Introduction
Through our reseller partnership with Sinch MessageMedia, we’re proud to offer our customers a seamless and integrated SMS experience. By leveraging our collective buying power, we are able to provide clients with a high quality messaging solution at a competitive price. This makes it easier than ever to improve your student engagement with SMS messaging in a cost effective way.
This partnership utilises an existing feature of aXcelerate to send emails to MessageMedia, which then converts the email into an SMS for the intended recipient.
For example, if you wanted to deliver an SMS to 61410101010, it will send as an email to 61410101010@e2s.messagemedia.com. MessageMedia then converts the email to an SMS compatible format, and send it to the contact provided.
Note: Our ‘MessageMedia’ Additional Terms of use can be accessed here, and additional details or to request enablement of this feature can be found on our website.
Why SMS Messaging?
SMS messaging has proven to be one of the most powerful and reliable ways to engage with students.
Here are some key statistics that highlight the effectiveness of SMS: 98% Open Rate: SMS messages boast an impressive open rate of 98%, compared to just 28% for emails. This means that your important messages are far more likely to be seen and acted upon by your students.
Immediate Engagement: The majority of SMS messages are read within just 3 minutes, ensuring your time-sensitive communications reach your audience quickly and effectively.
Increased Response Rates: SMS messages typically receive a 45% response rate, making them a great way to drive interaction, whether it's confirming class attendance, submitting assignments, or staying updated on important deadlines.
Simplified Billing Through aXcelerate
By offering SMS credits at a wholesale rate and streamlining the billing process through aXcelerate, we’re helping our customers reduce communication costs while improving the efficiency and effectiveness of student engagement.
With MessageMedia’s robust SMS platform through aXcelerate, you’ll have seamless access to this powerful communication tool to stay connected with your students and keep them engaged.
In most cases, the service can be enabled immediately. We look forward to seeing you benefit from enhanced student communication strategies!
Tip: For more information on how to get started with SMS messaging through aXcelerate and MessageMedia, please visit our website for additional details or to request enablement of this feature.
Sending Behaviour Options
MessageMedia comes with multiple sending options for each account.
Shared Number Pool
This is the default behaviour for all MessageMedia accounts unless stated otherwise. SMSs sent with this option will be sent from a random number as part of MessageMedia’s pool of numbers. This option does allow for replies.
With the rise of spam and scam messages, these can be easily confused by recipients as one of these.
Dedicated Number
While this option comes with additional set monthly costs, this does allow for receivers of your SMSs to save the number with a business name while also allowing replies to be possible.
Alpha Tag (Sender ID)
This type of sending behaviour allows your business to display the business name as opposed to a phone number, eliminating the need to save a number.
In Australia, this is limited to one-way messaging, meaning that replies cannot be received.
What if we already have a MessageMedia Account?
Just because you already have an account with MessageMedia doesn’t mean you’re unable to make use of this partnership!
If your existing account has a Dedicated number or Alpha Tag that you would like to migrate to your new account, please let us know the account number & phone number in your enquiry.
It’s also important to note that if the RTO has an existing account with MessageMedia, SMS Broadcast or ClickSend, these are all products offered and managed by their parent company, Sinch.
You may need to remove settings from past accounts before your new MessageMedia account is functional.
Once any migration has concluded, you’ll need to contact the provider directly to close the old account.
MessageMedia Account Access
aXcelerate manages each account’s access & configuration. If you require access to your MessageMedia account, please let your sales representative know during your enquiry.
Access to MessageMedia is predominantly required for replying to replies from recipients, creating API tokens for use in another service such as a CRM
If you’ve already registered, a key contact within your organisation should contact the Support Centre.
Using MessageMedia
Before being able to get started using this messaging service, some requirements depending on your account's email sending option; you may need to make some changes to your email servers to accommodate MessageMedia requirements.
aXcelerate accounts using the aXcelerate mail server are required to include the mail server a:mail01.axcelerate.com.au in the sending email domains' SPF record. This is also required for any other whitelisted domains in your System Settings Web & Other Integrations.
Please refer to the details in this guide to update your mail server's SPF record.
Tip: If you need to update your SMS settings, please contact the Support Centre for assistance.
Sending SMSs from aXcelerate
There are many options for sending SMSs from aXcelerate, these can be done from a Contact, a Class or a Workflow.
Contacts
While viewing a contact, go to Actions Send Email/SMS Select SMS in the form and select an SMS Template or compose a message.
Classes
From the Class Matrix, go to Communication Email/SMS Select SMS in the form and select an SMS Template or compose a message.
Workflow Automations
This can be done for either a class, workshop or contact. See the guides for each below.
SMS Character Limits
If you wish to send an SMS that contains more than 160 characters, then your SMS will need to fit the character limits of MessageMedia. The default character limit is 459 per whole message.
This whole message is comprised of 3 combined SMSs. This can be increased to a maximum of 10 SMSs per whole message with a total length of 1530 characters.
Why is the character limit not 160 characters times the number of SMSs used in a message? This is due to additional hidden data known as Metadata, which allows MessageMedia to combine the SMSs into a single message and also understand how to handle any replies.
Note: Each SMS used as part of a whole message is billable.
Billable Total
Example
1 x $0.07 per SMS equals $0.07
Sending a whole message with 160 or less characters is comprised of 1 SMS
2 x $0.07 per SMS equals $0.14
Sending a whole message between (including) 161 - 306 characters is comprised of 2 SMSs
3 x $0.07 per SMS equals $0.21
Sending a whole message between (including) 307 - 459 characters is comprised of 3 SMSs
MessageMedia FAQs
Can I use this MessageMedia account for other applications such as HubSpot?
Yes, by accessing your MessageMedia account, you’re able to gather the necessary information to integrate into other applications.
Why aren’t SMSs being received by recipients?
In most situations deliverability is blocked by the sender’s email domain not passing MessageMedia’s SPF check.
To resolve this, add a:mail01.axcelerate.com.au to your email domain’s SPF record. See this guide for additional information.
Do I need to purchase SMS credits?
No, this is a post-paid service which is billed monthly in arrears as part of your aXcelerate account’s invoices.
What are the formatting requirements for Alpha Tags (Sender IDs)
Please see the below requirements if you're intending on utilising an Alpha Tag (SenderID)
- Be between 3 and 11 characters long
- Contain no spaces
- Only include the following characters: a–z, A–Z, 0–9, hyphen (-), or underscore (_)
- Not be a phone number (these will be automatically declined)
How are SMS replies handled?
Accounts using either Shared or Dedicated Numbers will have replies sent to the nominated email address defined as the "SMS Email Address" in aXcelerate Settings Web & Other Integration.
If this sender email needs to be updated or reply emails are not being received, please contact our Support Centre Team to amend/resolve.
Please Note: The Primary Sender Email is used to avoid SMS sending issues