Overview:
In MDA, there was not an option to create a custom SMS template and send it to workers. It’s currently a manual process to draft a new message every time from the SMS messaging screen. Now, we have given you the provision to create your own SMS templates and send them out individually in People Hub and in Bulk. In the below section, you can see how this feature actually works in the application.
Changes to the Menu Structure:
We have made some changes to the menu structure after introducing SMS templates and the bulk SMS feature. We have merged communications (SMS, email templates) under a single menu so that it would be easy for you to check everything in one menu.
We added a new menu under CRM called "Communications," and SMS, Email Templates, Bulk SMS, and Email will be under this menu.
You can navigate to the respective screens for sending email, SMS, and creating templates.
Creating SMS Templates:
For creating SMS templates, navigate to the SMS Templates screen under Communications -> SMS Templates.
Click the "Create" button to create a new SMS template. When you click "Create," it will open a slider for you to enter the template name and choose the company name (if it is company-specific).
You can enter a maximum of 1000 characters in the template box. You can add the user fields (Name, Firstname, Surname, Company, Organisation) using the "Add User Fields" button. When you add the User Fields to the template, it will dynamically fill out the worker's name (or) company's name based on the field selected and send it to workers when sending.
As mentioned in the template (orange colour), text anywhere charges 1 credit per 160 characters in a message. If the characters are high, then the TA will charge you more based on the number of characters in the template.
You can click the "Create" button at the bottom if you have filled out the template content.
After creating the template, you can select the template in the dropdown and search for it
and view/edit it.
You can do three actions with the SMS template created: edit, copy, and delete.
After creating the template, it's time to create the population for sending the created templates.
Custom population creation:
For sending bulk SMSs, creation of a population is necessary. You can create the custom population by going into the "Custom Population" screen and clicking "Create" at the top.
After clicking Create, the slider will open for you to enter the custom population name and select the fields to create a population (that will have the fields on the people list as well as the custom fields).
Suppose, if you want to send a bulk SMS/email to all the live workers for a specific company, you have to simply enter the population name as they wish on "Custom People Name" at the top, select the "Status" field and "Company" field under the "Standard Fields" tab, select the "Live" status, select the company name, and click "Save" as below:
After hitting Save, a custom population will be created for live workers under the selected company. Now you can go to the Bulk SMS screen to send the SMS to selected workers.
Sending Bulk SMS:
NOTE:
BULK SMS feature and sending individual SMS from People Hub are only applicable and work for logins that are created using the NEW TEXT ANYWHERE PLATFORM. This will not work for users who are using the OLD TEXT ANYWHERE platform.
Those who have integrated in MDA using the new Text anywhere platform's login can make use of this feature and send SMS in Communications > Bulk SMS screen.
Landing screen:
You have to select the custom population created from the dropdown, and then it will load the workers for the population below. You have to then select the workers you want to send the SMS, click "Send SMS", which will open the created SMS template, edit if you need to, and click "Send".
After you send bulk SMS to workers, the status will be displayed below the screen (Recent 5 SMS sent will be displayed here).
You can view the population, template details, and total number of records delivered, failed, and pending by clicking the view icon (eye). You can also see the history of records (individual) and what content was sent to each worker for that population by clicking the "History" icon.
You can now see the SMS history in People Hub -> Worker Record under "Contact" -> SMS and can also send SMS from here to the worker by clicking "Send SMS" and choosing templates.
Choose the custom template created, edit the content if you want to, and click "Send". That will send a text to the worker and will be shown in the history as well.
I hope you really like this feature😊🤩🎉