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Template Options for SMS

This document describes configuration options for SMS templates.

Table of contents

Creating and editing templates

To learn how to create base templates, read Creating Base Templates. To learn how to edit, clone, preview and delete base templates, read Managing Base Templates.

SMS Template tab

The SMS Template tab provides basic configuration options for SMS templates:

SMS Template tab

Template Name

Set a Template Name to provide a name for your template, which can be useful for locating it when creating new campaigns.

Message Type

Select a Message Type to categorize your message by channel and type. For more information, read Message Channels and Message Types.

From Number

From Number determines the sender to associate with the text message. To set up senders in your Iterable project, work with your customer success manager.

Image URL

Image URL is a URL to a file to include with the SMS. Must be 5mb or smaller. For more information about accepted file types, read Twilio's Accepted Content Types For Media document. Example URLs:

  • Image: https://placekitten.com/400/300
  • Video: https://www.w3schools.com/html/mov_bbb.mp4
  • vCard: https://www.w3.org/2002/12/cal/vcard-examples/john-doe.vcf

SMS Message

SMS Message represents the content of the message. 160 characters maximum by default, but this is a dynamic number that updates based on the content you insert. If you exceed the maximum, the content will be sent as multiple SMS messages.

TIP

Below this input, you'll see some text that describes how (and whether) your project will automatically include opt-out instructions with SMS campaigns. This is an important topic that has deliverability implications. For more information, read SMS Overview.

Advanced Options tab

The Advanced Options tab provides further configuration options for SMS templates:

Advanced Options

Enable Template Generation Using Data Feeds

Enables customization of the template with data feeds (external web services). For more information, read Personalizing Templates with Data Feeds. Enabling this option causes various other data feed-related options to appear: as described in the following sections.

  • Cache Data Feed Response

    This option causes Iterable to cache responses to the data feeds referenced by the template (to reduce load on the servers that host them). For each recipient, Iterable determines the data feed URL to query by substituting parameters from their Iterable profile into the data feed's pre-defined URL. If Iterable has a cached response for that URL from within the past hour, it will use that data. Otherwise, it will query the URL.

  • Merge the Data Feed and User Contexts

    Allows the template to reference data feed data with double curly braces ({{productName}}) instead of double square brackets ([[productName]]). Doubly curly braces can still be used to reference user profile data, too. If the same field exists on both the user profile and the data feed, Iterable uses the value from the user profile. With this option enabled, a merge parameter can prefer user profile data but otherwise revert to data feed data.

  • Use Data Feed Alias

    Allows the template's content to reference data feeds by their aliases. Using aliases can make templates easier to read and maintain, especially when they reference multiple data feeds. To learn how to define data feed aliases, read Editing a data feed's alias. To learn how to use data feed aliases to reference data, read Using aliases to reference data feed data.

Additional options

Below the configuration options, you'll see various additional options:

Clone, Proof, Preview

  • To see the template's revision history, click See Revisions.
  • To clone the template to the same project, click Clone Template.
  • To send a proof of the template to yourself (with your own data), as random users (to yourself, but using data from random contacts in your project), to an internal list, or to someone else, click Send Proof and select an option. For more information, read Sending Proofs.
  • To preview the template with user data, click the Preview With Data button.
  • To save the template, click Save Template.

Further reading

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