# Getting Started

The first step is to create an account at SMSGenius . Simply follow the instructions - it takes less than a minute. Additionally, you will enjoy a 14-day free trial period.

The second step is to connect your preferred gateway.

SMSGenius supports 100% of gateways, from well-known ones like Twilio and Vonage to lesser-known SIM gateways. You can even connect your custom-built gateway.

To connect a gateway, go to "Settings" then "Gateways" in the left-side menu. Click "Add Gateway" and you'll see this popup.

Just enter your gateway's name and a member of the SMSGenius team will contact you shortly to confirm your choice and start the integration, which should take no more than 5 minutes. If you're in a hurry, contact live support on Telegram @smsgenius.

Once your gateway is connected to SMSGenius, click on "You need to set prices!" to determine SMS sending costs by country.

You'll see this popup.

Select a country and set the SMS sending cost. This will be the cost used in all your Analytics.

Now that your gateway is connected, purchase one or more short domains to shorten your URLs.

Purchasing at least one domain is mandatory as it allows SMSGenius to track clicks without cookies or snippets and generate ClickIDs. However, we sell domains at cost, so there's no need to worry.

How to purchase domains? It's straightforward!

Go to "Short link domains" in the left-side menu and click "Domains".

This page lists all your purchased domains and their status.

To buy a domain, click "Buy Domains", choose an extension with available domains, and decide how many you want to purchase (up to 20 at a time).

After selection, click "Submit".

The loading page may take a few minutes. Do not refresh the page! SMSGenius is processing your domain purchases and linking them to your account.

Once purchased, you'll be redirected to this page.

The page will automatically refresh, showing your newly acquired short domains like jdyr.me, yztr.co, etc.

Domain propagation on the internet isn't instantaneous. Wait for the status to change from "no" to "yes" under the "ONLINE" column before using the link. It usually takes about 30 minutes, with .me domains being the fastest.

Your gateway is set, and you have domains for your URLs.

Now, add the contacts who will receive the SMS messages.

Navigate to the "Audiences" tab in the sidebar and click "All Contacts".

Then click "Import CSV".

Click "Choose file" to select your CSV file containing contacts and choose your CSV delimiter.

Finally, click "Import file".

Next, you'll be asked to map your file's columns.

You don't need to choose every column.

If you have a "Date of Birth" (a.k.a. "dob") column, remember to select the format:

Click "Import file" to start uploading your data to the database:

This may take several minutes, depending on your CSV file's size.

During this process, SMSGenius will:

• Clean phone numbers: remove spaces, dashes, etc.
• Ensure they're in mobile phone number format.
• Check they have sufficient digits for valid mobile numbers.
• Remove duplicates, keeping only unique numbers.
• Verify no numbers have been previously imported to your account.
• Import numbers into the database.

Once complete, you'll be redirected to this page:

Your contacts are now successfully imported into SMSGenius.

Your contacts are now in SMSGenius.

Time to create your first audience segment!

In the left sidebar, click "Audiences", "Segments", then "Create segment".

Click "Add a condition" to view all available conditions:

Add conditions, like targeting people in France, over 18 years old, who haven't received an SMS from you.

Click "Review segment" and SMSGenius will calculate the number of contacts meeting your criteria:

Then click "Save segment", and your segment is created:

It appears in red because SMSGenius is assigning each contact to the segment, but you can start using it in an SMS sendout immediately. You just can't click the eye icon under the "Action" column to view each contact in the segment until SMSGenius completes its background processing.

A campaign in SMSGenius is simply the link to your landing page.

To add a campaign, click "Campaigns" in the left sidebar and then "Add Campaign".

You'll see a popup. Name your campaign, choose the country, and add your landing page link in "Tracking link". Leave "Impression link" for now.

Choose whether each contact should receive this campaign only once by checking or unchecking the box.

Once done, click "Add Campaign".

Your first campaign is now set up!

SMSGenius provides a Postback URL for tracking conversions.

Here it is:

https://postback.smsgenius.io/?cid=MANDATORY&txid=OPTIONAL&user_agent=OPTIONAL&ip_address=OPTIONAL&payout=OPTIONAL&currency=OPTIONAL

You can use it in several ways:

• If you have your own system: configure it as a GET or POST webhook on your site to track conversions.
• If you're an affiliate for a network: pass them the Postback URL. They'll know how to set it up in minutes.

Once implemented and tested, you can track conversions in SMSGenius.

You're ready to send your first SMS marketing messages with SMSGenius!

Click "Create" in the left sidebar, then "Create sendout".

You'll land on this page:

In "Sender name", enter your SenderID or route name, then press "Enter". Add as many SenderID/routes as needed.

Next, in "SMS Text 1", write your SMS content. Personalize it by adding variables like %firstname%, %lastname% from the Personalization fields.

In the example above, traffic is split between the RouteA and RouteB senders.

You can also add more SMS Texts. Traffic will be divided among them, allowing A/B testing to see which route and text work best.

To add another text, click "+" and write a new SMS text.

Once finished, click "Save and continue".

You'll move to the "Targeting" section.

Choose the country, campaign name from the dropdown, SMS gateway route, and segments.

Then click "Save and continue".

Choose whether to resend SMS to recipients who received one today by checking or unchecking the "Allow SMS resending to those who got one today" box.

Finally, click "Save and continue".

You'll reach the "Sending details" section. Set the number of SMS messages to send in "Amount of SMS to send", decide whether to display links with the http:// prefix (without it, some phones might not recognize the link), and choose your desired domain extension. Select "Auto" if the extension doesn't matter. Then, choose to send immediately or schedule for later.

You can also choose to send SMS in batches. If so, check "Send in batches". Define the number of SMS per batch in "Batch amount" and the delay between batches in "Batch delay (minutes)".

Skip the "Autopilot mode" section for this Quick Start Guide. We'll cover it in detail in another part of this manual.

Click "Skip" to reach the "Confirmation" section.

Double-check the information and click "Start Sendout" to begin.

And there you have it! Your sendout is created, and contacts will soon start receiving SMS messages!

Click "Go to dashboard to track report".

You'll land on this page:

Click the eye icon under the "Action" column to view your sendout's progress.

You'll reach this page — it summarizes your sendout's details:

Click the "Report" tab to view real-time sendout results!

Congratulations, you now know how to use SMSGenius!