Guide to Creating an SMS Campaign

Sometimes you’ll want to send an SMS campaign to all users. Sometimes you’ll only want to communicate with a special segment of users. Dynamic user targeting criteria allows you to create messages tailored to specific populations of users. 

This document will outline new and existing targeting options, which will allow you to send out SMS campaigns by:

• Community
• User Type
• Parent Promoter Score
• Activity Date
• Profile Field Value
• Organization 
• Funnel Stage
• Funnel Cohort
• Student Connection Status (FERPA)
• Account Conversion Status 
• Event Registration Status 
• Paid Membership Status 
• Email Confirmation Status 
• State 
• Country

1.  Visit your SMS Campaigns page 

Visit the SMS Campaigns page at: https://yourportalname.campusesp.com/admin/sms-campaigns. You can also get here by navigating to Content-->SMS Campaigns.

2.  Add a new SMS Campaign

Click New SMS Campaign in the top right corner of your screen.

3. Enter your SMS Campaign details 

Enter the overview details for your campaign. You'll want to include...

• A campaign name (for internal tracking).
• A scheduled date and time (or click Send Immediately to have your campaign go out right away).
• A subscribers list. These are the admin users who will receive notifications when a user replies via text message to the campaign.
• Text Message Content

4. Choose Your Audience: Dynamic User Targeting

4A.) Include users that match any/all of the following criteria

To demonstrate dynamic targeting for SMS campaigns and how the number of estimated recipients changes depending on the criteria selected, we will first show an example of the “any” vs. “all" functionality.



If you select “Include users that match all of the following criteria:” then users must match all criteria in order to be included in the SMS Campaign. If you select “Include users that match any of the following criteria:” then users are only required to match one of the criteria to be included in this message.

In our example, we will be creating an SMS Campaign for users who match all the following criteria:

• Users belong in both the “Funnel Stage: Admitted” and “Admit Type - First Year” communities
• Users with a Parent Promoter Score (PPS) between 80-100
• Users who have not registered their account
  
  

By default, your SMS Campaign will populate the “Community” targeting option. You can click the x to get rid of the community option to start with another targeting criteria.

You can select your desired communities so that families in those communities are added to this SMS campaign. In this example, we’ve selected users in the “Funnel Stage: Admitted” and “Admit Type - First Year” communities to be included in this SMS Campaign. Since I configured this criteria to include “members of all of these communities,” only users who are part of both communities will receive this message. We can see the number of estimated recipients changes from 0 to 700. 

You can also filter by user type within a specified Parent Promoter Score range. 

In this example, we’ve only selected users in the PPS range of 80-100.  The number of estimated recipients changes to 435.

You can include users in SMS Campaigns by their account conversion status.

In this example, we’ve selected to include users who have not registered their accounts. The number of recipients now changes to 260.

Users that belong to both the “Funnel Stage: Admitted” and “Admit Type - First Year” communities, have a PPS between 80-100, and have unregistered accounts will receive this message. This feature is helpful in reaching very specific populations in your portal.

Now that we’ve shown you an example, let's dive deeper into each targeting criteria!


4B.) Targeting by Community

By default, your SMS Campaign will populate the “Community” targeting option. You can click the x to get rid of the community option to start with another targeting criteria.


You can select your desired communities so that families in those communities receive a message. In this example, I’ve selected “First Year Families” and “Campus News” to receive this message.

If you select “Members of all of these communities” then users must be in all selected communities in order to be included in this message. If you select “Members of any of these communities” then users only have to be in one of the selected communities in order to be included in this SMS Campaign.

Since this campaign is configured so that “Members of any of these communities” receive a message, users who belong to either “First Year Families” or “Campus News” will receive this message. 

4C.) Targeting by User Type

You can filter by user type within an SMS campaign. You can add users to this community depending on if they have an ”Admin” or “Parent” account.  We recommend leaving these boxes checked so that both families and any functional users at your institution can receive the message. However, you can configure the campaign to send out to only a specific group if you’d like.

4D.) Targeting by Parent Promoter Score (PPS)

You can select a range of Parent Promoter Scores (a measure of how engaged families are based on account conversion, campaign clicks, email opens, etc.) to target families of different engagement levels. We recommend toggling the bar and checking the Estimated Recipients to make sure you’re targeting a significant amount of people. In this example, we can see the estimated number of recipients changes depending on the range we select.

Families in the top quartile of PPS are 3x more likely to enroll in your institution.

NOTE: This example only applies to customers with the Student Enrollment module. 

4E.)  Targeting by Activity Date

You can include users in an SMS Campaign based on their join date, last activity, and last login. 

In this example, we’ve selected to include users in the SMS campaign based on their join date. You can now select Relative or Absolute Date. 

Relative Date: Select this option to include users within a selected time frame. In this case, we are including users who joined the portal within the last 90 days. 

Absolute Date: Select this option to include users within a specified date range. In this case, we are including users who joined the portal between 2/22/2023 and 3/22/2023. 

4F.) Targeting by Profile Field Value

The image below is an example of the different profile field values that can live on each user’s profile.

Using Profile Field Value, you’re able to include users in an SMS campaign based on the profile field values you set up in the portal. These profile field values are visible to admins on each user’s profile. 

In this example, we have profile field values of student first name, student last name, relationship to student, student id, fafsa, counselor assignment, etc. You can include users in an SMS campaign based on any of these profile field values. 

Selecting the ‘counselor assignment’ profile value, we receive a drop-down menu. You can select one or more indicators to include users. If you wanted to include counselor-specific information in your message you could configure that here.

4G.) Targeting by Organization

You can include users in an SMS Campaign based on which organization(s) they belong to. 

You have the ability to use the “any” and “all” functionality. If you select “Members of all of these organizations” then users must be in each selected community in order to be included in this campaign. If you select “Members of any of these communities” then users only have to be in one of the selected communities in order to be included in this campaign.

You can select users who belong to the Current Families, Prospective Families, and University group (these may be labeled differently at your institution).



In this example, members who are a part of either the “Current Families” or “Prospective Families” organizations will receive a message.



In this example, only members who are part of both communities will receive a message.



NOTE: This example only applies to users who have both the Student Enrollment and Family Communication modules.

4H.) Targeting by Funnel Stage

You can include users in an SMS campaign based on the funnel stage(s) they are a part of.  If you select “Members of all of these funnel stages,” then users must be in each selected funnel stage in order to be included in this campaign. If you select “Members of any of these funnel stages,” then users only have to be in one of the selected communities in order to be included in this campaign.

You can send out funnel-stage specific information using this feature or send out communication that is relevant to users that belong in different funnel stages. In this example, we are sending a message to users who are a part of either the “Inquiry” or “Applicant” funnel stage.

NOTE: This example only applies to customers with the Student Enrollment module. 

4I.) Targeting by Funnel Cohort

You can design an SMS Campaign based on the funnel cohort(s) users are a part of. If you want to communicate with users in various cohorts, select the checkboxes. In this example, only users in the Fall 2023 cohort will receive a message.


NOTE: This example only applies to customers with the Student Enrollment module. 

4J.) Targeting by Enrollment Funnel

You can include users in an SMS Campaign based on the enrollment funnel(s) they are a part of.  If you select “Members of all of these funnels,” then users must be in each selected funnel in order to be included in this campaign. If you select “Members of any of these funnels,” then users only have to be in one of the selected funnels in order to be included in this campaign.

In this example, we only have one funnel, so selecting “Enrollment Funnel” will send out communication to everyone in a funnel stage.

NOTE: This example only applies to customers with the Student Enrollment module. 

4K.) Targeting by Student Connection Status

You can include users in an SMS Campaign based on their student connection status. 

In this example, we are selecting users who are not connected to a student. This feature is helpful for nudging families that have not made a connection request!

NOTE: This example only applies to customers with the FERPA module.


4L.) Targeting by Account Conversion Status

You can include users in an SMS Campaign based on account conversion status. Users who have registered their account are those that have completed the onboarding survey and created a password for their account. These users are generally more engaged than users who have not registered their accounts.

In this example, we’ve selected to send a message to users who have an unregistered account.  

NOTE: For Student Enrollment Customers, targeting by conversion status is a great way to increase enrollment. Users who convert their account are 11x more likely to enroll in your institution!

4M.) Targeting by Event Registration Status

For customers who use events with registration, you have the ability to use the “any” and “all” functionality. If you select “Registered of all of these events,” then users must be in each event in order to be included in this campaign If you select “Registered for any of these events,” then users only have to be in one of the selected events in order to be included in this campaign.

In this example, users who belong in any of the following communities will receive a message. 

4N.) Targeting by Paid Membership Status

You can include users in SMS Campaigns based on their subscriptions to various memberships. Targeting criteria for each membership group includes  whether users have an active paid membership, an inactive paid membership, or a membership expiring in a specified period of days.

In this example, we are including users who have a paid membership expiring in 30 days.

4O.) Targeting by Email Confirmation Status

You can include users in SMS Campaigns based on whether users have confirmed or not confirmed their email addresses. In this example, we’ve selected users who have not confirmed their email addresses.

4P.) Targeting by State

You can include users in SMS Campaigns based on the state that they are from. States will populate from information you send over in your files and information that families fill out on the onboarding survey. 

NOTE: Because this information is pulled from the files you send over and the information families select from the onboarding survey, you may have some states that are formatted differently. For example, Pennsylvania can appear as “PA,” “Pa,” “Pennsylvania,” or another format so make sure you are selecting all relevant indicators.

4Q.) Targeting by Country

You can include users in SMS Campaigns based on the country that they are from. Countries will populate from the information you send in your files and information that families fill out on the onboarding survey. You can select as many countries as you’d like. 

NOTE: Because this information is pulled from the files you send over and the information families select from the onboarding survey, you may have some countries that are formatted differently. For example, the United States can appear as “US,” “United States,” “U.S.,” or another format so make sure you are selecting all relevant indicators. 

5. Voila! Your SMS Campaign using Dynamic User Targeting was successfully created.

You can revisit your SMS Campaign page to view campaign performance metrics, including sends, replies, and credit balance.

6. Editing Your SMS Campaigns After Scheduling

You can go back and edit SMS campaigns after they have been scheduled.

Note: this only applies to SMS campaigns that have been scheduled but not yet sent. To do so, navigate to Content-->SMS Campaigns and click on the campaign you would like to edit.