Prerequisites
- An active Dexatel account
- An approved SMS sender — see [How to Add a Sender]
Creating an SMS Template
- Go to Verify or Engage in the left navigation and select Templates.
- Click + Create Template.
- Select SMS and click Next.
- In the Name field, enter a name for the template.
- In the Message field, write your message text. The character and segment counter below the field updates as you type.
- To insert a personalization variable, click any of the variable buttons above the message field: First Name, Last Name, Custom 1, Custom 2, or Opt Out. The variable is inserted at the cursor position.
- Click Create.
The template appears in the template library immediately and is available for use in SMS campaigns and SMS verification flows.
Personalization Variables
Clicking a variable button inserts a placeholder into the message text. When the message is sent, the platform replaces each placeholder with the corresponding value from the recipient's contact record.
| Variable | Inserted as | Replaced with |
|---|---|---|
| First Name | {first_name} |
Recipient's first name |
| Last Name | {last_name} |
Recipient's last name |
| Custom 1 | {custom_1} |
Value stored in the Custom 1 field |
| Custom 2 | {custom_2} |
Value stored in the Custom 2 field |
| Opt Out | {opt_out} |
Opt-out link |
Note: If a contact record does not have a value for a given variable, the placeholder is sent as-is.
[VERIFY: Confirm whether an empty variable is sent as the raw placeholder text (e.g. {first_name}) or as a blank space when the contact has no value for that field]
OTP Templates
If you are creating a template for SMS OTP delivery via Verify, your message must include the {code} variable. Type it directly into the message body at the position where the verification code should appear.
Example: Your verification code is {code}. It expires in 5 minutes.
For full instructions on sending OTP via SMS, see [How to Send OTP via SMS].