The Text SMS component sends text messages using Alibaba Cloud Short Message Service (SMS) or a third-party SMS platform. These messages are categorized as either promotional messages or notifications.
Promotional messages: Allow you to insert multiple short links. They are suitable for scenarios such as new product announcements, member outreach, birthday greetings, sales promotions, and event invitations.
Promotional messages from third-party platforms support variables and short links with short parameters.
Typically, promotional messages from Alibaba Cloud do not support variables or short links with short parameters.
Notifications: Allow you to insert multiple variables or short links. Each short link can include a short parameter. They are suitable for scenarios such as coupon usage alerts and holiday marketing campaign announcements.
Where:
Variable: A placeholder for personalized content that is sent to different users. This content can be based on user tags. For example, if you insert the variable ${name} and set its value to the user's name, the message displays the user's name in place of the variable.
Short link: A compressed URL created from a long, original web address. Short links save space in your message.
Short parameter: A parameter that is generated from a user's mobile phone number and added to the end of a short link. This lets you collect data on user clicks. Data collected through Alibaba Cloud SMS is sent back to the Alibaba Cloud SMS platform. Data collected through third-party SMS is sent back to Quick Audience. A short parameter is a type of variable.
The following table describes the support for variables, short links, and short parameters on different SMS platforms. Y indicates that the feature is supported. N indicates that the feature is not supported.
Promotional Message | Notification | |||
Alibaba Cloud SMS Platform | Third-party SMS Platform | Alibaba Cloud SMS Platform | Third-party SMS Platform | |
Variable | Standard customers: N | Y | Y | Y |
Short Link | Y | Y | Y | Y |
Short Parameter | Standard customers: N | Y | Y | Y |
To ensure that automated marketing runs smoothly, both promotional messages and notifications must use approved SMS signatures and templates. The template content becomes the message content and cannot be changed. For more information, see SMS Signature Management and Create Text SMS Template.
Regardless of whether a journey starts with a Behavior Event component or a Target Audience component, users who reach the Text SMS component are matched with a mobile phone number from any data source using their QAID.
An organization administrator is responsible for configuring the SMS API. For more information about configuring the Alibaba Cloud SMS API, see Configure Alibaba Cloud SMS API. For more information about configuring a third-party SMS API, see Create Third-party SMS Platform API. You must also develop the third-party SMS API as described in Create Third-party SMS Platform API.
You can limit the number of promotional messages sent to a single user within a specific period and set do-not-disturb times. This limit does not apply to notifications. For more information, see Fatigue Control.
Configuration steps
Click the Text SMS component. In the panel that appears on the right, configure the following parameters.
Parameter
Description
Step Name
Enter a name for the step.
SMS Platform
Select Alibaba Cloud SMS Platform or a configured third-party SMS platform.
SMS Type
Select Promotional Message or Notification.
SMS Signature
From the drop-down list, select an approved signature. The signature is sent with the message to the user.
You can also click Create SMS Signature from the drop-down list to go to the SMS Signature Management page and add a signature.
SMS Template
From the drop-down list, select an approved template. The template content is used as the message content.
You can also click Create Template from the drop-down list to go to the Text SMS Template page and add a template.
If the template contains variables, set how their values are retrieved:
For journeys that start from a Target Audience component: Select a user tag as the variable value.
For journeys that start from a Behavior Event component: Select an event property reported by the corresponding event as the variable value.
If the following conditions are met, you can also select a user tag as the variable value. The user from the reported event is matched to a tag value from any data source using their QAID:
NoteWhen the first component is a Behavior Event component, to use a tag as a variable value, you must first purchase a Tablestore instance and enable the feature. Contact your Alibaba Cloud sales manager. This Tablestore instance can be the same one used for the Tablestore Authorization Configuration.
Then, set whether to send no content or send a specified default value if the tag or property is empty.
For example, based on the configuration in the preceding figure, if values for both variables can be retrieved from tags, the message content is: "Hello John Doe, today October 1 is your birthday...". If values for both variables cannot be retrieved, the message is: "Hello member, today is your birthday...".
If the short link in the template includes a short parameter, such as "sp_1461" in the preceding figure, you do not need to specify its value. When the message is sent, a corresponding short parameter is generated for each mobile phone number and added to the end of the short link.
To send a test message, click Test Send. In the dialog box that appears, enter a test mobile phone number. If the content includes variables, enter the corresponding test values. Click OK.
The system sends a test message. Check your mobile phone to confirm that you have received it.
Click OK.