Message

This is where you enter the contents of the message. As you enter the contents, the system will show you number of characters and message parts needed. This is actually not as simple as it looks, because some characters count as two out of the limit of 160, and some (especially asian characters or emoji) actually cause each message part to be limited to just 70 characters.

If you want the message to be personalised, you can insert placeholders in the message. Placeholders look like this {{A}}, where the letter refers to the column in your recipients list. See the next section for an explanation of how this works.

Recipients

Press the Send to... button to load in your recipients list. The system will display a pop-up screen where you can enter the recipients' numbers, one per line, in any reasonable format. When you press the OK button, the numbers will be verified and entered into a table so you can check them easily, as well as make any last-minute adjustments.

If you want, you can enter more than just a number on each line (although the number must come first). If you add additional information (like the recipient's first name, for example) you should separate it from the number with a comma. You can enter up to 20 extra items per line (each separated from the previous one with a comma), although realistically 3 or 4 is about all you will really want to use. These extra items will become columns on this screen, and the value for each recipient can be inserted into the message using a placeholder: {{A}} for the value in column A, {{B}} for column B, and so on. The system will display appropriately-labelled buttons (for example, A B) to make this easier.

Preview & Send

When you press this button, the system will process all the messages and show you a preview in a pop-up window. You should check that all personalisation has worked as you expected it to, and that the number of credits required is OK. This preview takes into account the actual data being sent, so the number of credits for each message may be different if the data being merged makes a message use more parts (either because it is longer, or because it contains special characters that limit the number of characters per part).

The system will also total up the number of credits required to send all the messages, and display that total for you to approve.

If you are happy (and have enough credits), check the checkbox to signify that you approve the use of your credits, and press the Send SMS button. The messages will be queued for sending on the SMS Ninja servers. This will be done within no more than a couple of minutes, but we have no control of how long it will take for the SMS to be delivered by the carriers. Most times it is very quick but sometimes (either at peak times like New Year's Eve or at crowded events) it can take a little while.

Templates

If you find that you are sending the same message repeatedly, you can save it as a template for use later on. Just press the Save as Template button and you will be asked to provide a short name for the template before it is saved in you account.

All your saved templates are shown in the drop-down list labelled "Templates". Just select the one you want to use, and the template will be placed in the message area ready for you to use.

To edit a template, just select it, change it any way you like, and save it again using the same name – the system will pre-fill the same name onto the save screen to help you.

To delete a template, select it and then press the Delete button. The system will confirm that you want to do this, and then delete the template. It will, however, leave the template text loaded into the message area, so you can save it again, perhaps with another name – this effectively allows you to rename a template.