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Troubleshooting & FAQs

Q: How does OptCulture determine which contacts are eligible to receive an SMS campaign?

A: When you launch an SMS campaign, OptCulture automatically filters your audience to ensure compliance and deliverability. For a contact to receive a message, they must meet two specific conditions simultaneously within your Segment Conditions:

  1. Mobile Status is 'Active': The contact's specific field Mobile_status in the contacts table must be set to 'Active'.

  2. Not on Suppress List: The contact’s Mobile Number or Customer ID (CID) must not be present in the global Suppress List (also known as the DND-table).

Q: What actions cause a contact’s Mobile Status to change to 'Suppressed' or 'Bounced'?

A: The Mobile_status field in your main contacts table is dynamic. It can change from 'Active' to 'Suppressed' or 'Bounced' through the following interactions:

  • Gateway Opt-out: If a customer replies with a STOP keyword (available specifically via the 'Clickatell' gateway).

  • C-360 Manual Update: An agent manually changes the status via the Customer 360 view.

  • Subscription Center: The customer updates their communication preferences to opt-out of SMS.

Q: How do mobile numbers get added to the hard Suppression List (DND-table)?

A: The Suppression List is a safeguard to prevent sending to invalid numbers or customers who have strictly opted out. Numbers are added to this list automatically in the following scenarios:

  • Hard Failures: If a message fails permanently during sending. This applies to:

    • DR (Delivery Receipt) message hard fails.

    • Standard Campaign message hard fails.

    • Flow (Automation) message hard fails.

  • Channel-Level Suppression: Manually set via the C-360 profile.

  • Subscription Center: If the customer explicitly selects "Do Not Disturb" or similar global unsubscribe options.

Q: How can I reactivate a mobile number that was previously suppressed?

A: If a customer was previously suppressed but now wishes to receive SMS communications again, their status can be reverted to 'Active' through these three methods:

  1. C-360 Profile: An internal user can manually update the status back to Active in the Customer 360 view.

  2. Gateway Opt-in: The customer sends a START/SUBSCRIBE keyword (available specifically via the 'Clickatell' gateway).

  3. Subscription Center: The customer logs into their preference center and re-checks the SMS permission box.

Q: Why did a valid contact not receive my SMS campaign?

A: If you believe a contact is valid but they did not receive the message, verify the following:

  1. Check their Mobile_status in the contact table. Is it 'Active'?

  2. Check if their number exists in the Suppress List. Even if their status says 'Active', being on the global Suppress List takes precedence.

  3. Did the message Hard Fail previously? If a previous DR, Campaign, or Flow message hard failed, the system automatically blocks future attempts to protect your sender reputation.

Q: What is DLT approval, and do I need it?

A: DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology) is a mandatory registration system in India to regulate SMS traffic and prevent spam. If you are sending messages to any customers in India, you must register your Sender ID (also called a Header) and all your message templates on a DLT platform. Campaigns sent without DLT approval will be blocked by carriers.

Q: How can customers opt-out of SMS campaigns?

A: You are required to provide a clear and simple opt-out method in your messages. The standard is "Reply STOP to unsubscribe." The OptCulture platform automatically processes these "STOP" replies and adds the contact to a suppression list to ensure they do not receive future SMS messages.

Q: My messages aren't being delivered. What's wrong?

A: Message delivery can fail for several reasons:

  • Carrier Filtering: The mobile carrier (e.g., Verizon, T-Mobile) may have filtered the message as potential spam. This can be caused by using spam-trigger words, "spammy" URLs, or sending too many messages too quickly.

  • Invalid Number: The phone number is a landline, is no longer in service, or is formatted incorrectly.

  • Opt-Out/DND: The contact has previously replied "STOP" or is registered on a national Do Not Disturb (DND) list.

Q: Why should I use the "Ramp up" feature?

A: The "Ramp up" feature is a best practice for improving your sender reputation with mobile carriers. Sending a massive blast of 100,000+ messages all at once can get your Sender ID flagged as spam. "Ramp up" prevents this by sending your campaign in smaller, controlled batches over time (e.g., 2,000 contacts per hour). This ensures better deliverability for large campaigns.

Q: What is the best time to send an SMS campaign?

A: Because SMS is so immediate and personal, timing is critical. It's best to send during normal "socially acceptable" hours, such as 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM. Avoid sending messages too early in the morning or too late at night. For time-sensitive flash sales, send the message 2-4 hours before the offer's start or end time for maximum impact.

Q: How many SMS campaigns should I send?

A: Be respectful of your audience's inbox. Unlike email, "less is more" with SMS. Sending too frequently is the fastest way to get opt-outs. A good starting point for most brands is 2-4 marketing messages per month. Transactional messages (like order confirmations) do not count toward this limit.

Q: What is the character limit for an SMS?

A: A standard SMS message is 160 characters. If you go over this limit, your message will consume more than one credit. For example, a 200-character message will be sent as one message but consumes two credits. Using emojis or non-standard characters (like certain foreign language characters) can also reduce the character limit per segment.

Q: How do I track link clicks in my SMS?

A: When you add a URL to your message, our platform gives you the option to automatically shorten it and enable click-tracking. This not only saves valuable character space but also allows you to see exactly which contacts clicked your link in the campaign's performance report.

Q: My personalization (merge tag) showed up blank. Why?

A: This happens when the contact record you sent to does not have data for that specific field. For example, if you used |FirstName| but the contact's profile has no first name saved, the tag will be blank. It is important to maintain clean and complete contact data for personalization to work correctly. We recommend setting a fallback value (e.g., "Hi there!") for your merge tags.

 


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