Below are frequently asked questions about SMS Marketing in DailyStory.
Text message marketing - or SMS (short message service) marketing - is a form of marketing goods or services using a mobile phone's text messaging capability. This includes sending announcements, coupons, special deals and other information to your customers mobile phone as a text message. SMS marketing is simply a quicker, easier and direct way of reaching your customer.
To receive text message marketing customers are usually required to opt in to an automated system by texting an initial key word, such as "JOIN", to a short code or long code.
No. Each Text Message sent by DailyStory is sent individually to each recipient. This is done so each message can be personalized to each recipient.
Yes, but the recipients permission (opt-in) is required. There are two primary laws the FCC uses to regulate text and email marketing content. They are commonly known as the TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act) and CAN-SPAM (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing). These laws were not written with text message marketing in mind. However, text messaging is included under the same regulations as telemarketing and auto-dialers.
Please see our guidelines on compliance.
Yes! Using DailyStory's Personalization you can add personalized content to your Text Messages.
There are several reasons why a recipient did not receive your text message:
You can restore deleted text messages and other deleted items across the DailyStory platform. From the all Text Messages page, click on the hamburger menu (3 lines) in the top left and click on Trash. Click on the text message you want to restore and then select Remove from Trash, Save and Close.
RecommendedItems are stored in trash for approximately 30 days.
Enabling DailyStory to send Text Messages requires Twilio integration is configured. DailyStory can manage and configure this service for you, or you can do it yourself.
Yes! You can use emojis in your Text Messages. However, because emojis are not considered standard text, each emoji impacts the size of your Text Message. Please see Understanding Text Messaging costs for more detail.
If a recipient replies with STOP, they are automatically opted out of receiving Text Messages.
Yes. We can purchase one or more text message numbers on your behalf. Just let us know which area codes you want.
If you have multiple numbers associated with your DailyStory account. DailyStory will make the recipients "sticky" to the number there were last sent from. This ensures that even when you have multiple phone numbers, recipients will always receive your texts from the same number.
A long code is a phone number that text messages are sent from. It looks like a standard phone number, e.g. +1 (123) 456-7890.
A short code is a special 5-6 digit number that text messages are sent from, e.g. 51515. Short codes are leased by phone companies to businesses. Please contact us if you would like information about renting a short code.
A carrier violation code simply means that the phone carrier, e.g. AT&T, Verizon, decided not to deliver you message because it appeared to be SPAM. Unfortunately this can occur for a number of reasons. If you see this repeatedly, please contact us. Also, see our article, Carrier violations: What to avoid during SMS text marketing and SMS text compliance: 9 tips to keep your business out of trouble.
Please also see the DailyStory Deliverability Scoring tool.
Replies to text message sent by DailyStory are handled by DailyStory and the message content is sent on to your or people on your team that you designate as a recipient. The content of the message is also available in the Text Message reports.
First, review the text message sending guardrails. Next, check to make sure that the recipients all have mobile numbers. Finally, ensure that the recipients have not received the text message already, i.e., you cannot edit and resend a previous message - instead create a copy of the message.
If you share a post from Instagram, Facebook and other common websites, you've probably seen the link preview. For example:
Unfortunately, iOS will only render a preview for links sent in SMS or MMS if the sender is saved in the recipient's contact list. Otherwise, the URL will be displayed in the body of the message. This means that if you include a link to an Instagram post the link will be displayed to your recipients - not the preview.
Yes, you can use animated gifts, but you need to ensure the dimensions don't exceed about 640px wide and the total file size should be less than 500k. However, a lot of phones will "transcode" them to the first image in the sequence, so please be aware there is a possibility the recipient will not receive it as animated.
Yes, but Sender ID - the ability to use an alpha numeric id instead of the sending number - is not supported in the US or Canada.
Yes, we can configure your text messages to route to your business's primary phone number. This ensures that if someone calls your texting number they are routed to your business.
Yes, you can port your existing voice, SMS, or MMS numbers to DailyStory. Please complete the port number form and submit it do us along with your number PIN.
Yes, when creating a text message check Is Transactional. When this message is sent it will be treated as non-marketing content and will bypass opt out and do not contact rules. Transactional messages should only be used for non-marketing content such as abandon cart reminders, payment declines, and appointment reminders.
It is possible to create an SMS URL in anchor links that when clicked opens a new SMS messages and sets the body:
sms:+15551239900?&body=hello world!
This would then be added in a URL as:
<a href="sms:+15551239900?&body=hello world!">click to start a message</a>
Unfortunately, Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo do not support the SMS protocol for creating SMS links.
Gmail and Yahoo strip the HREF attribute entirely when using the SMS protocol, affecting both their mobile applications and web clients.
Outlook.com goes a step further by deleting the entire link tag, which may result in buttons disappearing from your email and being displayed as plain text without any link functionality.