The success of a SMS marketing campaign depends primarily on the technical solutions implemented to configure it. In this article, we will explore 6 techniques to optimize your mobile strategy for your customers.

Technique #1: The API is your best friend!

Octopush offers a very practical SMS API. This API is a system that allows you to automate exchanges between your server and Octopush's servers. There is no longer any need to configure things manually on mobile, as you will manage your text message campaigns by connecting automatically to this API via the internet. The technical documentation for this API is available on the website's front office. Using the API offers numerous features, such as delayed sending, the ability to intercept potential responses (STOP, text replies, etc.), mail merge sending, and transactional SMS sending.

Technique #2: Configure a sending loop

The mail merge option allows you to send a customer text message campaign in a single request for email or mobile. To do this, simply integrate your recipients' numbers into parameters, along with any additional information about each customer. This option is, however, limited to 2,000 characters (via GET) and up to 300 to 400 recipients per batch (via POST). Depending on the size of your database, it will likely be necessary to configure an SMS loop (multiple requests for a single marketing text campaign) to distribute the risk of transmission loss and better manage SMS delivery.

Technique #3: Remove duplicate numbers

Avoid sending the same message to the same recipient! It is imperative to properly deduplicate your list. Locally, depending on the language used, you have several solutions at your fingertips. For example, in PHP, you can insert each mobile number into an associative array and then apply a deduplication function (array_unique). This extracts the distinct values from your associative array. Deduplication can also be done upstream (via your database, for example) by storing a unique number for each entry. Be sure to format your recipients' numbers according to the same schema (ideally, manage this formatting during the registration process with a validity check for each number). Note that Octopush provides a system for deduplicating phone numbers.

Technique #4: Personalizing your messages

Personalize your messages by introducing custom variables. The "Mail Merge" option offered by Octopush allows you to include them in every text or email sent to communicate about your solutions. Personalization can also be done upstream by directly inserting the content of custom variables into your mobile message, but in that case, you will not need to use the mail merge option.

Technique #5: Monitor your campaign on your smartphone

One of the keys to success is monitoring your marketing campaign in real-time, wherever you are, and managing incoming responses. With your smartphone, you can remotely manage your marketing campaign and keep an eye on the activity of your mobile SMS campaign. Be aware that the Octopush API service is accessible from many languages and allows you to extract highly reliable statistics on your account's consumption volume. Octopush provides very precise technical documentation for automating queries from your own smartphone (Android, for example). Android is a mobile operating system designed by the Google team based on the Linux kernel. The Android API service allows you to create a special application to manage your SMS campaigns: checking your credit balance, receiving alerts when credit is low, viewing statistics on your SMS campaign's performance, sending a text campaign, and more. Checking your credit is done by calling a special internet URL:

http://www.octopush-dm.com/api/balance

You will need to provide your API access credentials (specifically your API key), and the Android API service will return the result of your request: the amount of credit available in the services.

The special Android SMS API solution could, for example, be designed using software like Qt, which allows you to develop an application on the same software. Also, remember that the Android SMS API solution will always be accessible from more traditional channels like PHP, ASP.NET, and others.

Technique #6: Integrating the API into your Android application

You can integrate calls to the Octopush Android SMS API directly into your Android application. The goal: integrate data directly at the source! The only drawback: you must be careful not to expose your security key (API key), which must remain secret at all costs. To do this, first send the data to your secure SMS server , and then send it (after verification and processing) to the Octopush Android SMS API.