UPDATE – Aug 10, 2022
- Number Lookup Cleanup – You now have the ability to perform number lookups on each number imported, which will then separate the numbers into 2 separate files based on number type, either landline or mobile, which can then be exported. This new feature can be accessed under the “Contacts” left menu and if you have the permission turned on to import contacts, you will have permission to this feature as well. There is a new bucket of credits called “Lookup Credits” that will be used for this feature and the admin has the ability to set how many credits will be deducted for each number lookup in the admin panel config. You can also create lookup credit add-on/1-time packages that can be purchased and you can also manually assign these credits to the user account.
- Voicemail Text Back – We had many requests for this one as well. Now you have the option to set a voicemail customized text back response! When someone calls and gets directed to VM, automatically send them a text message back. Only 20% of people leave voicemails, so that leaves 80% who are missed opportunities and you can capture these leads, book new appointments, or respond to anyone who has a question. They can simply respond to the automated voicemail text and it will then show up in the SMS chat page to open further conversation with them. Super convenient, eliminates phone tag, and sends from the same number they just called into increasing the chances they will text back.
- Set Bulk SMS Timezone – You now can set the timezone for each bulk SMS campaign. Currently, the timezone used is on the user account level across all campaigns. However, there are users that have groups of customers and each group is associated to customers in different timezones. This allows you to schedule out campaigns to those groups based on the timezone they reside in!
- Mass Update Contacts to Unsubscribed – We have updated the import tool to allow you to mass update contacts to unsubscribed. Currently, there is an option to only allow contacts to be inserted or added as unsubscribed(useful when coming from another service). Now, if that contacts exists in the system and you click the unsubscribe checkbox before importing, it will mass update all existing contacts to unsubscribed based on the numbers being imported.
- Import Stats – After importing a list, it will now give stats of that import process, such as how many contacts were added, how many were updated or skipped because they already exist, and how many were skipped due to them being unsubscribed.
- Unsubscribes per Campaign – On the sent statistics page, it will now show the number of contacts who unsubscribed for that campaign. This is a very useful stat as it is one important metric showing just how effective the campaign was in terms of retention.
- Send a Single SMS – You now have the ability to send a single quick SMS to anyone, whether they are in your contact list or not. Currently, you can only send SMS to people in your contact list. From the left menu, under Messages, you will see a new link called “Send Single SMS”. There you can input any number you want.
- Group Search – We have now added a group search feature in the groups module that will allow you to search on group name, keyword, type(SMS or MMS), whether or not that group is double opt-in, and group type. This search is performed on all your groups across all pages.
- Batch Processing on Calendar Pop-up Window – We have added the batch processing feature on the calendar pop-up window. For people that are unaware, you can also schedule out messages this way by going to the calendar and clicking on a date. This will open a pop-up window where you can schedule out your messages. The batch processing feature is now included on this module as well.
- Toll-Free Number Registration Form – We have now added a toll-free number registration form that users can fill out when getting a new toll-free number. Mobile carriers are now requiring that all new Toll-Free numbers provisioned must complete use case verification before sending traffic. This will ensure the highest possible delivery rates through the carriers. When a user completes this form, it will alert and send the completed form to the admin, who can then use those details when submitting it through whatever SMS gateway provider the admin has an account with. The admin can also view the form details in the admin panel users module by clicking the “Toll-Free Registration” button.
- Twilio Messaging Service – For users that want to register their local long codes with the 10DLC campaign registry, Twilio requires a messaging service to be created and those numbers be assigned to that service. Currently, you have to manually create a messaging service for each user inside your Twilio account, and then assign that number(s) to the service before submitting all the 10DLC compliance documents. Now when a user account is created in the platform, it will automatically create the messaging service in the Twilio console and when a user searches for and assigns a number to their account inside the UltraSMS dashboard, it will also assign that number to the messaging service. This eliminates some of those manual steps needed previously when using 10DLC. Now you will just need to go into that Twilio sub-account matching the user account created, go into the messaging service that was automatically created, and submit your clients’ required compliance documents.
- Multiple Group Merge – You now have the ability to merge multiple groups into 1 new group using our group merge feature. Currently, you are only able to do a 1-1 group merge. Now you can select multiple groups at once and merge those into a new group.
- Export Filtered Contacts – In the contacts page, you can now export only your filtered contacts you searched on using the contact search feature. Currently, the contact export feature was exporting ALL contacts regardless of your search criteria. The contact export will now export either your entire list if no search criteria was entered, or only those you searched on.
- STOPALL, QUIT, END, CANCEL, UNSUBSCRIBE keywords – The SMS gateway providers like Twilio, Telnyx, Plivo, etc…also have the reserved STOPALL, QUIT, END, CANCEL, UNSUBSCRIBE keywords that when texted into the number, they add those numbers to a blacklist on their end. However, our platform was only looking for the STOP keyword when marking that contact as unsubscribed on our end, so now we also look for those additional keywords should the contacts text those and will mark them as unsubscribed in UltraSMS.
- Recommended MMS Image Uploads to 600KB – We have added a recommended image upload size limit message in the platform, mainly because most carriers limit the size of MMS media messages, so if you attempted to send a message greater than what they allow, that MMS message will most likely fail. Some carriers allow different sizes and even the number type being used to send the message(toll-free or long code) have different size requirements, which is why this is just a recommendation. However, the size that will work in all situations across all carriers and number types is 600KB and under.
- Allow Spaces in Alphanumeric Sender IDs – For countries that allow sending from alphanumeric sender IDs, we have removed the no spaces restriction in the sender ID. You can now create alphanumeric sender IDs with spaces as long as the length is 11 characters or less.
- Mobile Coupons List Default Ordering – We have now updated the Mobile Coupons list default ordering to be by the created date in descending order, so that the most recently created coupons show at the top of the list. Currently it was ordered by coupon name, but we heard from many of you that wanted it ordered so that the most recent coupons appeared at the top of the list.
- Safeguard when Scheduling Bulk SMS and Voice Broadcasts – We have now put in a safeguard when scheduling Bulk SMS and Voice Broadcasts that will prevent accidental double clicks of the send button, which can potentially schedule 2 duplicate campaigns.
- Add SMS ID to the Sent Statistics Logs – We have added the SMS ID to the sent statistics logs and also the export report for troubleshooting purposes. This ID is generated by the SMS gateway providers(Twilio, Telnyx, Plivo, etc…) and is required by them when troubleshooting an issue with the messages being sent.
REMINDER: People tend to forget about this feature, but the calendar pop-up window is where you can also schedule a series of messages on a recurring basis. You can repeat events daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly and the frequency of those scheduled events(every day, every 2nd day, every 5th day, once a week, every 2 weeks, etc…)
SMS Chat Upgrades
- Assignment of SMS Chat Conversations to Sub-Accounts – The main/parent user account can now assign SMS chat conversations to specific sub-accounts they have setup in the system. When the sub-account logs into the user panel and goes into the SMS chat module, they will only see the conversations assigned to them. We heard from many people that didn’t want the sub-accounts having the ability to see all conversations, so now only the parent user account will see them all and the sub-accounts will only see those that have been assigned to them.
- Emoji Picker on SMS Chat – We have added a nice emoji picker to the SMS chat module. You can select and search on different emojis to insert into your message and it will remember most recently used emojis as well. A must for any chat style app!
- SMS Chat Sort by Unreads – We have added a button that will allow to you to sort conversations that have been unread, so those will be brought to the top of the list.
- Add Unsubscribe Contact Button to SMS Chat – We have added an unsubscribe contact button to the SMS chat module. This will make it easier and more convenient to remove a contact from the list instead of having to always go to the contacts page. Many times a contact will text back something other than the STOP keyword, like “Please remove me from your list” or “Take me off your list” and you can now easily just click the unsubscribe button from the SMS chat page to remove them when seeing these types of messages come through.
- Add Email to SMS Reply to SMS Chat Thread – When you have the “Email to SMS” setting turned on, and you reply to that email, it will also add that reply to the SMS chat thread to maintain conversation history with that contact. Replying to emails will text them back, so it only makes sense those replies be maintained in the chat thread as well.
- New Incoming Message Chat Bubble Count – On the left menu, next to the SMS Chat link, the new incoming messages bubble count will now automatically update without doing a hard browser refresh, no matter what page you’re on. Currently, you have to refresh the browser or navigate to another page to have that count update. Now every 5 seconds, it will check for new incoming messages and will update the count automatically across all pages without having to refresh the browser.
- Schedule Appointment from SMS Chat – There is now an “Add Appointment” button on the SMS chat page, that when clicked on will direct you to the add appointment page with that contact pre-selected. Just add the appointment details from there. Many clients have requested this since they get appointment requests coming through in the SMS Chat. This provides a short cut in creating the appointment for that contact.
