SMS : General Q&A

Bulk SMS Marketing Solution

 “Just a simple sharing. Bulk SMS makes a great tool to reach out to numerous contacts at once. All User needs to do is prepare the Address Book in advance by saving contact names and mobile numbers in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. After that, compose the SMS message, upload the spreadsheet then click send


General Q&A 

1. What is bulk sms or bulk messaging?

Bulk Messaging is delivery of a large amount of SMS messages to mobile phone terminals (mobile phone devices). It is also a method often used by media companies, enterprises, banks and consumer brands for a variety of purposes including entertainment, enterprise and mobile marketing. 

Bulk messaging is commonly used for important alerts, reminders, and marketing but also for information and communication between both staff and customers.  


2. How do I Log in?

At the homepage https://smsportal.exabytes.my/index.php , enter your "Username" and "Password". Then, click "Login" to access your member console homepage.  


3. I forgot my password. What do I have to do? 

Just contact our customer service team at [email protected] for the password reset. 


4. What is the length for the brand name? 

Your brand name must be within 3-8 ASCII characters for English & Bahasa Malaysia. Unicode/symbols such as @ , ® are not allowed. 


5. Are there any other costs involved to send SMS? 

There are no setup fees or monthly fees or any other additional fees. We operate on a prepay basis.


6. Do you support non-English text? (The SMS will be written in your language) 

Yes, you can send non-English Characters. On the 'Compose SMS' page, just select "Send as Unicode". The character length for your message will be much shorter though, which is about 63 characters. 

7. What is the maximum text length allowed in a single SMS? 

The maximum text length allowed in a single normal message (consumes 1 credit) is 153 characters. If the text length is exceeded, the text message will use 2 credits and so on. There is an indicator that states clearly when typing your message such as how many characters you have used and how many credits your text will use up so you can edit this accordingly.


For Unicode message type, the text length allowed is 63 characters per SMS credit. 153 ASCII characters (English & Malay) or 63 Unicode characters (Eg.Chinese, Japanese, etc)


8. Does it support images other than text? 

No. Our Bulk SMS only supports text messages written in ASCII characters (English & Malay) or 44 Unicode characters.  

9. Can I change the brand name of my SMS account? 

Yes, you can reach out to our customer service team at [email protected] to change the brand name with a valid reason. Changing your brand name for the first time is free of charge. For subsequent requests, RM150.00 (Subject to 6% service tax) is chargeable for each request. 

10. How do I check my credit balance? 

Your "Credit Balance" can be seen from your member panel (below navigation bar) after you have login to your sms account.


11. Is there any Email or SMS notification that I can enable to alert when there is a low credit balance?



Yes, you can refer to the guideline as below to enable the low credit reminder.


12. How do I reload my credits?


You may refer to the guideline for credit reload.
https://support.exabytes.com.my/en/support/solutions/articles/14000136094-everything-about-credit


13. Is it possible to integrate bulk sms into our software?

 
Yes. We provide HTTP APIs which can be used in your application or software.



14. How do I confirm whether messages are delivered or not?

 
You can view and download detailed message delivery reports.


15. Do I need a mobile phone?

 
You do not need a mobile phone. It is all web based so you do not need to download anything. All you need is an internet enabled PC, Mac, Tablet or smartphone



16. Can I send messages outside of Malaysia?


Yes, you can send text messages internationally. Each message sent will use up a certain amount of credits depending on the country it is being sent to. Please check our international full rate list of which countries you can send to, the networks they use and the amount of credits the message will use.

17. Will my credits expire?


All SMS credit purchase comes with 1 year validity. When you reload (add new credits) to your account then 1 year validity will be effective upon the recharge date. Also, existing credits will be carried forward.

18. Can I import data into my SMS account?


Yes, you can import mobile numbers from a CSV file. You can upload your mobile numbers along with 10 fields of information with just a few clicks of a button. You can also enter your numbers individually or by copying and pasting (directly) if you have smaller volumes.

19. If I include a website URL in my SMS text, does it count as a character?

 

-No, it will count based on the number of the characters that you have in the website URL.
For example: exabytes.my - 11 characters.
To shorten the URL, you can consider using Bitly, Google URL Shortener or any other tool.

20. Why are my SMS using up two credits?

A message will use over one credit if you do either of the following:

- you are using over 153 characters per message.
- you have merged data into your message which is increasing the characters.
- you have sent to international numbers which can use up to 5 credits per message.
See international pricing for a full list HERE. (https://www.exabytes.my/download/bulk-sms-rates.pdf)


21. Why do numbers look like 6.01E+12 when I export to Excel?

 
This is because Excel thinks your mobile number is a long number so it will convert the numbers into a scientific notation. To fix this click on the column header, click "Format Cells->As Number->0 decimal places".


22. I did not find my question on your FAQ list.


Kindly email us all your queries or suggestions to [email protected]. We are happy to help you and provide quick solutions to your problems.




 

 

 


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