SMS history and scheduling: statuses, filters and what happens when a message fails

The short answer: in My MozOut, under SMS > History, you see every message with its date, recipient, text, cost and status. “Sent” means it was handed over to the mobile network, not that it was read. If a message fails, the system tries twice more, 10 minutes apart; if it still does not go out, the credits go back to your balance. To send later, set the date and time when you send.

What the history shows

The history has three tabs and filters by status and by date, so you can quickly find, say, everything that failed last week.

Tab	What you find there
Messages	Every SMS, with date, recipient, message, cost and status
Campaigns	Sends made with “New campaign”, to many numbers at once
Balance	Your SMS credits, to keep track of what comes in and what is spent

The statuses, one by one

Status	What it means	Do you need to do anything?
In queue	Waiting to go out	No
Sending	Going out now	No
Sent	Handed over to the mobile network	No. It does not mean read or confirmed on the phone
Failed	Did not go out, and we returned the credits	Check the number before trying again
Cancelled	The send was cancelled and the message did not go out	Only if you still want to send it: make a new send
Simulated	Test sends only, such as API Sandbox requests	No. Nothing was sent or charged

When a message fails

1	The message tries to go out. If all goes well, it becomes “Sent”.

2	If it fails, the system tries twice more, 10 minutes apart, with nothing for you to do.

3	If it keeps failing, it shows “Failed” and the credits for that message go back to your balance.

Before resending, check the number is written correctly. Numbers are written with or without the country code, because the system can tell the country from the first digit: 841234567 goes to Mozambique and 923456789 to Angola. So +258 84 123 4567 and 258841234567 are the same number as 841234567. Remember we only send to mobiles in Mozambique and Angola. A contact that always fails should be corrected or taken off your list: see SMS contacts and groups.

Scheduling a send

1	Prepare the send in “Send” (or “New campaign”, for many numbers): the message and the numbers or group.

2	Instead of sending now, choose the date and time.

3	Confirm in the confirmation window. Before sending, the page shows how many parts the message has and how many credits it will use.

4	Follow it afterwards in the history, under Messages or Campaigns.

A date that has already passed makes the message go out straight away. Check the day and time before you confirm, especially for a large group.

Pick sensible hours: working days, business hours, and never at night. A reminder in the late afternoon the day before, or an offer mid-morning, annoys less and gets read more carefully. More ideas in how to plan an SMS campaign.

Using the history to spend less

Look at the cost column. A message that used more credits than you expected almost always has more parts: it went over 160 characters, or a single Portuguese accent such as ã or ç switched it to Unicode, with 70-character parts. Shortening it or swapping one word can halve the cost of every send. See how many credits an SMS uses.

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