Setting up your SMS channel

Before sending SMS campaigns from Orbit, you’ll need to set up your SMS channel in the Channel editor.

Apteco SMS allows you to send messages in two ways:

  1. Using a specified phone number: Messages appear to originate from this number

  2. Using an alphanumeric sender ID (e.g., your company name): Messages display this as the sender

The setup process is similar for both methods, differing mainly in the values entered for the Sender field.

Note: It's not possible to get response data when using an alphanumeric sender ID. You need to include a link to manage opt-outs and responses.

Note: You must provide the pre-existing sender number to Apteco during setup so it can be added to the account before using it in Orbit. Ensure any number or alphanumeric sender added here is correctly set up on the account before including it in the channel configuration.

Creating your channel

To create an SMS channel:

  1. Log into Orbit as an administrator with permissions to configure the Campaigning Channel Editor.

  2. On the home screen, click your avatar in the top-right corner.

  3. Click Application Settings.

  4. From the left-hand menu, click Campaigning Channel Editor then Edit.

  5. Click + Item.

  6. Give your channel a meaningful name (e.g., Apteco SMS) and organise the folder structure.

    Note: You can delete or duplicate an SMS channel by clicking the option menu next to the channel.

  7. Click Create.

You can now begin setting up your SMS channel.

Configuring your channel

To configure your SMS channel:

  1. On the Basic Details tab, select Apteco SMS from the Broadcaster dropdown.

  2. Enter the username provided when your Apteco SMS account was set up. This is also known as an API Key (Sinch Service Plan ID), an identifier provided to enable SMS sending.

  3. For the password, input the API Secret (Sinch API Token) associated with your account.

    Note: This unique token is automatically generated when your Apteco SMS account is set up and authenticates your account.

  4. Click Test Login to verify credentials.

  5. Click + Add Variable under Mobile Variable, then select the mobile phone number variable from FastStats.

    Note: Make sure the number you add here doesn't have spaces, starts with a country code rather than with 00's, and has no brackets or dashes.

    Acceptable formats: +447123456789, 447123456789

  6. On the Output Settings tab, set the Message Content Type to SMS Template.

    This selection enables the system to recognise your messages as SMS content without requiring additional configuration.

At this stage, you must decide whether you want to use a specified phone number or an alphanumeric sender ID.

Configuring your channel for sending via a phone number

To use a phone number:

  1. Set the Reply Mobile Number (provided by the Apteco Business Development team) in country code format (e.g., 447418628003 without the + sign).

  2. Enter a valid Reply Email Address.

    Note: Orbit uses this to send notification emails to your system administrator about successful SMS sends or any delivery issues.

  3. On the Parameters tab, set the Sender to match the Reply Mobile Number from the Basic Details tab.

Configuring your channel for sending via alphanumeric text

Important: Sending messages using an alphanumeric sender ID means you cannot recieve responses. This also means STOP lists cannot be handled at the moment.

To use alphanumeric text:

  1. On the Basic Details tab, leave Reply Mobile Number blank.

  2. Enter a valid Reply Email Address.

    Note: Orbit uses this to send notification emails to your system administrator about successful SMS sends or any delivery issues.

  3. On the Parameters tab, set the Sender to the desired alphanumeric text (e.g., Apteco).

  4. Once you’ve selected your sender ID, you can click Save All Changes to complete your channel setup.

Important: Do not enter anything in the File Mapping text box under the Parameters tab. Doing so will prevent messages from being sent, resulting in a 9001 error

Checking the configuration

If you log out of Orbit and log in as a user that has access to campaigns, then you should see the remaining SMS Credits across the top of the page.

If you click Template Builder, then you should be able to create SMS templates via the SMS Builder.

You’re now ready to begin building your SMS templates.

See Building and managing SMS templates.

Defining consistent variables in your channel

Use Additional Variables in your channel definition to always pass the same personalisation content fields into all SMS templates.

This avoids campaign administrators needing to set them manually each time.

To add additional variables to your channel:

  1. Go to the Additional Variables tab, then click + Add Variable.

  2. Search for or navigate to the relevant FastStats variable.

  3. If the variable name differs from the personalisation field in the SMS template, then enter the template field name in Variable Description Override.

  4. Optionally set any Formatting options.

  5. Click Apply.

  6. Click Save All Changes.

Once set, personalisation fields defined are automatically passed through during campaign delivery. You don’t need to configure them manually in each campaign.

Building and managing SMS templates