eSMS App Dashboard guides

Everything you can do in the eSMS SMS dashboard, explained step by step with real screenshots. No coding needed.

Getting started Sending messages Contacts and audiences Campaigns Reports and delivery Two-way SMS Team and account Billing and payments Corporate messaging playbooks

These guides are for people who send SMS from the dashboard at sms.esmsafrica.io: a shop owner texting one customer, a marketing team running a campaign, a bank or school sending alerts to thousands. Each guide covers one task, starts with what you need before you begin, and ends with common errors and answers to the questions our support team hears most.

Start here

Getting started

Create your account, find your way around and get ready for your first send.

Create your eSMS account and verify your email Sign up for eSMS Africa in a few minutes: fill in the form, enter the 6-digit code we email you, and open the SMS dashboard. 4 min readA tour of the eSMS SMS dashboard Find your way around the eSMS SMS dashboard: the menu, balance, search, New message button, today's numbers and the phone layout. 4 min readSwitch on your SMS countries in the dashboard eSMS sends only to countries you switch on. Learn how to find live countries, enable one and fix the country_not_enabled error. 4 min readGet a sender ID: default vs custom sender ID registration Send straight away with your default sender ID, or request your own brand name per country. Here is how sender ID registration works. 4 min readComplete KYC onboarding and sign the service order form Verify your business once: add your details, upload KYC documents and sign the service order form online in six steps. 4 min read

Sending messages

Write and send one message or many, and understand characters and segments.

Send SMS online: a single message from the dashboard Send one SMS from your browser: pick the country, enter the number, write the message, check the preview and press Send now. 4 min readSMS character limit, segments and Unicode explained Why one SMS is 160 characters, why an emoji drops it to 70, how long messages split into segments and how that affects cost. 4 min readSend bulk SMS online from the Send page Send personalised messages to a whole list from the Send page: upload a file or pick a group, preview real rows, check cost and send. 4 min read

Contacts and audiences

Import contact lists, personalise messages, build segments and respect opt-outs.

Upload contacts from Excel or CSV into groups Bring your customer list into eSMS: upload Excel or CSV, paste numbers or link a Google Sheet, then save it to a contact group. 4 min readPersonalised SMS with merge fields Put each customer's name, amount or date into your SMS with merge fields, add fallbacks for empty cells and preview real rows. 4 min readBuild SMS audience segments Create reusable audiences with rules such as name, tag, list or any custom column, preview who matches, and send to them. 4 min readManage SMS opt-out and STOP replies See who replied STOP, suppress a number yourself, set your opt-out line, and understand how opted-out numbers are excluded. 4 min read

Campaigns

Plan, schedule, approve and reuse campaigns for large audiences.

Create an SMS campaign with the wizard Build and launch an SMS campaign in four steps, with a real-row preview, cost by country and a test to your own phone first. 4 min readSchedule SMS campaigns, repeat them and drip them out Send later, on repeat or spread out over time: how Schedule, Repeat, Throttle and quiet hours work in the campaign wizard. 4 min readSMS campaign approval for teams (maker-checker) Require a second person to approve campaigns before they send, with optional thresholds by recipients or cost. 4 min readSave and reuse SMS templates Keep approved wording in one place: create templates with merge fields, share them with your team and use the starter pack. 4 min read

Reports and delivery

Follow every message from sending to delivery, and export the results.

SMS delivery statuses explained, including Confirming, and when you are refunded Delivered, Submitted, Scheduled, Dripping, Confirming and Failed explained, plus exactly which failed messages are refunded and when a retry costs money. 6 min readReports and message logs: find and export any SMS Reports gives you totals by day, country, campaign and API key. Message Logs lists every message with its status. Both export to CSV. 4 min readHow to read and export an SMS campaign report Open any campaign to see who received it, what failed and why, what it cost, and export the per-recipient list to CSV or Excel. 5 min read

Two-way SMS

Let customers text you back with a keyword on a short code.

Two-way SMS: request a keyword on a short code and reply from the Inbox Get your own keyword on our shared short code so customers can text you, then read and answer their messages in the Inbox. Nothing is charged until approval. 5 min read

Team and account

Invite colleagues, control what they can do and keep the account secure.

How to invite team members and choose their roles Give colleagues their own login to your eSMS workspace with the right role: Admin, Sender, Approver or Viewer. All sending bills the owner's wallet. 4 min readHow to check who did what in the audit log The audit log records sends, campaigns, approvals, imports, templates, team changes, API keys and settings, with who did it and when. Filter it and export it. 4 min readSecure your account: password, two-factor authentication and sessions Protect your eSMS account with an authenticator app, a strong password and a check of signed-in devices. Download your data or schedule deletion from the same page. 4 min readSet up a low balance alert and other notifications Alerts warn you by email or in the dashboard when your balance runs low, delivery drops or a campaign finishes. Notifications collects them in one list. 4 min read

Billing and payments

Top up your balance, pay for sender IDs and download receipts.

Top up your SMS balance with mobile money, Mukuru or crypto Add funds to your eSMS account with mobile money in local currency, Mukuru, or USDT/USDC crypto, step by step. 5 min readBilling, transactions and receipts for your SMS account Settings > Billing shows your balance and recent charges and refunds. Payment history and receipts are on the Payments tab of your eSMS profile. 4 min readHow to pay for a sender ID in advance Pay for Sender ID lets you pay a registration fee in advance. The payment is held on your request and covers the fee on approval; it is never taken from your SMS balance. 4 min read

Corporate messaging playbooks

Ready-made setups for banks, schools, clinics, shops, NGOs, government and logistics.

SMS alerts for banks and SACCOs: a dashboard playbook How banks, microfinance institutions and SACCOs set up transaction alerts, loan reminders, member notices and OTPs in the eSMS dashboard, with sample messages. 8 min readBulk SMS for schools and universities: a dashboard playbook How schools, colleges and universities reach parents and students by SMS from the eSMS dashboard: fee balances, term dates, absences, closures and events. 7 min readAppointment reminder SMS for hospitals and clinics: a dashboard playbook How hospitals, clinics and pharmacies use the eSMS dashboard for appointment reminders, results-ready notices, immunisation recalls and two-way confirmations. 7 min readSMS marketing for retail and e-commerce: a dashboard playbook How shops, supermarkets and online stores run promotions, loyalty messages and order updates from the eSMS dashboard without annoying customers. 6 min readBulk SMS for NGOs: a dashboard playbook How NGOs and community programmes use the eSMS dashboard for distribution notices, training invites, surveys, field staff alerts and donor reporting. 7 min readSMS for government agencies: a dashboard playbook How ministries, counties and public agencies send citizen notices, deadlines and service updates from the eSMS dashboard with strong controls. 6 min readDelivery notification SMS for logistics companies: a dashboard playbook How couriers, freight and delivery companies send dispatch, out-for-delivery, pickup and missed-delivery messages from the eSMS dashboard. 6 min read

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a developer to use the eSMS dashboard?

No. Everything in these guides is done in the browser at sms.esmsafrica.io: sending, importing contacts, campaigns, reports and billing. Developers can add the API later.

How do I pay for SMS?

Top up your balance by mobile money (Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia), Mukuru in the countries it serves, or crypto. Each message is charged from the balance when it is sent.

Can I send under my own company name?

Yes. You start with the default eSMS sender for your country, then request a custom sender ID per country on the Sender IDs page. The fee is charged only when it is approved.

Can several people use one account?

Yes. Invite team members from Settings, Team and give each one a role: Admin, Sender, Approver or Viewer. Campaign approvals let a second person sign off before a campaign sends.

Also in the Help Center Developer guides Get from API key to production: quickstarts in four languages, testing, webhooks, errors and SMPP, with links to the full API reference. Help Center All help articles and FAQs Pricing, sender ID rules and compliance for every African country, plus quick answers.

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