoded messages (standard letters, numbers, and symbols) allow up to 160 characters per segment. 

      • If the message is longer than 160 characters, it will be split into concatenated segments of 153 characters each.

    • UCS-2 Encoding:

      • UCS-2 messages (special characters, emojis, or non-Latin alphabets) allow up to 70 characters per segment. 

      • If the message is longer than 70 characters, it will be split into concatenated segments of 67 characters each.
        

      • Even a single emoji forces UCS-2 encoding, reducing per-segment capacity and potentially doubling the number of segments.

    • Note: Concatenation headers are hidden data that let the recipient’s phone reassemble multiple segments into a single message.

  • Each recipient receives their own copy, so the number of segments per message is multiplied by the number of recipients to calculate billing. Example: A 2-segment message sent to 50 recipients counts as 100 billable segments. If each segment costs $0.02, the total cost would be 100 × $0.02 = $2.00.

  • Learn more about SMS segments & billing here.

To send the marketing SMS opt-in campaign:

1. Navigate to Marketing > Campaigns > Templates tab
2. Hover over the “Marketing SMS opt in” template and select the Send link 
3. The template will open in the message editor. Make any necessary changes; when finished, click 'Next: Select Recipients' in the bottom right corner
   
4. Filter Your Recipient List: Apply any desired filters to refine the client list. [Learn more about recipient filtering here.]
5. Once satisfied with your recipient list, click on the Send button 
   

You can navigate to the Campaigns Sent tab under "Sent Text Message Campaigns" to view the campaign details and status. 

Related Articles

SMS Marketing Campaigns

Campaign Filters

SMS Segments & Billing

SMS Usage Report