How to use bulk SMS marketing in Tanzania

Bulk SMS marketing means sending one text message, from your business name, to a whole list of customers at once. In Tanzania it still works very well, because an SMS reaches every phone, smart or not, with or without data. It's best for offers, reminders and announcements to people who already know you.

Everyone talks about Instagram and TikTok, so the plain text message gets forgotten. For many of our clients it still brings in more sales per shilling than anything else.

What is bulk SMS?

Bulk SMS means sending one message to a list of people at once, through an SMS platform instead of your own phone. The message arrives from your business name (your sender ID), like KIBO-SHOP, instead of a random number. It looks professional and people recognise it straight away.

What is bulk SMS good for?

• Offers to existing customers: "20% off all shoes this weekend."
• Reminders: appointments, payment due dates, school fees, service bookings.
• Announcements: a new branch, new opening hours, a new product.
• Order and delivery updates: "Your order is on the way."
• Thank-you messages after a purchase, with a link to leave a review.

Setting up your sender ID

Your sender ID has to be registered before you can use it. That usually happens through your SMS provider and the mobile networks, and it can take a few days, so sort it out well before the campaign you're planning. Keep it short (11 characters at most), easy to recognise, and close to your real business name.

Build your list the right way

Only message people who gave you their number and agreed to hear from you: customers, members, people who signed up at your shop or on your website. Buying a list of random numbers is a bad idea. You pay to reach people who don't care, you annoy them, and your sender ID can get blocked.

A few easy ways to grow a proper list: a sign-up sheet at the till, a box on your website, a "send JOIN to..." campaign, or asking at checkout.

How to write an SMS people act on

One SMS is 160 characters. That's not much, so every word has to earn its place.

1. Say who you are, even though the sender ID shows it.
2. Lead with the benefit. What's in it for them?
3. Add a deadline. "Until Sunday" works better than "for a limited time".
4. Give one clear action: call, reply, visit, or tap one link.
5. Write the way your customers talk. Swahili, English, or a mix.

Here's an example:

KIBO SHOP: Punguzo la 20% kwa viatu vyote hadi Jumapili! Tembelea duka letu Kariakoo au piga 07XX XXX XXX. Kujiondoa, jibu STOP.

Notice the opt-out at the end. Giving people an easy way to stop the messages is good practice, and it keeps your list full of people who want to hear from you.

SMS, WhatsApp or email: which should you use?

Each channel does a different job. Most of our clients end up using two of them together.

What's the best time to send an SMS?

Timing matters more with SMS than with almost any other channel. Avoid early mornings and late nights; nobody enjoys a promo at 10pm. Mid-morning and early evening tend to do well. Think about paydays too. An offer that lands just after month-end pay often beats the same offer two weeks later.

Measure it

A good SMS platform gives you delivery reports. To see actual sales, use something you can track: a short link, a code like "mention SMS20", or a dedicated phone number. After two or three campaigns you'll have a good idea of which messages and times work for your customers.

SMS works best with other channels

SMS is great at grabbing attention fast, but it's short. Pair it with a page on your website or a WhatsApp chat where people can see more and place an order. When your SMS, social media and website all say the same thing, each one works harder.

How much does bulk SMS cost?

You pay per message, and the price per SMS usually drops as you buy more. Providers sell credits in bundles, so a business that sends a few thousand messages a month pays less per message than one that sends a hundred. Remember that a message longer than 160 characters counts as two or more, and messages with some special characters can count as more than one too. Before you compare providers, ask for the price per message at the volume you expect to send, and whether unused credits expire.

Cheap credits aren't a bargain if the messages don't arrive. Ask each provider for delivery reports and try a small test send to numbers on different networks before you buy a large bundle.

How do you choose an SMS provider?

There are plenty of bulk SMS providers in Tanzania, and they look similar on paper. These are the questions we ask on behalf of clients:

• Do they handle sender ID registration for you, and how long does it usually take?
• Do messages reach all the major networks reliably?
• Can you schedule messages and personalise them with the customer's name?
• Do you get delivery reports for every campaign?
• Is there a simple way to manage opt-outs automatically?
• Can you send from a website or system through an API later, if you need to?
• Who do you call when a campaign gets stuck?

If a provider can't answer the last question clearly, keep looking. You'll need that phone number the first time a promotion fails to send on a Saturday morning.

Personalised messages work better

"Habari Amina" at the start of a message gets more attention than a message that could be for anyone. Most SMS platforms let you upload a spreadsheet with names and other details and merge them into the message. You can go further than names: the branch the customer usually visits, the date their service is due, or the last product they bought.

Keep the spreadsheet clean. A message that starts "Habari [FIRST NAME]" because a column was empty does more harm than no name at all, so check a sample before you send.

A simple SMS calendar for a small business

You don't need to message people every week. For most shops, clinics and schools, one or two messages a month is plenty. A year might look like this:

Common SMS mistakes

• Sending the same promotion every week until people stop reading.
• Forgetting to say who the message is from.
• Including a link that doesn't work on a basic phone, without a phone number as a backup.
• Writing in English to customers who mostly speak Swahili, or the other way round.
• Sending at night or very early in the morning.
• No way to opt out.

What results should you expect?

That depends on your list and your offer. A list of loyal customers who bought from you recently will respond much better than a list of numbers collected years ago. Our advice is to judge SMS by what it brings in, not by delivery rates alone. Count calls, visits, replies and sales in the two or three days after each campaign and compare them with a normal week. After a few campaigns you'll know which offers and times your customers respond to, and you can plan the rest of the year around that.

One more thing we've learned the hard way: write the message, then wait an hour and read it again on your own phone. If it's confusing, too long, or sounds like it came from a bank, rewrite it.

Example: a shoe shop's first SMS campaign

Picture a shoe shop in Kariakoo with about 800 customer numbers collected at the till over two years. The owner wants to clear school shoes before term starts. Here is how we'd plan it. First, register the sender ID a week ahead. Second, split the list into parents (people who bought children's shoes before) and everyone else. Parents get a message on the Thursday after month-end pay: the offer, the shop location, a phone number and a deadline of Sunday. Everyone else gets nothing this time, because the offer isn't for them.

On Saturday morning, parents who haven't visited get a short reminder: "Siku 2 zimebaki." After the weekend, the owner counts visits and calls and compares them with the same weekend last month. That comparison decides whether SMS becomes a monthly habit.

Your plan for this week

1. Collect the customer numbers you already have into one spreadsheet.
2. Ask two or three SMS providers for prices and how they handle sender ID registration.
3. Write one offer message under 160 characters, with an opt-out.
4. Send it to a small test group first, then to the full list.
5. Write down what happened, so the next campaign is better.

Frequently asked questions