Send SMS campaigns
Send a text message to a group of customers now or at a set time (only available to some companies).
SMS campaigns let you send one text message to many customers at once, for example to tell them about a change in opening hours.
SMS campaigns are a limited feature. Only a few companies can use them. If you can't see SMS in the Customers area, your company doesn't have it.
The page says campaigns are for "operational updates to customers".
Before you start
- You need Write and Publish access to Customers Reports. Without both, you can look at campaigns and preview them, but you can't send, schedule or cancel.
- Each customer needs a valid phone number. Customers without one are left out.
- SMS campaigns cost money. Dineout shows the price before you send. See What it costs.
Send a campaign
Start a campaign
Open SMS in the Customers area and click New SMS campaign.
You can also start from your customer list. Tick the customers you want, open the campaign menu and choose Start SMS campaign for … selected. With nobody ticked, choose Start SMS campaign with visit filters.
Write the message
In Create group message, type your text in Message. The limit is 320 characters. You can add a link directly in the text. A preview shows how it looks on a customer's phone.
Choose who gets it
Under Audience, choose one of two options:
- Use … already selected: the customers you ticked in the list.
- Build an audience with activity filters: pick customers by what they did.
With activity filters, restaurants choose Activity (Reservations or Orders), Location and a date. Companies that sell services choose a Staff member, a Service and a date. The date can be Today, Yesterday, Past 7 days, Past 30 days or a custom range.
Check the price and recipients
Click Calculate audience and price. The Review campaign step shows how many customers matched and how many will really get the message. It also lists customers left out as Missing contact, Invalid contact or Duplicates, and the price.
Click Download CSV if you want the list of matched customers.
Choose when to send
Choose Send now or Schedule. For Schedule, pick the time in Send at. It must be in the future and uses your company's time zone.
Verify and send
Click Authorize sending (or Authorize scheduling) and confirm. Dineout sends a six-digit code by text. Enter it under Six-digit verification code and click Verify and create campaign.
Check the number of customers and the delivery date in the verification window before you enter the code. Only use the code if they match what you approved.
If you waited too long, the price and audience expire. Click Calculate audience and price again.
What it costs
The review step shows Billable segments, Unit price excluding VAT, Subtotal excluding VAT, VAT and the total including VAT. A long message can use more than one segment, so it costs more per customer.
See past campaigns
The SMS page lists your campaigns with Created, Campaign, Created by, Recipients, Status, Scheduled / sent and Cost. Click one to see its message, audience, counts (Approved, Matched, Deliverable, Failed) and price.
A campaign can have these statuses: Scheduled, Queued, Sending, Sent, Partially sent, Failed and Cancelled.
Cancel a scheduled campaign
Open the campaign, click Cancel campaign and confirm. You can only cancel a campaign that still has the status Scheduled. A cancelled campaign can't be restored.