We are excited to announce the launch of our new, unified SMS communication platform which is now officially available for use online. By introducing this new SMS platform, Beem now enables users to better manage their contacts, send SMS campaigns, manage SMS purchase requests, filter and view SMS reports on their dashboards without downloading among other features and functionalities.
On the main vendor dashboard, we have made a few design updates showcasing the traffic overview of the account owner. The traffic overview feature allows you to see the total number of SMS sent, those delivered, failed and those which are pending. The traffic overview can be filtered by day, week, month or year.
Easily Manage Contacts and Import Contacts
To optimize the user experience, we have made a few improvements that made this feature more convenient and effective. With the new platform, you can add new contacts, create groups and import contacts more easily.
You can edit a specific contact or delete it within a contact group and also edit the group details too, something that was not possible in the old SMS platform. With the new platform, you can also view all your contacts details i.e. group name, total contacts and group descriptions on the manage contact dashboard.
Pick How You Want To Send SMS Campaigns
There are various ways users can do SMS broadcasts on the new platform. The different ways of broadcasting include File SMS, Group SMS, Quick SMS and CRM sms which will be introduced soon. Below, we break down each broadcast method into details.
File SMS – This type of broadcast allows you to send SMS campaigns by uploading a file with contact details (saved in a file) from your computer or laptop. To send an SMS campaign using file SMS, simply go to “Campaign” on your dashboard menu select “Send Campaign” on the dropdown and then click on “File SMS”. Here, you will be able to upload your file with contact details to start sending out your SMS campaign to listed customers.
Group SMS – Another way of doing an SMS broadcast is by sending group SMS. Here, after selecting “Group SMS” on dashboard, you will have to select the “Group Name” you want to send an SMS campaign. Next, you have the option to include or exclude contacts from the chosen group or even add extra contacts not included in the group one by one. After you are done, you can proceed to create you message content, add sender name and place holder and send your SMS campaign to the selected group. To send to another group of customers, repeat the same process for other group of contacts created.
Quick SMS – Lastly, you can easily send SMS messages using the “Quick SMS”method. On the “Quick SMS” dashboard, add phone number(s), select a sender name and then add the message content or select a saved SMS template. Once done, you can go ahead and send your SMS campaign.
Each of these ways of sending SMS campaigns gives you the option to either send out your messages right away or schedule your SMS to be sent at a particular given date. This saves you time in the future and is very realiable in case you forget to push your broadcast to your customers or clients.
Brand Your SMS Messages With A Sender Name
To build a trusted dialogue with your customers and clients, you can request a sender name that can be a number or text which will appear as the “From” on your SMS message.
Sender names help customers or subscribers receiving your SMS messages easily recognize you as a enterprise, institution or company. It also builds trust on the receiver’s end who will also more likely to respond to you if they know you.
Manage Your SMS Purchase Requests
We have different available payment options that users can select from. Currently the options available include cash, cheque, bank transfer and mobile payments via Tigo Pesa, M-PESA, Airtel Money and Halopesa.
On the purchase SMS dashboard, you can select the number of SMS you want to buy and then select your preferred way of paying, confirm your payment and your requested SMS credits would be added to your account automatically and an email will be sent to you to confirm your purchase.
Another additional feature under purchase SMS is purchase history which lets users manage their SMS purchase history by filtering payment status.
Filter And View SMS Reports
The new SMS platform now allows users to filter and view SMS reports on their dashboards without having to download. On the reports dashboard, you can view your SMS history by per broadcast, by network ,by API ,by received SMS and by scheduled broadcast. This can filtered by days, months and year or each combined. Instead of just viewing these reports, users can also export and download file reports. Within each report option, users can also view status delivery of each SMS message sent in a particular SMS campaign.
