UPDATE – Jan 10, 2017
- 2-Way SMS Chat – One of the most requested features we have received from our clients was adding a 2-way SMS chat feature, and now we have done just that! Our chat utility now connects you or your customer service department to your mobile customers, via SMS! Have a 2-way chat with them, much like any instant messenger tool like Skype or GTalk, but communication will all be handled through SMS. SMS chat gives you the ability to actively engage with your clients, giving you new ways to reach out in real time.
Some of the benefits of 2-way SMS chat are improving customer support, giving companies an easy, fast and efficient way of interacting with customers. All communication is in real-time, so you can follow-up in a timely manner and see their responses almost immediately. Gather valuable feedback and make communication with your customers a 2-way street, all via SMS with an instant messenger interface!
- Alphanumeric Sender IDs – This was another major request from clients. Added the capability to send bulk SMS from alphanumeric sender IDs for supported countries! An alphanumeric sender ID allows you to set your own business brand as the sender ID when sending one-way messages. If your country has SMS-enabled numbers available(through Twilio, Plivo, or Nexmo) and also supports sending from an alphanumeric sender ID, you will see this option from the Bulk SMS page where you can enter your own 11 character sender ID to send from.
Keep in mind an alphanumeric sender ID is only used for one way communication. Recipients of messages with an alphanumeric sender ID will not be able to respond to you. Customers receiving text messages with your alphanumeric sender ID should have opted in to your service and been informed on how to opt out. You must offer your users the ability to opt out by writing to your support team, calling your support phone line, or texting STOP to your actual SMS-enabled number. We recommend that you provide your users with a clear description in your terms of services or when they initially sign-up.Countries you will be able to send from an alphanumeric sender ID:
AUSTRALIA, AUSTRIA, DENMARK, ESTONIA, FINLAND, FRANCE, GERMANY, HONG KONG, IRELAND, ISRAEL, LITHUANIA, NETHERLANDS, NORWAY, POLAND, SPAIN, SWEDEN, SWITZERLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
If using Twilio as your SMS gateway provider, you must fill out a request form first which they have to approve. You can find that form here:
https://www.twilio.com/console/sms/alphasender/request - Number Verify – Added additional verification on numbers that signup through SMS(keyword), web sign-up widget, and kiosk. Number Verify will collect additional information on each number such as carrier, location, and country. When a new user subscribes specifically via web widget and kiosk, it will also check if the number entered is valid, and whether it is a mobile number. This will prevent users from entering invalid numbers at point of entry and only allow mobile numbers to be entered, not landline. In the contacts page next to each number, you can hover over a little icon that provide you that number’s carrier and location information.
Capture only good leads, keep your user database clean and fight fraud by validating phone numbers at the point of entry into your system!This is a paid service that UltraSMSScript is providing to all our clients FREE of charge and will be included for ALL levels!NOTE: Number portability data is not yet included into this service, so this feature is only capable of recognizing the carrier an individual phone number was originally registered with. However, number portability data should be included later this year and will be reflected automatically when it is.
- Redesigned Dashboard – Redesigned dashboard adding additional charts to give you greater insight into how well your campaigns are performing, where your subscribers are coming from, and how well you are performing vs the previous year.
- Success rating gauges – Moved these to the top and added 1 extra gauge for the current year. Previously they were much smaller and under subs/unsubs chart. There also wasn’t a gauge for the current year. Success Rating shows an outlook on the percentage of people who have subscribed vs. unsubscribed. For example, if 10 people subscribed and 1 un-subscribed, the success rating would be 90% for the given timeframes. This really shows you a quick snapshot into how well your campaign is performing in the short term and long term.
- Added 3 new pie charts – One chart showing a percentage breakdown of what keywords your subscribers are subscribing to. Another chart showing a percentage breakdown of the source of all your sign-ups(SMS, web widget, kiosk). A third chart showing carrier data. Since we now collect carrier information on sign-up, this chart will show a breakdown of all carriers.
- Added 2 new bar/line charts – These will show a monthly breakdown of current year vs prior year of subscribers and unsubscribers! Now you can compare this data and how you are performing for the current year vs prior year for each month.
- Draggable portlets – Under the pie charts, you can grab and drag any of the portlets(boxes) and re-arrange them anyway you wish. Keep in mind they will reset when you refresh the page as the positions of the portlets aren’t saved, however if you are going to be working in the dashboard for a while and want a different layout or arrangement while working, this gives you that flexibility.
- Changes to Web Sign-up Widget – 2 changes were made to the web sign-up widget that were also requested by many of our clients. First, we added 2 additional fields on the sign-up form – Email Address and Birthday. Inside the web widget builder, you have the option to include those 2 new fields on the form. If you want them, just check a box on the builder for each field and they will be displayed on the form. Second, we added the capability to redirect to another URL after successful sign-up. On the web widget builder, there is a new redirect URL field. After the user successfully subscribes, they will be taken to this URL if you have one entered.
- Menu Links – Added 2 new menu links under the “Messages” left menu for Group Messages Queue and Contacts Messages Queue. Previously, if you wanted to view your scheduled messages, you had to go into the Bulk SMS page, then click the Actions drop down at the top where you could access your scheduled message queues. This saves you an extra step.
- Credit Balance Counters – Added 2 new credit balance counters on the top header, 1 for SMS and another for voice. Now you can always see what your balance is wherever you are in the platform without having to always go back to the dashboard to view your credit balances.
- Database Performance Tuning – Last but not least, we have tuned the database and added indexes on some of the larger tables like contacts and logs. These tables can grow quite large over time causing queries to run much slower and the strain on the database to rise with increased disk I/O. Adding indexes on a couple often searched fields to these tables will greatly enhance database performance, decrease disk I/O and eliminate any bottlenecks caused by the database.
