Getting started
To get set up with Hive's SMS marketing tools an active paid Email Subscription is necessary before moving along with the steps outlined below.
Dedicated Hive phone number
In Hive, each brand will have a dedicated Hive phone number. All outgoing SMS messages will be sent from the dedicated Hive phone number.
Anyone who sends an SMS message to this phone number will be automatically added to the contact list. Check out our article on How to Setup a Keyword SMS Auto Response Automation to further leverage Hive's SMS marketing tools.
Before you can send out your first campaign, you need to get set up with a toll-free phone number. This is an automatic process for new customers – Hive will get you a phone number for you and notify you when it’s ready. Current customers will need to:
Fill out a business registration form. You can access this form from your dashboard by going to Campaigns from the sidebar and then selecting SMS. You will then see an alert that says Complete SMS carrier registration. From there, select Fill out form and fill out the necessary information.
Wait 1 to 2 weeks to get approved (however, this is usually much shorter).
You will get a message when you’re approved.
Billing for SMS
SMS billing is separate from the Hive Email Marketing subscription and is billed on a pay-as-you-go basis. Please reach out to the Product Support Team at support@hive.co or message us in Hive using our live chat to have SMS billing enabled.
Check out our SMS Pricing Page.
Collecting SMS opt-in
If you already have a list of subscribers opted-in, check out How to Import Phone Numbers for SMS.
When Creating a Signup Form in Hive select the "Phone Number" form field and an Opt-in Consent check box will automatically be added below the Phone Number Field.
A subscriber will only be opted-in to SMS if they check the "By providing your phone number, you agree to receive recurring automated marketing text messages (e.g. cart reminders) from this company and third parties acting on its behalf. Consent is not a condition to obtain goods or services. Msg & data rates may apply. Msg frequency varies. Reply HELP for help and STOP to cancel. You also agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy..
Along with responding to an SMS campaign, users can also opt-in through a Hive signup form or the Hive SDK on a website.
SMS revenue attribution
Hive uses an Email Address as a unique identifier for each contact. If tickets are purchased using an email in your Hive brand, we will be able to attribute that revenue to the existing contact profile.
With SMS, if the contact doesn't have an email but only has a phone number, we will not be able to attribute ticket purchase revenue to these contacts.
If you're looking to gather revenue data from SMS campaigns be sure to include an email address field when collecting phone numbers in your sign-up forms.
Creating an SMS/MMS campaign
To create a one-time SMS campaign, select "SMS" from the sidebar, click "New SMS Campaign" and choose "SMS campaign" in the "Create from scratch" section at the top of the page.
Choose recipients
Next, select the recipients for the campaign. Target users specifically for each campaign by leveraging Hive filtering options.
Go to How to Filter Your Contacts for a deeper look into filtering.
Contacts must be subscribed to SMS to receive SMS/MMS marketing.
Campaign details
Create a campaign name and choose to either send the campaign immediately or schedule a specific time of day for it to send.
Edit Message
Brand name
Since SMS/MMS don't use a "From" address feel free to add a "Brand Name" to let subscribers know who you are.
Choose an image or event
Next, choose whether or not to add an image or an event to the SMS.
Adding an event will automatically populate the message body with the Event Image, Name, Location, Time, Date and Ticketing link.
To add an event, an active ticketing integration or a CVS upload with event data is needed to populate the event block.
This is optional as the message will become an MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) which will increase the cost of the message.
Message body
Edit the campaign message to suit the targeted subscribers and brand info. A great way to personalize or add dynamic content to the message is to use Merge Tags. Here is some helpful info on How to Use Merge Tags.
Once done editing the message, try sending a test to see how the campaign looks outside Hive.
Now that the campaign is ready click continue.
Confirm and Send
With the Campaign all ready to go, make sure to take a look one final look over the campaign, then when ready hit "Confirm and Send"
Using recommended SMS campaigns
On the SMS campaign creation page, there are two sections "Sell tickets" and "Engage and inform". Both of these sections have multiple pre-built SMS campaigns.
Each campaign is pre-templated and pre-filtered allowing you to quickly send highly targeted campaigns to sell more tickets or engage your audience.
This is a great way to start engaging your SMS subscribers and selling even more tickets with ease.
Now that your brand is all set up for SMS marketing feel free to check out our
Guide to SMS Marketing and Automation for some great information.