Set Up SMS Marketing

To get started with Mailchimp’s SMS Marketing, submit an application for your business. After you’re approved, create your first text message and send to subscribed SMS contacts

In this article, you’ll learn how to submit your SMS marketing application and set up sms marketing.

Before you start

• This article covers the setup process of SMS Marketing. To learn more about how SMS Marketing works, check out About SMS Marketing with Mailchimp.
• SMS Marketing is available as an add-on for customers with the Essentials plan or higher.
• You must be an account Owner, Admin, or Manager to set up an SMS Marketing program. Learn more about the different user levels in Mailchimp.
• You can set up SMS on multiple audiences in your account, registration is required for each audience, sending number, and sending country that you enable, and additional costs may apply.
• If you want to send SMS messages to your subscribed SMS contact in multiple countries, you will need to register a Sending Number in each country. For example, if you set up a sending number in the UK, , you can send text messages to subscribed SMS contacts in the UK.

MMS Availability: Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) is only available for programs in the US and Canada.

Submit your SMS Marketing application

To send marketing text messages with Mailchimp, you must submit an application for each sending number and receive approval. The application process collects details required by local carriers and regulations in your sending countries.

The SMS Marketing application has 9 registration sections within 5 steps. At a glance:

1. SMS Experience: your experience as a marketer with SMS
2. Sending Country: select the country you want to send to
3. Sending Number: setup your sending number
4. Business Info: information to verify your business
5. Sender Info: information about your sender and brand
6. Use Cases: The types of messages you plan to send
7. Privacy Policy: create your privacy policy or add a link to your existing privacy policy
8. Terms and Conditions: create your SMS terms and conditions or add a link to your existing SMS terms and conditions
9. Credit Subscription: select a monthly SMS credit plan. If you are registering additional sending numbers, you will also purchase those in this step.

To submit an SMS Marketing application, follow these steps.

Step 1: Start Your Application

1. Click SMS.
2. Audience Selection: Choose the audience you want to connect to your SMS program. This cannot be changed later if the audience has contacts or active flows.
3. Click Start registration.
4. SMS Marketing Experience: select the option that matches your experience level and click Next (or Skip).
5. Sending Country: follow the prompts to select the countries where you want to send SMS messages
6. Click Next.

Step 2: Configure Sending Number or Sender ID

Depending on the type of Sending Number offered in the sending country you selected, you will see the following prompts:

1. 10 Digit Long Code (10DLC) or Virtual Long Number: Your subscribed SMS contacts will receive your text messages from the sending number you choose.

   • Review the number.
   • Click Next to accept the number, or click Change area code (US/Canada) or Find a new number (UK/AU/BE) to select a different option.

2. Branded Sender ID:

   • Enter your Branded Sender ID.

   • Ensure it meets the following criteria:

     • 4 to 11 standard characters.
     • Contains at least one letter.
     • No special characters or punctuation.
     • No spaces at the beginning or end.

   • Click Next.

To learn more about Sending Numbers offered and using a Branded Sender ID, check out About SMS Marketing.

Step 3: Business Information & Use Cases

1. Fill out your business information. Some fields may be pre-filled with your account information. Review and confirm everything looks good.

   Note: If you are registering a Sending Number in Sweden:

   • You will be required to provide a subdomain (e.g., updates.yourdomain.com). This subdomain cannot be edited after you submit your application and will be applied to all links in your messages for that audience.
   • Every URL in messages to Sweden needs to be whitelisted and shorteners (e.g. bit.ly, tinyurl) or redirect links cannot be used.
   • Your Branded Sender ID must accurately match your business name or website.

2. Then select the use cases for SMS on the audience you are setting up. Check the boxes next to the options that best describe how you plan to use SMS.

Options

• Abandoned Cart: You can enable abandoned cart SMS messages for your audience by selecting yes. If you enable abandoned cart messages, double opt-in is automatically enabled.
• Non-Profit Discount: If you are a verified non-profit (or check the Donations box for US 501c3), you may be eligible for a 15% discount. Contact Support to start the approval process.
• Double Opt-in: Your double opt-in settings are applied across all sending numbers in an audience. Double opt-in is automatically enabled for some countries.

Step 4: SMS Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy

Mailchimp offers tools and information as a resource, but we don’t offer legal advice. We recommend you contact your legal counsel to ensure your use of SMS Marketing, including your SMS terms and conditions and privacy policy, complies with applicable laws and regulations.

This section of the application includes two steps in which you provide your SMS Terms & Conditions, and Privacy Policy for your program. For each, you will be presented with two options:

Option A: Create and publish your terms and conditions or privacy policy using a template

1. Select Not yet; I need help creating one.
2. Review the legal disclaimer and click I agree.
3. Review and fill in the highlighted information in the template, make any necessary changes, and click Next.

Option B: Link Existing Terms and Conditions and/or Privacy Policy

1. Select Yes, I have a privacy policy/terms and conditions.
2. Enter the direct URLs to your privacy policy and terms and conditions.
3. Click Next.

Step 5: Credits Subscription

Before you submit your application, set up your monthly SMS credit subscription. You don’t pay for SMS credits until your application is approved.

Here are a few things to keep in mind.

• SMS credits are required to send text messages.
• SMS credit costs are calculated according to your SMS Marketing program’s sending country.
• Your first SMS credit subscription purchase will be prorated based on the number of days left in your billing cycle.
• The payment method on file for your Mailchimp account is automatically used to purchase your monthly SMS credit subscription.
• Your Mailchimp account’s payment method and currency on the Billing information page is reflected on the Credit Subscription step.
• Your SMS credit subscription renews each month at the same time as your marketing plan.
• You can change your monthly SMS subscription or payment information at any time.

To set up your monthly SMS credit subscription, follow these steps.

1. On the Credit Subscription step, click the How many SMS subscribers do you have? drop-down, then select the range that corresponds with your SMS audience size. After you select a range, a suggested number of SMS credits appears in the We think you’ll need: section.
2. If you don’t yet have an audience of subscribed SMS contacts, select I’m just getting started. To learn more about how Mailchimp suggests an SMS credit subscription for you, check out About SMS Marketing Credits.
3. If you’re satisfied with the suggested amount of SMS credits, click Select and submit to set up your monthly SMS credit subscription and submit your application. The credit option you select will be automatically set up as your monthly SMS credit subscription.
4. If you want to select a different number of SMS credits, click Change amount.
5. In the Change my credit amount pop-up modal, click the Select a monthly credit amount drop-down, then choose the number of SMS credits you plan to use each month.
6. Click Save. The number of SMS credits you select appears in the You chose a custom amount: section.
7. When you’re ready, click Select and submit to set up your monthly SMS credit subscription and submit your application. The credit option you select will be automatically set up as your monthly SMS credit subscription.

Application processing time

Once submitted, the review time varies by region:

• Belgium: 5 to 6 business days
• Denmark: 2 business days
• Italy: 1 to 7 business days
• Norway: 2 business days
• US: 1 to 2 business days
• Sweden: 3 business days
• All others: Often processed within 1 day

Application status

After you submit your application, you’ll see your application status and a progress bar on the SMS overview page. There are 3 application statuses: processing, rejected, and approved. Depending on the country, application processing time varies. If approved, we’ll send a notification to the primary email address associated with your Mailchimp account. Then, you can send marketing text messages.

After your application is approved, you’ll be charged for your first monthly SMS credit subscription purchase. Your payment method on the Billing information page is used for monthly SMS credit subscription purchases. Manage your SMS credits on the SMS overview page or the SMS settings page. To learn how to purchase a one-time credit refill, check out Create and Send a Marketing SMS.

If there’s an error with your application, you’ll see a notification in your account and receive an email to update or revise the business information you provided. Once you resolve any errors and resubmit, your application will return to a processing status, then undergo another review.

View your SMS Marketing Overview page

The SMS Overview page is the main dashboard for your SMS program. On the Overview page, you’ll find performance metrics, an onboarding checklist, your 10 most recent messages, and more. This is where you can view your credits, create your SMS marketing messages, and set up additional SMS features.

View your SMS Marketing settings

Your SMS Marketing settings contain the details of your program. You can also manage your SMS credits from the SMS settings page. For compliance reasons, the Sender information and Rate limits sections are informational only and can't be edited. The information on the SMS settings page is specific to your SMS Marketing program’s sending country.

To view your SMS Marketing settings, follow these steps.

1. Click SMS.
2. Click Settings.
3. On the SMS settings page, view the following sections:
   • Sender Info
     • Sender information
     • Terms and Conditions
     • Privacy Policy
   • Subscriber Opt-in
     • Opt-in Preference
     • Abandoned Cart Opt-in
   • Country settings
     • SMS quiet hours
     • Compliance messages
     • Carrier rate limits

Deactivate your SMS Marketing Senders

To deactivate your SMS senders, follow these steps.

1. Click your profile icon.
2. Click Account and billing.
3. Click the Billing drop-down, then click Monthly plans or credits.
4. In the SMS plan section, click the arrow next to Manage, then click Cancel plan.
5. In the pop-up modal, click Cancel messaging plan.
6. To deactivate individual senders, select Deactivate from the dropdown icon next to individual senders.

What happens when the last number on the plan is deactivated?

If the last number on the plan is deactivated, a window will open to confirm you want to deactivate your messaging plan. Follow the prompts, then click Deactivate messaging plan.

Next steps

You’ve set up your US SMS Marketing program. Now what? Here are some ways to kick-start your SMS experience.

• About SMS Marketing Credits

  Learn how SMS credits work and how to calculate the right amount for your marketing.

• About SMS Marketing with Mailchimp

  Learn about rate limits, quiet hours, and more.

• Import SMS Contacts to Mailchimp

  If you have contacts who have already opted in to your SMS marketing, import them to your Mailchimp audience with a CSV or TXT file.

• Create and Promote an SMS Signup Form

  Use an SMS signup form to add new subscribed contacts to your audience who want to receive SMS marketing from you.

• Create and Send a Marketing SMS

  Learn how to create and send marketing text messages to your subscribed contacts.

• Create an Abandoned Customer Cart Map

  Learn how to create and send abandoned cart text messages with the Automation Flow builder.

• View and Manage Inbox Messages

  Use Mailchimp Inbox to manage responses from your subscribed SMS contacts and send your own replies.