Sending SMS (beta)

Omnivery supports sending SMS using both SMTP and APIs. Current support for SMS is limited to one-way communication (two-way communication is planned for a future release). The principal support is implemented using existing submission methods used for email with minor differences in required fields.

Required steps to enable SMS sending

As with all communication using Omnivery, sending SMS is tied to a properly configured domain. SMS domain is used for click tracking (shortened URLs), and links remain active for the period of 14 days from the time of send. To set up a new SMS sending domain, we recommend registering a new domain that will be used for URLs. This domain will be used exclusively for SMS links by Omnivery.

Keep in mind that SMS has limited space for text and the domain length has a significant impact on the length of your messages. We recommend registering as short a domain as possible that will look similar to your brand's name—for example, Notino could use a domain noti.no, Centropol could use cntr.pl, etc. It is important, however, to use a domain that recipients will easily associate with your brand and trust.

Once you have picked your domain, please contact support@omnivery.com to request addition of your SMS sending domain to your account, as this is not possible from the UI during beta. Make sure to provide information about your customer account so we can add the domain to the right account.

Once the domain is added, you will be able to switch to this domain and set up the required DNS records.

As soon as the domain is verified, you will be able to start sending SMS messages using this domain with any of our submission methods.

Sender ID aka Alpha Sender

You can have your messages identified using a Sender ID (alpha code) instead of a sending phone number. The Sender ID can be as long as 11 characters and contain uppercase and lowercase characters, numbers, and spaces only.

The Sender ID needs to be registered with the mobile networks in the respective countries of your recipients, and the process usually takes around 2 weeks. Most network providers charge for the registration of Sender ID. Depending on the country and provider, this could be a monthly, annual, or one-time fee.

Please contact support@omnivery.com to request registration of your Sender ID and provide us with a list of countries where you would like your Sender ID to be active. If you do not have your own dedicated Sender ID, a default may be used instead. Depending on the country and network, this could be SMSinfo, Info, SMS, etc. In networks where Sender ID is not supported, you can expect messages to arrive either from a phone number or a short-code number.

Sending SMS messages

Sending SMS is identical to sending plain-text emails, with the only difference being the recipient's address. Instead of using an email address of the recipient, you will send your messages to phone numbers formatted as emails, e.g., +420XXXYYYZZZ@yourdomain.com.

The example below uses domain omsg.io to send SMS via SMTP:

HELO xxx
MAIL FROM: sender@omsg.io
RCPT TO: +420xxxyyyzzz@omsg.io
DATA
From: sender@omsg.io
To: +420xxxyyyzzz@omsg.io

Message text body
.
QUIT

As you can see, headers are not required in this case, but if provided, they would be ignored.

The same applies for API submission, where the From (sender) could be any address in your sending domain, while the To (recipient) must be formatted as an email address containing the phone number in international format in the local-part of the address and your domain in the domain-part of the address. The actual message content must be passed as the plain-text part of the message.

Message delivery information

The workflow of SMS message delivery notifications is the same as it is for emails. Delivery, bounce, suppression, and other information is passed using webhooks. The status codes and bounce classification are identical to those used for emails, and you can receive webhook updates in the same formats as we support for emails. More information about webhooks can be found in Webhooks documentation.

Extra options/headers

X-ov-sms_split - yes/no - allows you to control whether the content of the message should be split into multiple SMS messages or just one.

Messages exceeding the length limits of the SMS standard will be rejected with 552 5.7.16 rejection at submission time. Message length is calculated after URL replacement takes place, so a long URL will not affect the length limit (unless click tracking is disabled).

Please refer to Start sending via SMTP for more information about sending using SMTP or our documentation for general information regarding our supported APIs.

Support for WhatsApp & Viber messages

Sending of WhatsApp and Viber messages is planned for release at a later date. At the moment, we cannot provide any dates, as the support is highly dependent on customer demand.