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Manual SMS Notifications

This page describes how to manage manual SMS notifications. For more information about SMS notifications in general, see Notifications Overview.

Manual SMS notifications let you send an SMS to communicate with individual clients or groups at any moment. You can send from a client or group profile, or from a related loan or deposit account section.

When sending a manual SMS, you can either select a template or compose the message directly.

Creating manual SMS notification templates​

To create manual SMS notification templates, you must have the following permissions:

  • Create: Create Templates (CREATE_COMMUNICATION_TEMPLATES) and View Administration Details.
  • Edit: Edit Templates (EDIT_COMMUNICATION_TEMPLATES) and View Administration Details.

To create a manual SMS notification template:

  1. On the main menu, go to Administration > Templates > SMS.
  2. Select Add Template.
  3. Enter the required information (see field descriptions below).
  4. Select Save Changes.

Manual SMS notification templates list

Fields for manual SMS notification templates​

The following fields are available when creating manual SMS notification templates.

Creating SMS notification template dialog

SMS name​

The template name must be unique and a maximum of 255 characters. Leading and trailing spaces are removed automatically.

SMS target​

The target indicates what entity the notification relates to. For manual SMS templates, the available targets are:

  • Client
  • Group
  • Loans
  • Savings

The target type determines both:

  • Which placeholders are available in the template, and
  • Where the template is shown in the UI.

For example:

  • When sending from a client profile, you see templates with target Client.
  • When sending from a group profile, you see templates with target Group.
  • When sending from a loan account section, you see templates with target Loans.
  • When sending from a deposit account section, you see templates with target Savings.

Note: Even when sending from an account section, the SMS is sent to the account holder’s phone number (client or group). There is no separate “account phone number”.

SMS contents​

Enter the body of your SMS message. You can include plain text and placeholders. For details, see Placeholders.

About SMS length and billing​

  • SMS providers automatically split long messages into multiple segments. For example, GSM-7 messages are usually split roughly every 160 characters and Unicode messages around 70 characters.
  • Segmentation and billing are handled by your SMS provider. Longer messages may result in more segments and higher costs.
  • Mambu does not enforce a functional limit of 160 or 1600 characters. A high technical maximum is enforced to prevent overly large payloads. If this limit is exceeded, the message will not be sent and an error will be shown.
  • We recommend keeping messages concise to reduce segmentation and costs.

Sending manual SMS notifications​

You can send manual SMS via the Mambu UI or via the API.

For information on sending SMS via API, see the Communications endpoint in our API Reference.

To send manual SMS notifications, you must have the Send Manual SMS (SEND_MANUAL_SMS) permission.

Send SMS option in client profile

To send a manual SMS notification:

  1. Open the profile of the client or group you want to contact. Alternatively, open a related loan or deposit account and use the Send action there.
  2. Select Send > Send SMS. The option appears only if:
  • SMS notifications are enabled and configured for your organization, and
  • The client or group has a phone number defined on their profile.
  1. In the Send SMS dialog, either:
  • Select an SMS template (filtered based on the current context: Client, Group, Loans, or Savings), or
  • Compose a message directly.
  1. If you selected a template, you can adjust the contents before sending, as long as you have the Edit Templates (EDIT_COMMUNICATION_TEMPLATES) permission.
  2. Select Send SMS.

Send SMS dialog

Troubleshooting​

  • The “Send SMS” button doesn’t appear

  • Check that SMS notifications are enabled and correctly configured for your organization.

  • Make sure the client or group has a phone number on their profile.

  • Confirm that your user role includes the SEND_MANUAL_SMS permission.

  • The message is not sent

  • Verify the destination phone number is valid.

  • Check your SMS provider configuration and credentials.

  • Keep the message reasonably short to avoid unexpected segmentation and costs. Extremely large messages may be rejected and will not be sent.