Support




Where is my API Key? You can find your API key by going to the “Settings” menu on the left hand side and clicking on the “API Details” link below that.

The sendSMS API call is used to send SMS messages.

API Call URL: http://app6.textahq.com/api/sendSMS.php

Parameters for this call

Each API call requires you to pass certain parameters (either GET or POST) in order for Texta to return correct responses. Here’s a list of those parameters relevant to the sendSMS API call.

Parameter Optional Type param_value
api_key Required Alphanumeric axhh3233289ydsjkbd987
to Required Integer 6421123456
msg Required Alphanumeric hello
format Optional Alpha xml (‘xml’ or ‘json’ only)
mode Optional Numeric 1
user_data Optional Alphanumeric additional information
To send one way SMS the mode parameter should be set to 1. If you wish to receive replies set the mode parameter to 2
Note: By default the API call response will be replied in XML format. If you wish for a different format then you need to add the format parameter to your API call.
Response Generated:
XML
<?xml version=”1.0″?>
<ApiResponse>
<request_reference>1</request_reference>
<success>true</success>
<error code=”200″>OK</error>
</ApiResponse>
JSON
{“success”:”true”,”request_reference”:1,”error”:200,”error_msg”:”OK”}
Response Codes

Code Description
200 Ok/Acknowledged
201 Received By Network
202 Delivered
203 Not Delivered
400 Invalid Apikey
702 Not enough credits
711 Invalid Number
712 Duplicated Message

 

Using the Check Subscription Status API Call URL: http://app2.textahq.com/gateway/api/checkSubscriptionStatus.php

Parameters for this call:
Each API call requires you to pass certain parameters in order for Texta to return correct responses. Here’s a list of those parameters relevant to the subscription API call.

Parameter Type param_value
api_key * Alphanumeric axhh3233289ydsjkbd987
sms_list * Integer 23
mob * Alphanumeric 6421123456 or 021123456

* = required parameter

Response Generated:

XML

<?xml version="1.0"?> <ApiResponse>                	<success>true</success>                	<error code="200">OK</error>
		<subscriptionStatus>Active</subscriptionStatus> </ApiResponse>

 

Subscription Status

SubscriptionStatus Details
Active An active subscriber
Unsubscribe An inactive subscriber
Does not exist Subscriber does not exist in that subscription list

 

Two-Way SMS API

Warning: This 2-way SMS API requires that the originating message be sent using the Send SMS API.

You will need to define your preferred callback URL in the “API Details” section under “Settings” after you login to the Texta App.

This API is used for processing any inbound messages as a result of a message being sent out but your app using the Send SMS API.

Parameters for this call

Once an incoming reply is detected, Texta passes the following parameters to your callback URL as a GET parameters.

Parameter Type param_value
from integer 642111223344
msg Alphanumeric hello
user_data Alphanumeric additional information

Response Generated:

<?xml version=”1.0″?>
<ApiResponse>
<success>true</success>
<error code=”200″>OK</error>
</ApiResponse>

Please note: The best use of this API is to create custom feedback loops for outbound messages that suit your business needs.

For example, using this API call, you could have a ticket based support system automate customer service updates as follows:

In your ticket based help-desk system, you can have a button that posts basic information about your customers to Texta Send SMS API for sending out the initial message:

Example: Send, customer mobile number, message (can include personalization tags), and additional data such as ticket ID, current status etc. to the Send SMS API.

Example Message: Hi John, your support request ID 112233 has been assigned to Jack and we expect to have the issue resolved by 4pm NZT. You can reply “Status” to check the current status of this ticket at any time.

Customer then replies “Status”

Using this Two-Way SMS API, you can read the incoming responses as follows:

The callback URL will get the customer mobile number, the message (Status) and the fields you passed in the user_data section of the first call (ticket ID and status).

Using this information, you can then query your system and grab the latest status and send a second message like so:

Hi John, Ticket 112233 is still pending resolution. ETA is still 4pm. Please check back again shortly.

It is important to note that when using a feedback loop scenario like the one described above, you make script efficiency a priority to make sure you are processing data efficiently on your end and not making redundant calls.

If you have any questions about this API call please contact the support team.

Two-Way SMS API

Warning: This 2-way SMS API requires that the originating message be sent using the Send SMS API.

You will need to define your preferred callback URL in the API Credentials section under Settings after you login to the Texta App.

This API is used for processing any inbound messages as a result of a message being sent out but your app using the Send SMS API.

Parameters for this call

Once an incoming reply is detected, Texta passes the following parameters to your callback URL as a GET param.

Parameter Type Function param_value
from integer This is the mobile number the reply comes from 642111223344
msg Alphanumeric The reply from the number hello
user_data Alphanumeric Optional additional information that you may have passed along with the Send SMS API call additional information

Response Generated:

<?xml version=”1.0″?>
<ApiResponse>
<success>true</success>
<error code=”200″>OK</error>
</ApiResponse>

Please note: The best use of this API is to create custom feedback loops for outbound messages that suit your business needs.

For example, using this API call, you could have a ticket based support system automate customer service updates as follows:

In your ticket based help-desk system, you can have a button that posts basic information about your customers to Texta Send SMS API for sending out the initial message:

Example: Send, customer mobile number, message (can include personalization tags), and additional data such as ticket ID, current status etc. to the Send SMS API.

Example Message: Hi John, your support request ID 112233 has been assigned to Jack and we expect to have the issue resolved by 4pm NZT. You can reply “Status” to check the current status of this ticket at any time.

Customer then replies “Status”

Using this Two-Way SMS API, you can read the incoming responses as follows:

The callback URL will get the customer mobile number, the message (Status) and the fields you passed in the user_data section of the first call (ticket ID and status).

Using this information, you can then query your system and grab the latest status and send a second message like so:

Hi John, Ticket 112233 is still pending resolution. ETA is still 4pm. Please check back again shortly.

It is important to note that when using a feedback loop scenario like the one described above, you make script efficiency a priority to make sure you are processing data efficiently on your end and not making redundant calls.

If you have any questions about this API call please contact the support team.

Using the Subscription API Call

Call URL: http://app2.textahq.com/gateway/api/subscription.php

This script can operate in 2 main modes:

URL Redirect mode: In this mode the script will execute and then redirect the browser back to a specified URL, you can specify a URL for successful subscriptions and a URL for failed subscriptions. This mode is best for websites that will use either a server-side redirect or a javascript redirect.

Non URL Redirect mode:In this mode the script will simply execute and return either “ok” or “failed” in either xml or json format. This mode is best for websites which need a complete server-side solution and do not wish to redirect the users browser. e.g using the PHP http_request object or the .NET HttpWebRequest object.

Parameters for this call:

Each API call requires you to pass certain parameters in order for Maxmail to return correct responses. Here’s a list of those parameters relevant to the subscription API call.

Parameter Type param_value
api_key * Alphanumeric axhh3233289ydsjkbd987
sms_list * Integer 23
fname Alphanumeric John
lname Alphanumeric Smith
comp Alphanumeric Test Company
email Alphanumeric john@smith-and-smith.com
mob * Alphanumeric 6421123456 or 021123456
city Alphanumeric Auckland
ctry Alphanumeric New Zealand
gender Alphanumeric Female
age Alphanumeric 30 or 25-35
urlredirect Alphanumeric y or n
success_url Alphanumeric http://www.mydomain.com/success.html
fail_url Alphanumeric http://www.mydomain.com/failed.html
trigger_responders Alphanumeric y or n
format Alphanumeric xml or json
source Alphanumeric website

* = required parameter

Response Generated:

XML

<?xml version"1.0"?>
<ApiResponse>
 	<success>true<success>
 	<error code="200">OK</error>
</ApiResponse>

In Texta you can organize all your emails and SMS messages into folders. When you sign up, you will inherit some predefined folders but you are also able to create unlimited personalized folders.

To create a new folder simply click on the + icon next to the “Personalized Folders” menu on the left.

You can click on the pencil icon to edit a previously created personalized folder.

Colour coding folders

When creating a personalized folder you can assign a colour to it making it easier for you to visually recognize which email belongs to which folder. This also helps making visual distinction between emails while in “show all emails” view.

While every bone in our body hurts while writing this, we want to give you the freedom and choice to cancel your account at any time.
Please note that sending us an email on support@optimizerhq.com requesting to cancel an account is the ONLY way to process cancellation.
However, we encourage you to raise any concerns or dissatisfaction with our support team prior to considering cancelling your account because once you cancel your account, all your data will be lost beyond the point of recovery.

Texta recommends that you keep your password secure and that you change your account password regularly to maintain the security of your account.

  • To change the password go the Settings (above the main navigation buttons)
  • Click on change password
  • Enter your old password
  • Enter your new password twice
  • Click on Save

The assets tab is where Texta stores your Links and RSS feeds that you might need through your SMS marketing campaigns.

You can access it by going to the Assets tab in the top navigation bar.

Creating a Link in the Assets tab

Here you can manage and create links that you can easily use in your SMS campaigns.

All you have to do is give your link a name to identify it by and then paste the URL of the link in. Then click the create button. The link will now be added to the list and you will be able to select the link while creating a campaign.

You can also create new links while you are creating a campaign.

Using RSS feeds inside Texta is a great way to run RSS to email campaigns and send out blog updates to your subscriber base. Here’s how easy it is to set it up in Texta.

  • Go to the Assets Tab
  • Click on the “Create New RSS Feed” button
  • Give your feed a name (e.g. My Blog Feed)
  • Cut and paste your feed URL (excluding the http://)
  • Specify the number of items to pull
  • Specify if this feed is active or inactive
  • Click on the continue button
Defining the appearance of feed content inside the email
You need to specify how the feed content appears inside the email when its dynamically pulled. There are two options. You can either show the feed items
  • as headlines only or
  • headlines with the description element.
On the next screen you will be given the choice of picking a style and layout for your feed. Make a selection and click on the create button.

Automation triggers and Autoresponder triggers are the same thing.

Autoresponder triggers are event that cause a email (Autoresponse) to send.

Types of Autoresponder Triggers

Texta has a number of Autoresponder Triggers

  • Subscribe – If someone subscribes to your mailing list, then you can automatically send them a welcome text.
  • Un-Subscribe – If someone Un-Subscribes from your mailing list then send them a sorry to see you go text
  • Roster – When the date in your roster matches todays date then send out a reminder email re game time and venue
  • RSS Feed – When the RSS feed on my web site is updated them email all my clients to check for new news
  • Matches a Date – When someone in one of my lists has a birthday (birthdays need to be stored in database) then send out a Happy Birthday wish

Texta offers full reporting of your Auto Responders to allow you to gauge how well they are preforming.

To see the reports, from the Automation Tab

Click on the green plus button, next to the Auto Responder you wish to check

Depending on the Auto Responder your are looking at, you will be able to see information and graphs on clicks, replies location and devices.

The Reports are downloadable in Pdf format

Automatically send a welcome message when someone subscribes

Texta provides just the smartest, easy to use auto responders feature anywhere. You will be amazed and wonder, … why hasn’t anyone else thought of this?

If you have created a registration form for your web site, and now want to be super clever and send those that sign up, via your web site form, a special welcome message, then

From the messages Tab

  • Click the ‘Create new SMS campaign’ button
  • Give your message a name – ‘Welcome message’ sounds good.
  • Select the mailing list that you want the new registrations to be added too
  • Click the ‘Add ALL recipients’ button
  • Click ‘Build Campaign’ under the Broadcast SMS option
  • Type your new message. Remember to use smart tags to personalise your message
  • Click on ‘Save and continue to next step’ button

Do not click the ‘Schedule Campaign’ but Exit the Create a SMS message screen by clicking on the ‘Automation Tab

From the Auomation Tab

  • Click the ‘Create a new Auto Responder’ button
  • Give you Auto Responder a name. Something clever like ‘Welcome Auto Responder’
  • From the ‘Select an event trigger’ drop down menu select Subscribes
  • Check the box next to the mailing list that your registration form was set up to feed (same as list you selected in above step) OR you can select to send whenever anyone signs up to ANY of your lists.
  • Skip the matches the following additional conditions – Advanced feature.
  • From the ‘then send SMS based on’ drop down menu select the message you created in the above step. In this case ‘Welcome Message’ campaign
  • From the ‘Send this’ box you can choose to send the message immediately after the person subscribes or to delay sending by a set amount of time.
  • Click the ‘Create Auto Responder’ button

Congratulation! Autoresponder has now been created and all those registering on your web site will receive your most welcoming SMS after they have registered

One more thing. A copy of your Message, in this example ‘Welcome Message’ is placed into the SMS Templates folder – found on the Message Tab. It is this copy that will be used by the Auto Responder.

Sending a message to confirm that user has successfully opted out

Texta provides just the smartest, easy to use auto responders feature anywhere. You will be amazed and wonder, … why hasn’t anyone else thought of this?

If you wish to send a confirmation SMS to users that opt out of your campaigns then

From the messages Tab

  • Click the ‘Create new SMS campaign’ button
  • Give your message a name – ‘Opt Out message’ sounds good.
  • Skip the Select Recipients’ step by clicking on the ‘3. Campaign Type’ header
  • Click ‘Build Campaign’ under the Broadcast SMS option
  • Type your opt out message. Remember to use smart tags to personalise your message
  • Click on ‘Save and continue to next step’ button

Do not click the ‘Schedule Campaign’ but Exit the Create a SMS message screen by clicking on the ‘Automation Tab

From the Auomation Tab

  • Click the ‘Create a new Auto Responder’ button
  • Give you Auto Responder a name. Something clever like ‘Opt Out Auto Responder’
  • From the ‘Select an event trigger’ drop down menu select Un-Subscribes option (Opt Out and Unsubscribes are the same thing)
  • Check the box next to the mailing list that the Opt Outs will come from OR you can select to send the message to anyone that Opts Out of ANY of your lists.
  • Skip the matches the following additional conditions – Advanced feature.
  • From the ‘then send SMS based on’ drop down menu select the message you created in the above step. In this case ‘Opt Out message’ campaign

Congratulation! Autoresponder has now been created and all those Opting Out of your campaigns will receive your Sorry your leaving SMS

One more thing. A copy of your Message, i.e. in this example ‘Opt Out message’ is placed into the SMS Templates folder – found on the Message Tab. It is this copy that will be used by the Auto Responder.

Texta provides just the smartest, easy to use auto responders feature anywhere. You will be amazed and wonder, … why hasn’t anyone else thought of this?

A clever way to stay up to date with RSS feed updates, is to set a Auto Responder to alert your users once a day, if your RSS feed has been updated.

From the messages Tab

  • Click the ‘Create new SMS campaign’ button
  • Give your message a name – ‘RSS Alert message’ sounds good.
  • Skip the Select Recipients’ step by clicking on the ‘3. Campaign Type’ header
  • Click ‘Build Campaign’ under the Broadcast SMS option
  • Type your RSS Update feed message. Remember to use smart tags to personalise your message
  • Click on ‘Save and continue to next step’ button

Do not click the ‘Schedule Campaign’ but Exit the Create a SMS message screen by clicking on the ‘Automation Tab

From the Assets Tab

  • Select the RSS Feeds sub Menu
  • Click the ‘Create new RSS feed’ button
  • Give you new Feed a name
  • Copy in the URL of the Feed
  • leave the Pull option at 1
  • Status is set to ‘Active’
  • Click the ‘Continue’ button

From the Automation Tab

  • Click the ‘Create a new Auto Responder’ button
  • Give you Auto Responder a name. Something clever like ‘RSS Feed Auto Responder’
  • From the ‘Select an event trigger’ drop down menu select RSS Feed updates option
  • Check the box next to the mailing list that your wish to notify that the RSS Feed has been updated
  • Skip the matches the following additional conditions – Advanced feature.
  • From the ‘then send SMS based on’ drop down menu select the the message you created in the above step. In this case ‘RSS Feed message’ campaign
  • From the ‘Send this’ box Choose when you want the message to be sent
  • Click the ‘Create Auto Responder’ button

Congratulation! Autoresponder has now been created to Alert all those in the list that your RSS Feed has been updated

One more thing. A copy of your Message, in this example ‘Welcome Message’ is placed into the SMS Templates folder – found on the Message Tab. It is this copy that will be used by the Auto Responder.

Texta provides just the smartest, easy to use auto responders feature anywhere. You will be amazed and wonder, … why hasn’t anyone else thought of this?

Show your clients how much you care by never forgetting their birthday again. If you have created a customer field to hold birthdays in your database, you can use Texta to automatically send Happy birthday messages to your client.

From the messages Tab

  • Click the ‘Create new SMS campaign’ button
  • Give your message a name – ‘Birthday message’ sounds good.
  • Skip the Select Recipients’ step by clicking on the ‘3. Campaign Type’ header
  • Click ‘Build Campaign’ under the Broadcast SMS option
  • Type your Happy Birthday message. Remember to use smart tags to personalise your message
  • Click on ‘Save and continue to next step’ button

Do not click the ‘Schedule Campaign’ but Exit the Create a SMS message screen by clicking on the ‘Automation Tab

From the Automation Tab

  • Click the ‘Create a new Auto Responder’ button
  • Give you Auto Responder a name. Something clever like ‘Birthday Auto Responder’
  • From the ‘Select an event trigger’ drop down menu select Matches a Date option
  • Check the box next to the mailing list that has the birthdays
  • Skip the matches the following additional conditions – Advanced feature.
  • From the ‘then send SMS based on’ drop down menu select the message you created in the above step. In this case ‘happy Birthday message’ campaign
  • From the ‘Send this’ box choose a time to sent the message
  • Click the ‘Create Auto Responder’ button

Congratulation! Autoresponder has now been created so that when Texta finds a birthday that matches the current day, Your Happy Birthday SMS will be sent to the contact.

One more thing. A copy of your Message, in this example ‘Welcome Message’ is placed into the SMS Templates folder – found on the Message Tab. It is this copy that will be used by the Auto Responder.

To check that your Autoresponder has triggered and sent your text message you can check the Responder Log

From the Automation Tab

Click on the ‘View Responder Log’ button

From here you can see the name of the responder, the name of the responder text that was sent, date and time the text was sent and the Delivery Status

From the Automation Tab

Click on the edit Autoresponder button that is in line with the Autoresponder that you want ot edit – pencil

You can now change any of the previous settings.

Confirm your change by clicking on the ‘Edit Auto Responder’ button

Roster Automation is just the coolest feature within Texta, that makes managing a sports team, handling club or office meetings, scheduled reminders or any type to be pre-scheduled, so that if you have to send reminders or check who will be attending, just let Texta handle it for you.

Texta’s Roster Automation allows you to set up reminder, event invites or just simply SMS blasts over a calender week, fortnight, month, months or year.

Another way to add a Roster is to import your Roster via a CSV file.

If you are unsure how to format your roster, download the sample CSV file. The sample roster, can be found on the Roster Tab, Click on the ‘Import’ Button. Click on the ‘Click here to download sample CSV file’ link.

The top line in the sample is the header. Leave this as it is.

Now go through and edit the sample file by adding your own events, the date and time of your event, venues, A contact if required and a message. NB the format of the dates and times must be as per the sample file.

Save the file in CSV (MS-DOS) format. If your file is not in this format import will error.

From the ‘Roster’ tab

Click on the ‘Import’ button

Click on the ‘Choose a File’ button

Select the sample file that you just updated

Click on the ‘Upload File’ button

Your events will now be imported into your roster.

Adding Rostered Automation EventsThere are 2 ways of adding Roster Automation Events.

To manually adding one by one.

From the Roster Tab.

Select the Roster you wish to work with

Click the ‘Create Event’ link

In the Window, Type in your Event Name, Contact Person and Venue.

Select if this will be a ‘one time event’ or ‘reoccurring’. If you select Reoccurring then select how often event is to re-occur.

Select the Event Date and time.

Check that the message looks correct in the preview window. You can change the wording but do not alter the smart tags. Smart tags look like this #FirstName#.

Click Save

Roster Automation is just the coolest feature within Texta, that makes managing a sports team, handling club or office meetings, scheduled reminders or any type to be pre-scheduled, so that if you have to send reminders or check who will be attending, just let Texta handle it for you.

Texta’s Roster Automation allows you to set up reminder, event invites or just simply SMS blasts over a calender week, fortnight, month, months or year.

Importing a Roster into Roster Automation

Another way to add a Roster is to import your Roster via a CSV file.

If you are unsure how to format your roster, download the sample CSV file. The sample roster, can be found on the Roster Tab, Click on the ‘Import’ Button. Click on the ‘Click here to download sample CSV file’ link.

The top line in the sample is the header. Leave this as it is.

Now go through and edit the sample file by adding your own events, the date and time of your event, venues, A contact if required and a message. NB the format of the dates and times must be as per the sample file.

Save the file in CSV (MS-DOS) format. If your file is not in this format import will error.

From the ‘Roster’ tab

Click on the ‘Import’ button

Click on the ‘Choose a File’ button

Select the sample file that you just updated

Click on the ‘Upload File’ button

Your events will now be imported into your roster.

Two-way SMS marketing campaigns are used for running SMS polls or for getting response/feedback from your subscribers using SMS.

Setting up a two-way SMS campaign in Texta is no different compared to setting up a standard SMS marketing campaign.

The only difference is that when people reply to your messages, their replies are presented to you in graphical format as well as tabular.

So if you want to run a two-way SMS marketing campaign using Texta, simply create a new SMS campaign and ask your recipients to reply to that message.

You can then see a breakdown of replies for that campaign inside the Replies tab as well as in the Messages Tab under the particular campaign.

Clicking on the count of replies will show you all the replies in a tabular format. You can also click on the “View Full Report” link to see in-depth analytics for that particular SMS campaign.

Running a event like a meeting, birthday, a party, mates meeting for a sports activity or even a wedding?

Texta provides all the functionality to allow you to send out the invitation with date, time, place, then sit back and wait for the RSVP messages to come back.

From the Setup an email screen (Message tab)

  • Click on the ‘Build Campaign’ button under the ‘Event RSVP Campaign’ option
  • Give your event a ‘Event name’ i.e. Birthday Party – My Place
  • Select the date when he event will be held – Sunday 29th Jan 2012
  • Select the time of the event – 11.00am
  • Click the ‘Continue to next step button’
  • Texta, automatically generates the message with smart tags for you. The request to reply yes or no to the invitation is also added to the bottom of the message. You can change the wording of the SMS but you will need to be careful not to alter the smart tags
  • Click the ‘Continue to next step button’
  • Click the ‘Schedule Campaign’ button to send your RSVP Campaign

Now sit back and wait for the replies.

You can review the replies by checking the ‘unique replies’ stats under your campaign. You are also able to download the guest list (those that have replied, yes) from Texta.

Running a SMS Poll campaign

SMS Polls are a great way to get user feedback quickly and easily. Using the SMS poll campaign you can specify a multiple-choice type questionnaire, where your recipients can respond with their choice. Results will be shown in a pie chart form.

From the ‘Setup an email” – Campaign type screen

  • click the ‘Build Campaign’ button under the ‘Run an SMS Poll” option
  • Type the question for your poll – Which is your favourite fast food chain?
  • Select if you wish your Answer type to be Alphabetic ro Numeric
  • Type the Answer Options that you wish those responding to select from by clicking on the green plus button.
    • a. McDonald’s
    • b. Burger King
    • c. Wendy’s
    • d. Subway
  • click the ‘Continue to next step’ button
  • Texta, automatically generates the message with smart tags fro you. The request to reply, with the options is added to the bottom of the SMS. You can change the wording of the SMS but you will need to be careful not to alter the smart tags
  • Click on the ‘Continue to next step button’
  • Click the ‘Schedule Campaign’ button to send your SMS poll

Now sit back and watch the magic of Texta

You can review the replies by checking the ‘unique replied’ stats under your campaign.

To create a new SMS campaign, simply go to the Messages tab and click on the “Create New SMS Campaign” button.

  • Give your campaign a name (e.g. My First SMS)
  • Select the list(s) you wish to send this SMS to. For obvious reasons you must have something in the “Mobile Number” field before you can proceed.

Filtering Recipients

If you have selected more than 1 list, you will not going to be given the option to filter recipients from the two lists and will need to “Add all recipients” to proceed.

If you select only one list then you are able to filter recipients based on any combination of filters (fields).

Campaign Type

After you’ve selected the recipients for your SMS campaign, the next step in creating an SMS marketing campaign is to select what type of sms campaign you want to run. You have 3 options:

  • Bulk SMS – A standard message.
  • RSVP – Sends a message with an event name and time. Asks recipients to reply ‘Yes to confirm or No to decline’.
  • SMS Poll – Create a one question poll to ask recipients. Can have multiple choice questions.

Message Creation

After you’ve selected the type of campaign you want, the next step in creating an SMS marketing campaign is to create a personalized message.

The white box is where you can type a message (up to 153 characters). As you type your message, it will appear in the speech bubble on the left side illustrating what the final message may look like on a mobile phone screen.

Messages can be over 153 characters long, but you will be charged extra for longer messages. Charges will be, the applicable rate times per 153 character message.

Inserting a link inside a message

To insert a link inside a SMS, on the ‘Create SMS Message’ page

  • If you have not already created a link, use the ‘Add Link’ to create your new link. You will need to provide a “Link Name” and “URL”
  • Now go to the “Insert a external Link” drop down box and select you link

your link will now be added to you SMS.

Inserting Landing Page Link

You can also insert a link to a landing page inside an SMS so that WAP and Browser capable phones (smartphones) can view the landing page straight within the mobile device.

Click through to these landing pages are recorded inside the SMS analytics section.

To learn more about landing pages and how they work, check out our Live Pages App.

Personalizing your message

Use the “Insert Smart Tag” drop down list to personalize your message. In this list you will see every field that is marked active in your mailing list. Simply make your mouse cursor blink at the place you wish to add the personalization tag to and choose the relevant tag from the Smart Tags list to insert.

Schedule a campaign

The last step of creating a campaign is to specify when the message should be delivered.

You can either send your campaign straight away or schedule it to be sent at a future date and time.

Once you’ve made the appropriate selection, click on the “Send” button, sit back, relax and let it rip…

Sending different types of messages

With Texta there are many ways to build an SMS campaign. Depending on how you have run your campaigns in the past (or haven’t) you can use any of the following ways to put together a great looking SMS that generates result.

Broadcast SMS

Used for sending a simple message.

Event RSVP Campaign

Use this campaign type to send event RSVP campaigns. End recipients can reply Yes or No to the message.

You will need to enter an ‘Event Name’, ‘Event Date’ and ‘Event Time’.

The default message will be “Hi #FirstName#. You have #event_name# on the #event_time#. Reply Yes to confirm or No to decline.” Where the smart tags are replaced by what you entered in the previous page.

Run a SMS Poll

Use this campaign type to setup a short survey or poll.

You will need to enter a ‘Question’, select an ‘Answer Type’ and set the ‘Answer Options’.

The default message will be “Hi #FirstName#. #poll_question# Please reply one of the following options #poll_answer_options#.” Where the smart tags are replaced by what you entered in the previous page.

To insert a link inside a SMS, on the ‘Create SMS Message’ page

  • If you have not already created a link, use the ‘Add Link’ to create your new link. You will need to provide a “Link Name” and “URL”
  • Now go to the “Insert a external Link” drop down box and select you link

your link will now be added to you SMS.

Inserting Landing Page Link

You can also insert a link to a landing page inside an SMS so that WAP and Browser capable phones (smartphones) can view the landing page straight within the mobile device.

Click through to these landing pages are recorded inside the SMS analytics section.

To learn more about landing pages and how they work, check out our Live Pages App.

Texta provides its users with clear, quick, easy to understand Analytics. Although not really needed, here’s a break down for you.

Sent – Number of messages sent

failed – If you try to send to a number that does not exist on the phone network, this will show as a failed send. This will be show as the number of messages that have failed and a percentage failed against those sent.

unique reply – Shows the number of people that have replied to your message. If someone replies twice or more from the same mobile phone number, replies will only count as one reply. This will be show as the number of unique reply messages and a percentage unique reply against those sent.

links clicked – Only applies to those SMS campaigns that have a link added to them. Counts the number of time that the link has been clicked. If the same user clicks the link 3 times then 3 clicks will be added to the count. This will show as the number of clicks and a percentage of clicks against those sent.

unique clicks – Only applies to those SMS campaigns that have a link added to them. Counts the number unique clicks on the link. If the same user clciks the link 3 times, only 1 click is added to the count. This will show as the number of unique clicks and a percentage of clicks against those sent.

unsubscribes – count showing those that have unsubscribed after reading this message. This will show as the number of unsubscribes and a percentage of unsubscribes against those sent.

Note: by clicking on any of the counts, you will be able to see details of those that make up the count or download these contacts.

Use the “Insert Smart Tag” drop down list to personalize your message. In this list you will see every field that is marked active in your mailing list. Simply make your mouse cursor blink at the place you wish to add the personalization tag to and choose the relevant tag from the Smart Tags list to insert.

This new feature provides your recipients with another method to unsubscribe from your SMS messages, without having to send a reply SMS. This means that if your recipient is out of credit or isn’t able to reply to the message you’ve sent them, they are still able to unsubscribe (as long as they have 3g/4g or wifi access). It’s important to make it as easy as possible for your recipients to unsubscribe to prevent them from becoming agitated, which can lead to all sorts of problems! So this feature aims to make things easier for you and your recipients.

The feature involves adding a link in your SMS message which your recipients can click on. This will take them to a page on their phone where they’re able to hit a simple unsubscribe button (they’re also able to leave an optional message). Once your recipient clicks the button they will be automatically unsubscribed from your list and added to your suppression list (preventing them from receiving further messages from you). See how to add the new unsubscribe links below.

Step by Step Guide to Adding an Unsubscribe Link

To insert an unsubscribe link in a texta campaign, we will start straight from scratch creating a text campaign to best illustrate the process. Click on “messages” from the above navbar and click on “create new SMS campaign”.



Give your SMS campaign a relevant name.



Select which list/s the campaign is aimed at.



Select a campaign type that is relevant to your campaign agenda. For now we will use “Broadcast sms” for simplicity’s sake.

Enter your message in the text area. In order to insert an unsubscribe link, click the down arrow under “personalise your SMS message” and select “unsubscribe link”. Here a short link is created that the person can click on and they will be taken to the unsubscribe page (Note: The link will take up approximately 20 characters of your message, so if you’re planning on only using one credit per message make sure you have some room for the link).

Finally makes sure you’ve accepted the terms of use and then click the schedule campaign button in order to send out the text messages.

In Texta, you can either add subscribers manually or through a bulk import.

Import subscribers using CSV files

A comma-separated values (CSV) file is used for the digital storage of data structured in a table of lists form, where each associated item (member) in a group is in association with others also separated by the commas of its set. Each line in the CSV file corresponds to a row in the table. Within a line, fields are separated by commas, each field belonging to one table column. Since it is a common and simple file format, CSV files are often used for moving tabular data between two different computer programs, for example between a database program and a spreadsheet program.

If you have an excel spreadsheet with the following columns

First Name Last Name Mobile Phone Number
James Brown 0212453786
Sally Taylor 02743468999

When this excel file is saved as a CSV file, if you view it (using Notepad or Text Edit) then the data will look something link this

“James”,”Brown”,”0212453786″
“Sally”,”Taylor”,”02743468999″

Once you have a CSV file, you can import it in the “Import from CSV” section.

After your file has been uploaded to our server (happens in the background) you will be asked to verify whether or not the very first row of your CSV file contained actual data or the names of the columns in your CSV file.

Once you verify this, you will be given the opportunity to map the columns in your file with the columns in the mailing list.

On the left hand side you will see the columns in the mailing list and on the right hand side will be the drop down box enlisting all column headers extracted from the CSV file you just imported.

Once you have mapped all the fields, click on the “continue” button to complete the process.

After the import is complete, your list will go through our standard post import process during which time it will be locked and unavailable for use in a campaign.

Use the navigation menu to go to the ‘Manage Subscribers’ page.

Click the large ‘Create a New Subscriber List’ button on the left hand side of the page.

You will be taken to the ‘Setup a new subscriber list’ process which is a four step process that will guide you through.

The first step is the ‘List Setup’ where you have to enter the details for your new subscriber list.

Here are the details you should provide:

  • ‘List Name’ – This will be displayed in the ‘Manage Subscribers’ page.
  • ‘Get notified by email when’ –
    • ‘Someone gets added to this list’ – If checked an email will be sent to your notification email address when someone is added to this list.
    • ‘Someone opts out of this list’ – If checked an email will be sent to your notification email address when someone opts out of this list (unsubscribes).
  • ‘Send notification emails to’ – The notifications above will be sent to this email address.
Once you have completed the above fields you can click ‘Continue to next step’ to create your list and continue.

Define Custom Fields in your List

Every marketer has their own way of segmenting their lists. As a general rule, Texta caters for the most basic fields such as:

  • First Name
  • Last Name
  • Mobile number
  • Email Address
  • Age
  • Gender
  • City
  • Country
  • Company Name

In addition to that you can add unlimited number of custom fields to expand the nature of the profile data you collect and store for your subscribers.

Custom fields can either be

  • Plain Text field
  • Drop Down List of pre-defined/set options
  • Date Field
  • Checkbox field
  • Paragraph Field

For each custom field you can set

  • Default values
  • Whether this field is mandatory or not (Yes or No)
  • Field names
  • Field Options (Drop Down list and checkbox only)
Tip: Use the Active and Editable Columns to define which field is active in your list and which field is editable. Fields marked editable are shown to the end user when they click on the “Update Details” link inside the email.

In Texta you can import your subscribers in several different ways in bulk.

  • Import using CSV file

Note: When importing subscribers via CSV please make sure that mobile numbers either start with the international code (eg. 6421 for NZ) or have a 0 in front (eg. 021). If you have created your CSV file in Microsoft Excel it is likely that Excel has stripped out all the zeros from the front of your numbers. To stop the zeros being stripped out by Excel you can change the cell format to text or strings.

Import subscribers using CSV files

A comma-separated values (CSV) file is used for the digital storage of data structured in a table of lists form, where each associated item (member) in a group is in association with others also separated by the commas of its set. Each line in the CSV file corresponds to a row in the table. Within a line, fields are separated by commas, each field belonging to one table column. Since it is a common and simple file format, CSV files are often used for moving tabular data between two different computer programs, for example between a database program and a spreadsheet program.

If you have an excel spreadsheet with the following columns

First Name Last Name Mobile Phone Number
James Brown 0212453786
Sally Taylor 02743468999

When this excel file is saved as a CSV file, if you view it (using Notepad or Text Edit) then the data will look something link this

“James”,”Brown”,”0212453786″
“Sally”,”Taylor”,”02743468999″

Once you have a CSV file, you can import it in the “Import from CSV” section.

After your file has been uploaded to our server (happens in the background) you will be asked to verify whether or not the very first row of your CSV file contained actual data or the names of the columns in your CSV file.

Once you verify this, you will be given the opportunity to map the columns in your file with the columns in the mailing list.

On the left hand side you will see the columns in the mailing list and on the right hand side will be the drop down box enlisting all column headers extracted from the CSV file you just imported.

Once you have mapped all the fields, click on the “continue” button to complete the process.

After the import is complete, your list will go through our standard post import process during which time it will be locked and unavailable for use in a campaign.

Post Import Process

After importing contacts into a list, each list is put through a set of processes to ensure the list is clean and good for use in a campaign. The following is a breakdown of the individual processes the list is put through.

List Cleaning

Post import, every list goes through Texta’s built in cleaning process which is the second generation of the Predictive Bounce back Handler you may have encountered in our Texta Product. During this process Texta will automatically delete any blank records and flag duplicate mobile numbers for you to review.

Texta will do it’s best to check that you have entered a valid mobile number. Your mobile numbers should be in the 021, 027 format. Internationally prefixed numbers 6421??? will also work.

Duplicate Checking

When importing records, Texta will check for duplicates using the mobile numbers as the unique identifier.

If duplicates are found the list is automatically locked down with a red flag until you manually decide what you wish to do with the duplicate records.

You can process duplicate records in one of two ways.

You can either tell Texta to keep only one instance of the record and delete all others with no bias toward any one occurrence of the record.

or

You can merge the duplicate records based on certain criterion being met.

When merging duplicate records you will be asked to select one of the instances of the duplicate records to be a master. All other instances of the duplicate record are then merged into the master.

You can export your contacts from a subscribers list in one simple step.

  • Click on the subscribers list you wish to export contacts from.
  • Click on the “Export Subscribers” link
  • Select whether you wish to export all records, only active subscribers, or only all those that have unsubscribed.
  • Click on the export button and Texta will produce a CSV file of your list.

After importing contacts into a list, each list is put through a set of processes to ensure the list is clean and good for use in a campaign. The following is a breakdown of the individual processes the list is put through.

List Cleaning

Post import, every list goes through Texta’s built in cleaning process which is the second generation of the Predictive Bounce back Handler you may have encountered in our Texta Product. During this process Texta will automatically delete any blank records and flag duplicate mobile numbers for you to review.

Texta will do it’s best to check that you have entered a valid mobile number. Your mobile numbers should be in the 021, 027 format. Internationally prefixed numbers 6421??? will also work.

Duplicate Checking

When importing records, Texta will check for duplicates using the mobile numbers as the unique identifier.

If duplicates are found the list is automatically locked down with a red flag until you manually decide what you wish to do with the duplicate records.

You can process duplicate records in one of two ways.

You can either tell Texta to keep only one instance of the record and delete all others with no bias toward any one occurrence of the record.

or

You can merge the duplicate records based on certain criterion being met.

When merging duplicate records you will be asked to select one of the instances of the duplicate records to be a master. All other instances of the duplicate record are then merged into the master.

Suppression lists are used by large scale SMS marketers to manage the list of people who have opted out of receiving any offers or SMS messages from you in the future.

A suppression list is usually just a list of mobile numbers in a CSV format.

To upload your suppression list follow these steps:

  • Click on the Manage Subscribers Tab
  • Click on the Suppression List (this is the last item in the list of your mailing lists)
  • Click on the “Import Subscribers” link
  • Import your CSV file
  • Map the mobile number column with the mobile / phone field

That’s it. The list of mobile numbers you imported will now be exempt from receiving any SMS’s you send out.

Texta provides an easy to understand view of your Subscriber lists to allow you to quickly understand and manage your lists.

By clicking on the green plus icon next to the list you will see

  • Number of active subscribers (active mobile numbers)
  • Number of unsubscribes that have opted-out from this list.

Subscribers that have opted-out are not counted as active.

By clicking on number next to the unsubscribes a new window will open which will allow you to view details for those that have unsubscribed from the list or export this data to a csv file.

If you have a number of different lists and wish to search for a Firstname, Lastname or phone number across all your lists then, you can do this easily and quickly with the Texta ‘Look Up a Subscriber’ button.

This can be found on the ‘Manage Subscriber’ page, left hand side, large orange button.

Once you have clicked the button, you will see the Look Up a subscriber window. Enter a Firstname, Lastname or mobile number and click on the search subscriber button

If Texta finds a match the record will be displayed.

By clicking on the ‘view details’ button (magnifying glass), the details of the first occurrence will be displayed as well as a list of the subscribers lists that the record appears in.

Using the subscription form generation feature in Texta you can generate a HTML form for your website. As your website visitors complete the form on your website, their data is automatically stored inside the subscriber list in Texta saving you the hassle of importing them back in, at a later stage.

To generate a HTML subscription form follow the steps outlined below.

Go to the Subscriber Tab

Click on the list you wish to generate the form for. As you click the name of the list, a panel will slide down with a link to “Generate Subscription Form“.

Provide a Success URL where your website visitors are redirected after they’ve filled out your form successfully. Typically it should be a thank you page or if you are not sure, leave it blank to use the default settings.

Provide a Failed URL where your website visitors are redirected in case of any problems with processing your form. Leave it blank to use the Texta default settings.

If you would like to include validation code (JavaScript) to ensure those filling out the form on your website are providing the right information (such as a valid email address).

Click on the Generate HTML Form button.

Now cut and paste the HTML back onto the page on your website where you’d like to see the form show up and that’s it.

Click on the Preview Form URL button to see what it looks like.

Once you have the HTML code block, your designers/developers can further customize the look and feel very easily.

A comma-separated values – CSV (MS-DOS) file is used for the digital storage of data structured in a table of lists form, where each associated item (member) in a group is in association with others also separated by the commas of its set. Each line in the CSV file corresponds to a row in the table. Within a line, fields are separated by commas, each field belonging to one table column. Since it is a common and simple file format, CSV files are often used for moving tabular data between two different computer programs, for example between a database program and a spread sheet program.

If you have an excel spread sheet with the following columns

First Name Last Name Mobile Number
James Brown 0212345678
Sally Taylor 0278765432

When this excel file is saved as a CSV file, if you view it (using Notepad or Text Edit) then the data will look something link this

“James”,”Brown”,”0212345678″
“Sally”,”Taylor”,”0278765432 “

If people receiving your SMS messages wish to unsubscribe (no longer receive text messages from you) then all they need to do is reply ‘Stop’, ‘Unsubscribe’, ‘Cancel’ or ‘Remove’ to your sent message.

Once Texta receives one of these, then the contacts details will be copied to the suppression list and their status in the list will be changed to unsubscribed.

To be safe you should also process the opt outs against all other lists.

Opt-outs and unsubscribes have the same meaning.

Use 64xxxx or 02xxxx for NZ numbers and for international numbers it must be in international format such as 60xxx (Malaysia) to indicate that number is not NZ else the number will be considered as NZ number.

No + is to be added to the number.

If you want to remove a subscriber from a list, unsubscribe the recipient and recipient will no longer receive SMS.