SMS “sendlog” data extension template in Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Published On - August 18, 2018

SFMCGuys Business Services, Increased Profits, Salesforce Marketing Cloud

SMS sendlog data extension template in SFMC

In March 2016 a new SMS Send Log data extension template has been introduced for all accounts utilizing Send Logging.

This template targets all SMS Sends, both scheduled send and triggered send.

Today it is still not widely used in comparison with the email Sendlog data extension template.

A support ticked should be raised to enable both email and SMS Sendlog data extension templates for a particular business unit. Both templates are not available after account is set up.

If email Sendlog data extension template more or less known and used by many SFMC clients, SMS Sendlog template is still not as popular as the email Sendlog template.

One of the reasons for it that not much information is available about this template especially information which can explain how to collect data in SMS Sendlog data extension.

The SMS Sendlog template contains the below fields by default

  • SMSJobID
  • SMSTriggeredSendID
  • BatchID
  • SubID

Creating a SMS Send Log is not a requirement, but is an option for any accounts that wish to separate their send data from Email Sends vs SMS Sends.

Creating a new SMS Send Log Data Extension using these steps:

1. Click the Subscribers tab.
2. Click Data Extensions.
3. Click the Create From Template button.
4. Select the checkbox next to the “SMSSendLog” template.
5. Click the Select button at the top of the screen.
6. Enter the name, external key and description you wish to assign to this Data Extension.
7. Leave the checkbox next to Used for Sending unchecked.
8. Create additional fields for list Attributes or Data Extension fields you would like to record in the Send Logging Data Extension.
9. Click Save to save the Data Extension.

It is important to highlight here that the value collected in SubID field in the SMS Sendlog data extension is the same as the value of ContactID. In other words SbID=ContactID.

As far as it is possible to send a scheduled SMS to a data extension, all fields from a sendable data extension can be populated in the SMS Sendlog data extension. There are the same rules that are applied for emails Sendlog.

But what data can be collected sending a triggered SMS and how?

Below is an example of a triggered SMS payload:

{
“Subscribers”: [

{

“MobileNumber”: “1xxxxxxxxx2”,

“SubscriberKey”: “777”,

“Attributes”:{

“emailaddr”:”test@yyyyycom”,

“MessageName”: “Test 1234567”

}

}

],

“Subscribe”: “true”,

“Resubscribe”: “true”,

“keyword”: “TEST”,

“Override”: “false”

}

The AMPScript below used in SMS allows to collect email addresses, message name and the subscriber Key and populate them in SMS Send log data extension.

%%[

Set @SubscriberKey=_subscriberkey

SET @emailaddr= AttributeValue(“emailaddr”)

set @MessageName= lowercase([MSG(0).NOUN(0)])

]%%

This is API triggered SMS

The  email address is %%=v(@emailaddr)=%%

We hope that SMS Sendlog template will be more widely utilized by SFMC clients in the near future.

It can be used in many technical solution for SMS sent from both automation and journey builder.

Got any questions? Need help?

  • Phone: (301) 468-3535