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Running SMS Campaigns

TL;DR

Your regulars would come in more often if they knew you had something worth coming in for. A text message has a 90%+ open rate — six times better than email. That slow Tuesday you're staring at? One well-timed blast to your opted-in customers can fill it before lunch. Plans start at $19.99/month (plus a one-time $200 setup and carrier registration), and the math is simple: one extra sale from one extra text more than covers a month of the module. Your customers' phones are the most direct line you have to them — four cents a message.

A well-timed text message has an open rate north of 90%. Compare that to email, where you're lucky if a quarter of your list even glances at the subject line. For a cigar shop, SMS is one of the most effective marketing tools you have — if you use it right.

Finding the SMS Module

Open the Dashboard, click the Modules & Integrations tab on the left, and click the SMS Module card. (Can't find it? Type "sms" in the search box at the top right.)

The SMS Module screen is your hub for everything texting-related. Across the top it shows your Store SMS Number, how many customers are Opted In (broken out by T-Mobile vs. other carriers), and today's T-Mobile throttle usage. The buttons below open campaigns, your inbox, consent records, keyword replies, and settings — all covered below.

Before You Send Anything

Make sure TORO's SMS module is set up and active before you start planning campaigns. But the more important piece is consent. You can only text customers who have opted in. This isn't optional or a best practice — it's a legal requirement under TCPA regulations, and violations come with real fines.

TORO tracks consent status for every customer: Invited (you've asked but they haven't responded), Opted In (they've agreed to receive texts), and Opted Out (they've declined or unsubscribed). Only opted-in customers will receive your campaigns. Don't try to work around this. It's protecting you.

There's also a gray list — incoming messages TORO has flagged for a human to look at before they count. If anything is sitting on the gray list, TORO won't let you start a campaign until you clear it (it'll send you straight to the consent screen to do so). More on that below.

Building a Campaign

Here's the process from start to finish:

  1. From the SMS Module screen, click SMS Campaigns to open the Campaign Center. (If you have messages waiting on the gray list, TORO sends you to clear those first — you can't start a campaign until the gray list is empty.)

  2. Choose how you want to start:

    • New Campaign — All Opted In Customers — pre-loads every opted-in customer. The fastest way to text your whole list.
    • New Campaign — Find Specific Accounts — opens the account finder so you can target a filtered group (by last visit, account level, spending history, brands they buy, and more).
    • New Campaign — Blank Slate — starts empty so you build the recipient list yourself.
    • View Previous Campaigns — reopen a past campaign to reuse its message and settings, or pull its report.

  3. In the SMS Campaign Editor, give the campaign a name and write your message. The live segment counter sits right above the message box, and you can tick Send as MMS if you need more room (see How Billing Works). Click the ? beside the message box any time to come back to this page.

  4. Build your recipient list. Use Load All Opted-In to grab everyone, or Filter & Find along with Add Brand, Add Company, and Add Item to narrow it down. Remove Selected and Clear All clean things up, and Export List to CSV with Emails saves a copy.

  5. Set the sending window with Start / Day and End. TORO meters delivery (roughly 15 messages a second for SMS, 3 a second for MMS) and respects the daily carrier limits, so a big list rolls out across the window instead of all at once.

  6. Click Send, review the customer count and the message on the confirmation screen, and click Approve.

That's it. TORO handles the delivery and tracks the results — reopen the campaign any time under View Previous Campaigns.

How Billing Works

You're billed by the segment, not by the message. This is the single most important thing to understand about SMS costs, because one "text" can quietly turn into several segments — and several charges.

SMS segments. A standard text holds 160 characters in a single segment. The moment you go over 160, the message is split and sent as multiple segments of 153 characters each (the carrier reserves a few characters of every segment to stitch them back together on the customer's phone). So a 200-character message isn't one text — it's two segments, billed as two.

MMS messages. An MMS can hold up to 2,048 characters and is always billed as a single message, no matter how long it is. That's why a long announcement can sometimes cost less as one MMS than the same words sent as a multi-segment SMS. Tick Send as MMS in the editor when that's the cheaper or better fit — the editor even warns you when sending as MMS would cost less than the segments you're racking up.

Here's what each one costs:

Type What it holds Price
SMS segment 160 characters (153 per segment once a message splits) $0.039 each
MMS message Up to 2,048 characters $0.059 each

A quick example: send a 400-character SMS to 500 opted-in customers and you're paying for 3 segments × 500 = 1,500 segments. Tighten that same message to under 160 characters and it's 500 segments — a third of the cost. Replies you receive back from customers are billed at these same rates.

The character counter at the top of the message box shows your live segment count as you type, so you always know what a campaign will cost before you hit send. Click the ? next to the message box any time to come back to this page.

Writing Messages That Work

You've got 160 characters before your message splits into multiple segments. Each segment counts as a separate message and costs accordingly, so brevity isn't just good writing — it saves money.

Be direct. "New limited release Padron just hit the shelf. 50 boxes, first come first served. Stop by today." That's a complete message with a clear reason to act.

Include a call to action. Every text should tell the reader what to do. "Stop in today," "Mention this text for 10% off," "RSVP by Friday." If there's no action, there's no point.

Time it right. Send during business hours. Nobody wants a cigar promotion buzzing their phone at 11 PM, and it makes your shop look unprofessional.

Don't overdo it. Two to four campaigns per month is the sweet spot for most shops. More than that and you'll see opt-out rates climb. Less than that and people forget you exist. After every campaign, check your opt-out numbers. If they spike, you're either texting too often or the content isn't hitting.

Want a picture in the text? Drop in a link to one of your Instagram posts. Most phones automatically show a preview of the link, so the post's photo pops up right inside the message — you get the visual punch of an image while sending a regular SMS. A new-arrival post or an event flyer on Instagram works great for this. Just remember the link adds to your character count, so it may push you into a second segment.

The Technical Side

A few things to keep in mind as you plan:

  • Message splitting: Anything over 160 characters becomes multiple segments of 153 characters each. A 320-character message sends as three segments — and costs three times as much. Edit ruthlessly. (See How Billing Works for the full breakdown.)

  • MMS messages count as a single message but cost more per send. They're worth it when you need more room than a couple of SMS segments would give you.

  • T-Mobile throttling: T-Mobile limits delivery to roughly 1,900 messages per day to their network. The SMS Module screen shows today's allotment, how many you've sent, and how many remain. If your list is large, plan big campaigns to send over multiple days rather than all at once.

  • Opt-out is instant. When someone replies STOP, they're done. They stay opted out until they actively re-subscribe. Respect it and move on.

More Than Campaigns: The Rest of the SMS Module

Campaigns are the headline, but the SMS Module screen does a lot more. Here's what each button is for:

  • SMS Inbox (By Customer) — your two-way conversations. Customers can text your store number and you reply right from here. Click Check For New Messages to pull the latest, Create New Text Message to start a fresh conversation, pick a thread on the left to read and reply, and use View Customer, Copy SMS, or Mark Selected As Read / Unread as you work through them.

  • View SMS Consents — the master record of where every number stands: Invited, Opt In, Opt Out, and Graylist. The gray list holds incoming messages that need a human look before they count — clear it here. (You'll land on this screen automatically if the gray list isn't empty when you try to run a campaign.)

  • Keyword Replies — EVENTS & SPECIALS — automatic responses. When a customer texts a keyword like EVENTS or SPECIALS to your store number, TORO instantly replies with the message you've written. Edit the two built-in ones with the EVENTS Keyword Reply and SPECIALS Keyword Reply buttons; add or adjust more under Settings.

  • View Failed SMSs — messages that didn't deliver, and why (opted out, no longer a valid number, no longer a cell phone, and so on). Repeated failures to the same number are a sign to Opt Out Account so you collect a fresh number on the customer's next visit, or Ignore Failed Message to dismiss a one-off.

  • SMS Module Status — a quick health check: whether your store is registered and active, whether message and campaign sending are turned on, and whether the background senders are running. This is the first place support looks when something seems stuck.

  • Settings — one-time setup and housekeeping: Set Up Welcome Message (the auto-text new opt-ins receive), the Menu Option editors for keyword replies (CUSTOMER and ADMIN), the SMS Campaign Registry (your carrier and brand registration), and Send Welcome Message To All Opted Out.

  • Current Usage Stats & Past Invoices — your running message counts and billing history in one place.

Campaign Ideas Worth Stealing

New arrivals: "Just got in a limited run of [brand]. Won't last the weekend." Scarcity drives action, and your regulars want first dibs.

Events: "Whiskey & cigar pairing this Friday, 6-9 PM. Complimentary tastings. Bring a friend." Events build community, and SMS fills seats.

Birthdays and anniversaries: TORO tracks these dates. A personal "Happy birthday — stop in for a free stick on us" text costs almost nothing and builds real loyalty.

Holiday promotions: Father's Day, Christmas, even National Cigar Day. Give people a reason to buy during gift-giving seasons.

Slow day flash sales: Tuesday afternoon looking dead? Send a same-day offer. "Slow day special: buy any 5-pack, get a free cutter. Today only."

Win-back messages: Target customers who haven't visited in 60+ days. "It's been a while — we've got some new stuff we think you'd like. Stop in this week for 15% off."

Staying Compliant

TORO handles most of the compliance work for you, but know the basics:

  • Customers must actively opt in before you send marketing texts

  • Every message should include a way to opt out (most carriers handle this automatically with STOP)

  • TORO tracks all consent changes, so you have a record if questions ever come up

  • The Account Consent Statistics report shows opt-in / consent counts across your entire customer base — use it to track how your opted-in list is growing (or shrinking). Find it on the Dashboard under the Reporting tab, in the Customer group.

The bottom line: SMS is powerful because it's personal and immediate. Treat it that way. Send messages you'd actually want to receive, at times you'd want to receive them, and only as often as you have something genuinely worth saying.