Send SMS using emails
What is Email2SMS?
Do you have platforms and systems that you would like to send SMS from but only support email?
If so then Email2SMS may be the answer as it enables you to easily convert an email to an SMS send, and therefore any system capable of sending an email is now capable of sending an SMS.
How do I use it?
Are you ready to send SMS?
To send SMS via Email2SMS, you'll need to be setup for SMS PAYG (or have SMS credits in your account).
To enable SMS Pay As You Go you can follow these instructions or contact us.
Sending SMS is usually simple but some destination countries have specific regulations and requirements for businesses. Please review the SMS regulations for your destination countries and if you need more help contact us to discuss your SMS requirements.
Have you registered to use Email2SMS?
Before you can use Email2SMS please contact us or your account manager to register for the service. To register you will need to provide a list of email addresses we should accept email from, and once registered we will contact you with your secret which you will use in your emails subject line to authorize the email to SMS conversion.
Sending a Email2SMS
Sending an Email2SMS email is straight forward and can be done from your usual email program as long as the email address you are sending from has been registered for Email2SMS (see above)
Authorizing emails
To ensure that Email2SMS accepts your email for conversion to SMS please ensure the following:
- the email address you are sending from has been registered for Email2SMS
- you include your Email2SMS secret we provided you in your email's subject line by including the following at the beginning:
ACC= {Your Email2SMS secret}
e.g.
ACC=1234
Addressing the emails
Email2SMS uses the email address you send to pass the phone number you want to send the SMS. You should send your email to:
{Phone number} @r1-email2sms.dotdigital.com
The phone number can be either in international format e.g. for a UK number 447123123123 , or in local format but only if you specify the country code using the additional COUNTRYCODE option (see below).
The SMS text
The SMS text is simply taken from the body of the email, but we do recommend adding #end# after you message to stop email footers from being converted into the SMS. e.g.
Good news, we have those items back in stock now and ready to ship on free next day delivery.
#end#
Don't...
send empty emails as they won't be processed, or exceed 10 SMS segments for your message You can learn more about SMS lengths here.
Additional Options
You can add these additional options to the subject line of your email using a # to separate them, the format for an option is: {Option} = {Value}
| Option | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| ACC | Your Email2SMS secret | This must be included otherwise your email will simply be ignored. |
| COUNTRYCODE | 2 character country code | You need to add this option if using a locally formatted phone number in your to email address. |
| ORIGINATOR | Any of the registered phone numbers, shortcodes or alpha originators registered in your account | This is optional and the default from originator will be used if not specified. |
e.g.
ACC=1234#COUNTRYCODE=GB#ORIGINATOR=ACME
Country code alternative
We also support the passing of a 2 character country code as part of the from email address.
To do this you must prefix the 2 character country code delimited by # characters onto your registered from email for Email2SMS:
# {Country code} # {Your registered from email address}
e.g.
#gb#[email protected]
Where can I see reporting?
To view your reporting:
- In Dotdigital, go to Analytics > Channel analytics > Reports: SMS.
- Select the Outbound messages tab.
- You can now see your SMS sends from both Email2SMS and the Single SMS Send API.
I can't see my send...
If your send is not showing up in the reporting please double check your email is formatted correctly and you are sending your email from a registered email address for Email2SMS