Guides › SMS marketing (add-on)

Sending an SMS campaign

How to send one offer to many clients by SMS from your own number: writing the message, choosing who gets it, checking the preview, and following or stopping it.

A campaign is one message, such as an Eid offer or a quiet-Tuesday discount, sent to many clients at once from your salon's own number. Each client gets their own SMS, with their first name in it if you want.

Before you start

• SMS is an add-on that StyleDesk switches on for your salon. With it off there is no SMS campaigns page.
• Your number must be verified and a phone paired. If not, the page shows Set up SMS first with a Set up SMS button. See sending SMS from your salon's own number.
• Only owners can send campaigns by default.

Write the campaign

1. Click SMS campaigns in the sidebar, then New campaign.
2. Name (only you see it): a label for your own list, such as "Eid offer".
3. Message: what clients will read, up to 900 characters. Type {first_name} where the client's first name should go and {salon} for your salon's name, exactly as shown under the box. A client with no first name on record gets "there" instead.
4. Under Send to, choose All clients with a mobile number, or Clients with the tag and pick a tag, such as VIP or bridal.

Check the preview

As you type, a line under the audience tells you how many clients will get the message and how many SMS each one costs, with the character count. A single SMS holds 160 characters in English letters, or 70 if it contains Urdu, emoji or other special characters; longer messages are split into several. Every extra SMS uses more of your phone's balance, so shorter is cheaper.

The count already leaves out:

• clients who turned off SMS;
• numbers on your opt-out list (see SMS opt-outs);
• clients marked Inactive or Blocked, archived clients, and clients without a mobile number;
• repeated numbers, which get the message once.

Send it

1. Tick the box confirming These clients agreed to receive offers from my salon and that you will stop sending to anyone who asks.
2. Click Send campaign. The campaign's page opens and sending starts.

What is refused

• A missing name or message, or a message over 900 characters.
• Sending without ticking the consent box.
• An audience with nobody in it.
• An audience bigger than your phones can send in three days. Each phone sends a set number of offers per day, a few seconds apart; the form tells you the limit. Pick a smaller audience with a tag, or pair another phone.

Follow it

The campaign's page shows the message, who started it and when, and its progress, refreshing every 10 seconds while it sends: Clients, Sent, Waiting and Failed / not sent. Under Not sent you see the numbers that did not go out and why, such as an invalid number or a client who asked not to get offers.

The SMS campaigns list shows every campaign with its Status, Clients, Sent, Failed and when it Started. A campaign is Sending, Finished, Cancelled (stopped) or Could not start.

Stop it

While a campaign is Sending, click Stop campaign on its page and confirm. Messages not yet sent will not be sent; those already sent cannot be called back.