Automate the sending of your transactional and promotional SMS messages to deliver timely updates and personalized offers without manual effort, such as order confirmations, appointment reminders, or exclusive discounts. Save time while increasing engagement from your customers.
What type of SMS messages can I send through automation?
Automation allows you to automate repetitive tasks related to marketing activities. The tasks are automated in response to pre-defined trigger conditions, which usually correspond to your contacts' attributes or actions that they take on your website, for example. An automation usually consists of 3 steps:
|
Entry point Contact enters the automation based on predefined criteria |
Actions or conditions Contact move through the steps of the automation |
Restart or exit conditions Contact automatically restarts or exits the automation based on predefined criteria |
You can automate the sending of your SMS messages for different purposes:
| Trigger | Rule | Action | |
|
Abandoned cart |
Ecommerce > cart_updated (track event) |
Time delay | Send an SMS |
|
Product purchase |
Ecommerce > order_completed (track event) |
||
|
Welcome message |
Contacts > Contact added to a list |
||
|
Event reminder |
Custom > Class scheduled |
||
|
Anniversary Date |
Contacts > Anniversary |
To learn how to insert variables in your SMS messages to send customized transactional SMS automations, check our dedicated section in the article Personalize your SMS messages with contact attributes and automation data.
Before you start
- Check our Best practices for SMS deliverability.
- Learn how to create an automation in our dedicated articles Using a Marketing Automation workflow template and Creating a custom Automation workflow.
- Purchase SMS credits to send SMS messages through an automation.
- If you are sending SMS campaigns or transactional SMS to recipients in the United States or Canada, you have to register for a toll-free number and comply with the United States SMS marketing regulations. To learn more, check our dedicated article Comply with the United States SMS marketing regulations with our compliance feature.
- You can also send transactional SMS messages through a Brevo plugin or the Brevo API.
🔁 Part 1: Create your automation
Step 1: Create the automation workflow
For our use case, we will create an automation similar to the Welcome Message pre-configured one but with the Send an SMS action:
- Go to Automations and click Create an automation.
- From the Create from scratch drop-down, choose the automation editor you want to use:
The new automation editor opens. If needed, rename your automation from the top-left corner to easily recognize it in the list:
- In the right panel, enter a relevant name for your automation to easily recognize it in the list.
- Optional: Enter a description of your automation.
- Choose if you want to allow your contacts to enter the automation more than once. This option can be enabled for product purchase or marketing activity automations.
However, for our use case, we only want contacts to enter the automation once since it is a welcome message sent only when they subscribe. - Click Create automation.
You can now choose your triggers, rules, and actions to activate your automation ⬇️.
Step 2: Choose an entry point for your automation
Add an entry point to your automation that will trigger the sending of your SMS message. For our use case, the entry point for the welcome message automation is a Contact added to a list, so once a contact is added to the selected list, they enter the automation.
➡️ To learn more about the different entry points, check our dedicated article:
- [New automation editor] Available triggers, actions, and rules in an automation
- [Classic automation editor] Available entry points, actions, and conditions in an automation.
Depending on the automation editor version you are using, the procedure can differ. Click the tab corresponding to your version:
- From the Triggers tab, browse the different triggers and drag and drop the one you want to add to the canvas. In this use case, Contact added to list. The Contact added to list settings open in the side panel.
- From the List dropdown, select which list(s) should trigger the automation. Anytime a contact is added to the selected list(s), they will enter the automation.
- Click Save.
- Click Add an entry point.
- Select the entry point to your automation. For our use case, click Contact Details > A contact is added to a list.
- Select from the drop-down the contact list to which your contacts are added when they subscribe to your SMS marketing communications.
- Click OK.
Once you choose your entry point, you can add a condition that will trigger the sending of the SMS message ⬇️.
(Optional) Step 3: Add a condition to your automation
Add a rule to the triggering of your action in the automation:
- Add a time delay between the moment when your contact enters the automation and the action.
- Apply conditional split (If/Else) to divide the automation into 2 branches: one branch for yes, the other for no.
- Create an A/B Split to separate your contacts in a 50:50 ratio to follow path A or path B.
- Wait until an event happens before triggering the action.
For our use case, after a contact enters the automation, we want to wait 2 or 3 minutes before receiving the welcome SMS message. This helps make the interaction feel less automated.
➡️ To learn more about the different conditions and how to use them, check our dedicated article:
- [New automation editor] Available triggers, actions, and rules in an automation
- [Classic automation editor] Available entry points, actions, and conditions in an automation.
Depending on the automation editor version you are using, the procedure can differ. Click the tab corresponding to your version:
- Click the Rules tab.
- Drag and drop the Time delay rule under your trigger in the canvas. The Time delay settings open in the side panel.
- Enter the delay you want your contacts to wait for before receiving your welcome SMS. In this use case, add 2 under Minutes.
- Click Save.
- Click the + icon under your entry point.
- From the Condition list, click Add a delay.
- Choose the period to wait for between the moment your contact enters the automation and the sending of the SMS message.
For our use case, we want our contacts to receive the SMS message 2 minutes after their subscription. - Click OK.
Step 4: Create the SMS content
It is now time to create the content of your SMS. Depending on the automation editor version you are using, the procedure can differ. Click the tab corresponding to your version:
- Click the Actions tab.
- Under the Messaging section, drag and drop the Send an SMS action in the canvas. The settings open in the side panel.
- Select the type of SMS you will be sending with this automation:
- Transactional SMS if you are sending order status updates, delivery notifications or subscription status.
- Promotional SMS if you are sending welcome offers, discounts or deals.
- In the Sender name field, enter a personalized name of 3-11 letters or 15 digits for your sender. We recommend using your company name to help your recipients recognize your brand. Avoid special characters such as GSM characters, Unicode in non-Latin alphabets (e.g., Arabic, Russian), and emojis.
💡 Good to knowRecipients in some countries (including the USA and Canada) cannot see sender personalization, which is displayed as a numerical shortcode. To learn more, check our dedicated article Short codes, long codes, and personalized SMS senders.
- In the Content text field, enter the content of your SMS campaigns that your recipients will receive.
An SMS message can have up to 160 characters, including spaces and line breaks. Above 160 characters, the next SMS length changes to 153 characters. To learn more, check our dedicated article Is there a limit on the number of characters used in an SMS message?.
❗️ ImportantYou have to include an unsubscribe option in your SMS content. To learn more, check our dedicated article Include an unsubscribe option in your SMS messages. - In the What event data to display section, choose which event to retrieve data from based on whether your SMS includes event-related personalization. Expand the following accordions to learn when to use each option:
This SMS doesn’t have variablesSelect this option if your SMS does not include event-related personalization, such as a product name or price.
Event that triggered this automationSelect this option if your SMS includes personalization related to the event that triggered the automation. For example, an order confirmation SMS personalized with product details would use data from the "Order Created" event, which is the trigger of the automation.
Latest instance of an eventSelect this option if you want to pull data from the most recent occurrence of a specific event, even if it’s different from the event that triggered the automation. For example, if you're sending a follow-up SMS about a customer’s most recent purchase, this option ensures the SMS reflects the latest order details rather than the one that triggered the automation.
- Optional: Customize your SMS content with:
-
Emojis using the smiley
icon.
- Contact attributes using the bracket { } icon. To learn more, check our dedicated section in the article Personalize your SMS messages with contact attributes and automation data.
- Event data using the bracket { } icon. To learn more, check our dedicated section in the article Personalize your SMS messages with contact attributes and automation data.
- Data feeds using the bracket { } icon. To learn more, check our dedicated article Personalize your SMS messages with real-time data (data feeds).
-
Emojis using the smiley
- Activate additional options if you added emojis, links, or special characters to the content of your SMS campaign:
🔣 Display special characters (emojis, accents, non-Latin alphabets)Activate the Special characters option if your SMS message contains special characters such as GSM characters, Unicode content used in non-Latin alphabets (e.g. Arabic, Russian), and emojis. Otherwise, special characters could be replaced when sending.
❗️ ImportantSpecial characters (Unicode & emojis) reduce the SMS character limit to 70 which could increase the overall SMS count.⏲️ Set up when to send the SMSChoose when to send your SMS to avoid sending it at night or during the weekend. If your contact enters the automation during an unauthorized time, your SMS will be sent during the next available time slot.
- Activate the Set up when to send the SMS option.
- Uncheck the days on which you do not want your SMS to be sent.
- Select the time frame during which your SMS can be sent. Click the + plus to add different time slots for each day by clicking the + plus icon.
- Change the timezone from which you want to send your SMS. By default, the time zone selected is the one set on your account.
💡 Good to knowIf you added a delay before sending the SMS but choose to schedule the sending time, the delay may not be applied.
🔗 Automatically shorten links (URL shortener)❗️ ImportantThe Automatically shorten links option is activated after you have sent enough SMS messages with your account for our system to evaluate their content and eligibility for this option. Never activate the Automatically shorten links option if you use a public URL shortener, such as bit.ly, as they are not recommended and can affect deliverability.Public URL shorteners, such as bit.ly, are often flagged as potential phishing links as they use shared domains. Use Brevo's Automatically shorten links option to shorten the length of the links added to your SMS content. It presents different advantages:
- Use a dedicated domain, ensuring better deliverability and maintaining trust with recipients.
- Reduce your link size for more space for creativity. Your link will be shortened using a random sequence of letters and numbers.
- Track the click engagement of your recipients from the CSV report, providing insightful data to improve future targeting and performance.
- Click Save.
- In a workflow, add an entry point (e.g. A contact is added to a list).
- Click on +.
- Select the Send an SMS action.
- Set up your transactional SMS:
- From: enter the name of the sender that will be displayed in your SMS.
- SMS Message: enter the content of your SMS.
- Tag: enter a single tag to use for this SMS.
- Optional: select I want to choose when to send this SMS to schedule your transactional SMS to be sent within a specific timeframe.
💡 Good to knowIf you wish to cover the whole day, the start date should be 00:00 and the end date should be 23:59. Which means, 1 minute before the start hour. - Once you are done setting up your transactional SMS, click on OK.
- Optional: add more steps to your workflow.
Your automation is now ready! Test it before activating it ⬇️.
🧪 Part 2: Test your automation
Testing your automation is optional. However, we highly recommend running some tests before activating your automation to ensure it works as expected.
Depending on the automation editor version you are using, the procedure can differ. Click the tab corresponding to your version:
➡️ To learn how to test your SMS sent with the new automation editor, check our dedicated article Test messages sent from an automation.
- If you do not have an email address field in your sign-up form for SMS, add one for the test phase. You can remove the email address field once the test phase is done.
- Click the
flask icon at the top-right of your screen.
- Enter the email address you want to use to test your automation.
- Optional: Check the Skip 'Wait For' steps box to skip the Add a delay or Wait until steps.
- Click DONE.
- Perform the action that allows your contacts to enter your automation.
In our use case, we want our contacts to enter the automation when they are added to the SMS general subscription list. Fill in your sign-up form for SMS messages and enter your test email address.
✅ Part 3: Activate your automation
Once the setup of your automation is done, activate it to run tests and allow contacts to receive your SMS messages.
Click Activate the automation at the top right of your screen.
Congratulations! 🎉 Now, every time a contact enters your automation, they will receive your SMS without any manual action from your side. Enjoy your free time!
🤔 Have a question?
If you have a question, feel free to contact our support team by creating a ticket from your account. If you don't have an account yet, you can contact us here.
If you’re looking for help with a project using Brevo, we can match you with the right certified Brevo Agency partner.