Sending SMS with dynamic fields
By sending SMS to recipients entered in the contact address book or to groups, it is possible to make one or more personal data fields, related to each contact, appear in the text of the SMS (for example the name or surname); thus enabling companies to send each recipient a personalised SMS.
Dynamic master fields
The following personal data fields are available in the Mediaburst address book and can be inserted in SMS texts as dynamic fields. The maximum number of characters allowed and/or correct format for each is indicated below:
- First name
- Date of birth
- Surname
- Country
- Address
- Gender
- Nickname
- Post code / ZIP
- Province
- City
- Fax
- CUSTOM variables (10 completely customisable personal fields)
- Date fields ( 2 customisable date fields )
Custom or “custom ” dynamic fields
Our platform allows you to use up to 10 custom dynamic fields, for completing SMS campaigns with non-personal data, for example, information specific to your business. For instance, the type of policy expiring, the name of the fitness course attended by the contact, the type of item the customer was interested in (shoes / clothing / accessories), etc. These custom dynamic fields have no maximum limit of usable characters.
How to insert dynamic fields in the text of the SMS
To insert a dynamic personal data field, when composing the SMS:
- Position the cursor at the point where you want to insert the dynamic field
- Select the dynamic field from the drop-down menu, to the right of the text box. The system will then insert it automatically when sending (for example NAME)
- Continue typing the rest of the text message
In order to use this feature with the address book, you must have imported your contact lists complete with the personal data you want to insert with the dynamic fields. If the recipient in your address book is not complete with the chosen dynamic field, nothing will be inserted in the message text. For example: “Hi NAME , how are you?” will result in “Hi, how are you?”.
Attention: If one or more dynamic fields are used, the length of the text will vary for each recipient, since the personal data field of each contact is different. The counter next to the text box does not take this into account. To know the correct number of SMS credits that will be deducted from your account, you must refer to the credit number presented by the system at the time of sending confirmation. In the example below, 5 SMS are sent to 3 contacts since the number of characters composing the name of two of the contacts exceeds the standard 160 characters for an SMS.
Characters allowed in dynamic fields:
Dynamic fields can contain any character (even special characters) but it is important to remember that, in SMS sending , some special characters may not be supported by the GSM network and some are counted as double characters (greater detail in annex 1).