Getting started

What is Campaign Manager?

Campaign Manager is an online software as a service tool that allows you to create custom SMS campaigns within minutes, with no coding or developers required. It is a pay-as-you-use product, where the tool is free and you only pay for the messages you send. This tool allows for both one-way and two-way customer engagement and is ideal for campaigns such as promotions, reminders, alerts, event information, quick polls and notifications. You can also track the progress and performance of your campaigns from within your Clickatell portal.

Activating the Campaign Manager product gives you access to the following:

• Campaign scheduling and management: Define and schedule 1- way or 2- way SMS campaigns across various geographical regions
• Templates: Create and re-use campaign templates
• Opt-in management: Manage subscriptions and opt-outs across multiple campaigns
• Additional tools such as a bitly URL shortener and non-GSM character detector
• Contact and list management: Add, edit, delete and upload contacts and group them into customer segments
• Measure and optimize the success of campaigns: View delivery rate, click-through rate and other message-specific details

Getting started with Campaign Manager

Step 1: Register your Clickatell account & log in to the portal

Sign up and create your free Clickatell account. Once you’ve verified your account, log in to the Clickatell portal. From the Products & Services tab you can activate the channels and products that you want to utilize. The My Workspace tab provides access to all the channels and products you have activated on your account and allows you to configure and manage each. 

Step 2: Activate the Campaign Manager tool

To activate Campaign Manager as a product on your account, click the Campaign Manager card under Products on the Products & Services tab. Click the ‘+Activate product’ button to add Campaign Manager as a product under the My Workspace tab.

In the My Workspace tab, select the Campaign Manager card. Click ‘Enable Campaign Manager‘.

If you haven’t set up your billing details yet, you will be directed to the Billing and Payments page to set up your billing details first. When sending out your campaign messages, the cost of each message is subtracted from your credit balance. Ensure you have a sufficient balance by navigating to the profile icon in the top navigation bar and clicking the  ‘Top up balance‘ button. 

Alternatively, when adding a new SMS setup you can select ‘Campaign Manager‘ in Step 1. Click the ‘Go to Campaign‘ button.

Step 3: Build your campaign

Launch the Campaign Tool by navigating to My Workspace –> Campaign Manager and clicking ‘Go to Campaign’.

The Campaign Manager dashboard shows the four steps to set up a new message campaign. These also serve as shortcuts for commonly performed actions.

1. Add the contacts you want to send the messages to by uploading a contact list or a single contact.
2. Optionally enable two-way messaging by adding a long number or short code. If not done, a random number will be assigned to you and only 1-way messaging will be possible. Note: in the US, one-way messaging is not allowed and the campaign will be blocked if you don’t set up two-way messaging. 
3. Top up your balance by adding credit to your cart and making a payment.
4. Write, preview, and schedule/send your messages.

In Campaign Manager, you can use the left navigation panel to access settings and tools for your campaign:

• Dashboard – step-by-step walkthrough to set up a new messaging campaign; provides shortcuts for often-used actions
• Groups – group your contacts into customer segments and configure campaigns for each group
• Contacts – import and manage your contacts and view useful data about your contacts
• Campaign – create a new campaign and a campaign queue group/contact; create and re-use campaign templates
• Calendar – view and manage all your scheduled campaigns; click on a specific date to schedule a message that will then be sent on that specific day
• Tools
  • Short Links – create short links from any URL you want to add to your campaign message to minimize the number of characters used; view existing short links and their click-through rate
  • Non-GSM Character Checker – ensure that your message contains only GSM characters; messages containing non-GSM characters are limited to only 70 characters
• Logs – use the ‘Actions‘ drop-down to view your SMS Outbox and SMS Inbox; you can view all messages that were sent or are scheduled to be sent and their statuses, as well as view and reply to all messages received
• Preferences – edit settings such as company name, timezone, incoming SMS alerts, new subscriber alerts, etc.
• Logout – Log out of your Clickatell account