Overview
You can use MailUp as a messaging platform for sending out text messages. Features include: message delivery date/time stamp, detailed delivery errors (if any), statistics, automation and more.
Different settings apply depending on whether you ask that your account is set up to send messages in the USA or outside of the USA.
- In the USA:
- MailUp uses a shared short code (51303)
- You must associate a unique keyword with your account
- You can have multiple keywords (each keyword = one list of SMS subscribers).
- There are several restrictions on what language messages should contain, etc. See below for details.
- Outside of the USA:
- A short code is not used: you will send using your long number or an alphanumeric string.
- Keywords are not used.
- Language requirements are not enforced in messages sent through the platform, but you should consult your local authority to ensure that you comply with local regulations.
Creating a text message
- 160 characters (up to 459 characters in most of the countries with 3 concatenated messages)
- You can use dynamic fields to personalize the message. For example: « Dear [name], check out our new…» with default values that are used when the dynamic fields are empty in the database.
- Multiple charset support, including Chinese and Cyrillic.
Sending a text message
- Messages get there fast (low latency), even if the recipient's number has been transferred to a new carrier (direct connection to the MSC - Mobile Switching Center);
- Sender can change with each campaign (text and number): this only applies outside of the USA; in some countries.
- You can send messages in over 200 countries: again, different settings and features apply if you are sending in the US or elsewhere;
- View the send queue's status in real time;
- Pause the campaign, edit the message, and resume with the edited message (if needed).
Automated and scheduled
- Create automatic, event-based messages (e.g. text message on customer's birthday, or when an insurance policy is about to expire);
- Schedule different campaigns, of different messages, on different dates/times.
Other features
- Reports: detailed campaign report: delivery report for each successful text message, with date/time stamp; indication of which messages were not delivered and why; aggregate statistics on all text messaging campaigns run over time.
- Privacy: run campaigns that are fully compliant with privacy regulations, with full confidence that any data loaded into the system will never be used for any other purpose. - See more at:
Getting started with SMS with MailUp
If you wish to use MailUp as an SMS platform in the USA:
- Set up a MailUp account if you don't already have one
- Purchase credits: http://www.mailup.com/credits.htm
- Once your order has been approved, SMS credits will be allocated to your account.
- Make sure to let your account representative know: your MailUp account has to be configured for US SMS
- Wait until you receive confirmation from your account representative that the account has been properly setup
- You can get started with the settings below even before settings have been allocated to your account
List settings for US accounts
Before you start using MailUp to send text messages in the USA you have to create a new list in your account and make sure some settings are enabled.
From your admin tool: Settings > Account settings > Lists > New
Short code
By default your account is set up to use MailUp's shared SMS short code, which currently is 51303.
- This short code cannot be changed
- Users will send sms to this number to sign up to your list/campaign (identified by a keyword, as mentioned below)
- If you are interested in using a dedicated short code, please contact us.
Keyword
In the sender tab add the Keyword: this will be used by your users to subscribe to the sms list.
For example, let's say you are a pizza restaurant in San Francisco: your keyword could be "pizzasf".
- The keyword must be unique: it cannot be used by any other MailUp user. This is because the shortcode (51303) is shared. The keyword uniquely identifies your list.
- The keyword cannot be changed once it has been saved, so pick a good one!
- If you create a new list (e.g. for a different campaign), you will need to pick a different keyword for that list
Welcome message
Text messaging industry regulations in the US require that when somebody signs up to receive txt messages from you, a certain welcome message is sent to them. The language to be used in that welcome message is strictly regulated.
To configure the welcome message, click on Subscription > SMS subscription confirmation message
- Toggle the feature ON
- Click on SMS to subscribed to edit the actual message
In the subscription tab set on at the Sms confirmation message, click on SMS to subscribed. You will be redirect to the page where you can set the text included in the welcome message.
The text "Msg&Data Rates May Apply Reply STOP to cancel Reply HELP for help" is mandatory in your welcome message
If you receive this error while saving your settings...
... it's because the welcome message has not been correctly set up. Please see the notes above on how to configure the welcome message.
How to create a sms message
Creating a sms is very easy. From your admin tool: Messages > Sms > New
Remember to add To opt out reply STOP at the end of your message. This text is mandatory!
Customer experience
Subscribing
- Your customers will subscribe to your campaign(s) by sending the keyword associated with the campaign (list) to 51303
- Continuing with the example above, the pizza restaurant's customers would text "pizzasf" to 51303 to subscribe to pizza specials sent by the restaurant
- They will immediately receive the Welcome Message, which will tell them how to get help (e.g. more information about the campaign) and how to unsubscribe
Unsubscribing
- After eating too much pizza, some of the customers may want to unsubscribe from pizza specials: they can do so by texting "STOP PIZZASF" to 51303
- The keyword and commands are not case sensitive, so texting "stop pizzasf" triggers the same result
- Reselling: the platform can be whitelabeled. Buy one only credits package and allocate credits to multiple clients.
Getting Set up
If you wish to use MailUp as an international (non US) platform:
1) You must agree to MailUp,Inc.'s Terms and Conditions of Use, even if operating outside the US. At the same time, you must be sure to read and comply with any country's own SMS policies.
2) Purchases can only be made in US Dollars. Therefore, if you are only interested in operating with Euros, please email our Italian Sales team at commerciale@mailup.it
- Set up a MailUp trial account if you don't already have one by requesting a free trial here
- Make sure to let your account representative know: your MailUp account has to be configured for International SMS.
- Wait until you receive confirmation from your account representative that the account has been properly setup
- Purchase credits: http://www.mailup.com/credits.htm (US Dollars only.)
- Once your order has been approved, SMS credits will be allocated to your account.
Important notes to send SMS worldwide
The main SMS features in different countries are summarized in the following Excel
There are specific rules to be followed for sending:
Saudi Arabia, transactional messages (not email marketing, but ex. Government, bank, temporary passwords ...) you need to contact the support team in order to be registered to the whitelist providing this data:
- Full Company Name
- All Sender IDs Associated with Enterprise traffic
- Message Description: this is a description of the messages content associated with each originator.
- End User Consent Evidence of how (location, media, source, etc.) and when (date & time) consent was given by an end user for the receipt of specific messages for every enterprise MSISDN Which is receiving specific enterprise message
Singapore, customers must not to send promotional or marketing messages to mobile numbers registered in the new "National Do Not Call Registry" (DNC), unless the recipient has expressed in a clear and unambiguous consent. The DNC registry is an integral part of the Personal Data Protection Act 2012 (PDPA) and will take effect from 2 July 2014. To do this you need to register and maintain a register http://www.dnc.gov.sg/ CONTROL every 30 days. The Penalties can be up to a 1 million SGD (Singapore Dollar, which is about half a million euro).
Italy, the AGCOM (Italian Communications Authority) Resolution No. 42/13/CIR NRA, has now come into force. The Resolution deals with the registration of bulk SMS Outbound (MT) message originators, i.e. the alphanumeric characters used in the SenderID to personalise Application-to-Person (A2P) SMS messages. Until now, any business globally was allowed to terminate an SMS MT message to an Italian subscriber with a SenderID comprised of any alpha, numeric or alphanumeric originators; and there was no process to help ensure that names used as SenderIDs were sent by the owners or licensees of the applicable brands, trademarks or trade names. For example, anyone globally could send a message to an Italian subscriber with the word ‘Apple Inc.’ in the SenderID, with no process established to enable a subscriber to know whether Apple Inc. sent that message or not. Similarly, there was no easy way for the subscriber or AGCOM to contact the sender of the message; this potentially exposed subscribers to fraudulent messages and services. What does this mean for me? All providers who operate A2P services in Italy must register their SenderIDs (and those of their customers) in a database maintained by AGCOM. This means one of the following will apply to you as our customer. It is your responsibility to provide us with the information required by AGCOM in relation to you, your customers and the relevant SenderIDs. What will happen to unregistered SenderIDs? In order to comply with the Resolution we may (at our discretion) replace the unregistered SenderID with a numeric SenderID (a +39 number issued by the operators in Italy) or block the message. What do I need to do and by when? It is mandatory for all customers sending traffic towards Italy to complete and the form available in console (menu Settings > Account settings > Admin contacts. Which SenderIDs are allowed? The SenderID must be directly related to the sending company. Any generic or not easily identifiable SenderID will not be accepted, causing the message to be sent with a numeric sender or blocked.
USA: the sending is made using a long number that can not be changed, mainly suitable for sending transactional messages. For a better delivery performance or for sending bulk marketing messages you must use a shortcode. Also it's important to comply with regulations that require to include a standard (To Opt-Out reply STOP) sentence in each message, and sending a welcome message with predefined directions and the assignment of a "keyword" to each list. Contact support for more details.
United Arab Emirates: Messages are categorized into two ways:
- marketing / promotion: to be approved you must submit a formal request, on letter that contains the details of the campaign (sender, content type, type of recipient) to support MailUp, who will transmit it to operators.
- transactional: a prior approval is not required, however, the sender will be overwritten with a shortcode (ex. 5070).
3) Only if delivering marketing messages towards USA recipients:
- Make sure to let your account representative know: your MailUp account has to be configured for "US SMS" with shortcode.
- Wait until you receive confirmation from your account representative that the account has been properly setup
More details on sending SMS in the US and globally.