{"id":3263,"date":"2020-10-08T15:28:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-08T13:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smsapi.com\/blog\/?p=3263"},"modified":"2023-02-07T15:50:47","modified_gmt":"2023-02-07T14:50:47","slug":"do-it-yourself-first-steps-customer-portal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smsapi.com\/blog\/do-it-yourself-first-steps-customer-portal\/","title":{"rendered":"Do it yourself #02 \u2013 First Steps in the Customer Portal (video tutorial)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Welcome to the next episode of&nbsp;the SMSAPI&nbsp;\u201cDo it yourself\u201d&nbsp;Guide. In&nbsp;the next couple of minutes, you&#8217;ll learn how to set up your account and start using&nbsp;SMSAPI&nbsp;within minutes.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Watch the video tutorial on how to use the basic functions of the SMSAPI Customer Portal<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"First Steps in the Customer Portal | SMSAPI. Do It Yourself!\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MHXxfoC8LJU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"activate\">Activating your account<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>To take&nbsp;full advantage of the platform&#8217;s functions, you must fill in the company details by clicking &#8220;Activate account&#8221; or the Payments tab and Activate account. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Providing company data is a condition for successful account activation.<\/strong> Only then your Account Manager can verify it.\u00a0If your company doesn\u2019t\u00a0have a Value Added Tax\u00a0identification\u00a0number,\u00a0you will be asked to\u00a0send us the scan of your registration documents.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-smsapi-blog-2021-infobox infobox infobox--info post-content--full-width\"><div class=\"infobox__icon\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,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\"\/><\/div><div class=\"infobox__title\"><h4>How to speed up the account activation?<\/h4><\/div><div class=\"infobox__content\">\n<p>It is important to <strong>pay special attention to the correctness of the data you input<\/strong> and fill in all the fields because it will be placed on the next invoice and minimizes the time spent on verification.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>You&nbsp;may ask why we need so much information at the&nbsp;beginning. Unfortunately,&nbsp;some people want to misuse our service, and we&nbsp;have to&nbsp;protect&nbsp;it against&nbsp;phishing&nbsp;and other&nbsp;abuses.&nbsp;We also encourage you to enter the email address to which electronic invoices will be sent and provide the contact number for accounting.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now you can&nbsp;take a&nbsp;look&nbsp;around! At the time, your&nbsp;Account Manager&nbsp;verifies the company data provided and activates the account.&nbsp;Information on correct verification is sent by email.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"sender\">Adding your first SMS sender name<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The next step is to add your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smsapi.com\/blog\/sender-id-how-to-send-branded-sms-company-name\/\">SMS sender&nbsp;name (also known as SMS branding)<\/a>&nbsp;by using the shortcut in the&nbsp;Dashboard&nbsp;&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/ssl.smsapi.com\/sms_settings\/sendernames\">Add sender&nbsp;name<\/a>&#8221; or clicking in the left column&nbsp;on&nbsp;SMS Messages&nbsp;and then&nbsp;Senders.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"infobox infobox--attention post-content--full-width\">\n  <div class=\"infobox__icon\">\n    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.smsapi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/themes\/smsapi-blog-2021\/assets\/icons\/exclamation.svg\">\n  <\/div>\n  <div class=\"infobox__title\">\n    <h4>SMS sender names and local law<\/h4>\n  <\/div>\n  <div class=\"infobox__content\">\n    Depending on the local telecommunications law, the sender name might be an alphanumeric string of characters that appears instead of the phone number in the recipient&#8217;s SMS inbox or your phone number.\n  <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Alphanumeric sender name&nbsp;helps&nbsp;to&nbsp;<strong>identify the sender of the message<\/strong>. It can be, for example, the name of the company or product. GSM standard restrictions allow the use of <strong>up to 11 characters<\/strong>.&nbsp;To&nbsp;input your phone number as a sender name, you&nbsp;have to&nbsp;verify it with an SMS message sent on this number.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ssl.smsapi.com\/sms_settings\/sendernames\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.smsapi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/smsapi-adding-sms-sender-name.png\" alt=\"Send text messages with unique sender names instead of phone numbers\" class=\"wp-image-3276\" width=\"650\" height=\"312\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Adding SMS sender name in the SMSAPI Customer Portal<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Each time you add a name, you must mark a statement that confirms the sender&#8217;s right to use it. To prevent abuse of the sender&nbsp;names, <strong>a consultant from our Customer Support&nbsp;Department verifies each of them<\/strong>. Information on correct verification is sent by email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"charge\">Charging the SMSAPI account<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The last preparatory step is topping up the account.&nbsp;Choose the \u201cRecharge account\u201d shortcut in the&nbsp;dashboard&nbsp;or the upper right corner in the Payments tab. Available payment methods&nbsp;are&nbsp;bank transfer&nbsp;and&nbsp;credit&nbsp;or&nbsp;debit cards. It\u2019s also possible to use automatic payments&nbsp;by prior arrangement with your Account Manager.&nbsp;It is worth remembering that <strong>the minimum top-up amount is&nbsp;30 EUR<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To quickly calculate the top-up value, check your account balance and the <a href=\"https:\/\/ssl.smsapi.com\/webapp#\/payments\/pricelist-messages\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">rate for the SMS&nbsp;for the&nbsp;particular destination<\/a>.&nbsp;Remember that <strong>1 point equals 1 EUR<\/strong>.&nbsp;So,&nbsp;for&nbsp;instance, to send 1000 messages with a rate of&nbsp;0,05 EUR,&nbsp;you need to top up your account for&nbsp;50 EUR. Below the field, with the top-up amount,&nbsp;there is an&nbsp;option to enter a promo code.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-16018d1d wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button is-style-secondary\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Check the SMS pricing<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The next time you log in to SMSAPI, you&#8217;ll be asked to agree to send marketing information via email, SMS, and chat messages in the\u00a0Customer\u00a0Portal.\u00a0Trust us, and we won\u2019t spam you. All the materials we prepare are for education and\u00a0make yourself comfortable here at SMSAPI.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-smsapi-blog wp-block-embed-smsapi-blog\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"dqXvVKqHee\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.smsapi.com\/blog\/sms-api-integration-checklist\/\">SMS API integration checklist \u2013 how to integrate a bulk SMS gateway<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" title=\"&#8220;SMS API integration checklist \u2013 how to integrate a bulk SMS gateway&#8221; &#8212; SMSAPI Blog\" src=\"https:\/\/www.smsapi.com\/blog\/sms-api-integration-checklist\/embed\/#?secret=sn1zO0BgCx#?secret=dqXvVKqHee\" data-secret=\"dqXvVKqHee\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>Next step: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smsapi.com\/blog\/do-it-yourself-sms-gateway\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"3282\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SMS Gateway<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n<div class=\"infobox infobox--attention post-content--full-width\">\n  <div class=\"infobox__icon\">\n    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.smsapi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/themes\/smsapi-blog-2021\/assets\/icons\/exclamation.svg\">\n  <\/div>\n  <div class=\"infobox__title\">\n    <h4>SMSAPI Do it yourself series:<\/h4>\n  <\/div>\n  <div class=\"infobox__content\">\n    <\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.smsapi.com\/blog\/do-it-yourself-customer-portal-walkthrough\/\">Customer Portal Walkthrough<\/a><\/li>\n<li>First Steps in the Customer Portal<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.smsapi.com\/blog\/do-it-yourself-sms-gateway\/\">SMS Gateway<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.smsapi.com\/blog\/do-it-yourself-contact-database\/\">Contact Database<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.smsapi.com\/blog\/do-it-yourself-building-customer-base-newsletter-sms\/\">Building Your Own Customer Base with Newsletter SMS<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.smsapi.com\/blog\/do-it-yourself-sms-campaigns-from-file\/\">SMS Campaigns from the File<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.smsapi.com\/blog\/do-it-yourself-birthday-sms-periodic\/\">Birthday SMS and Periodic SMS<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.smsapi.com\/blog\/do-it-yourself-history-reports\/\">History and Reports<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.smsapi.com\/blog\/do-it-yourself-shortened-links-cut-li\/\">Shortened Links cut.li<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.smsapi.com\/blog\/do-it-yourself-users-management\/\">Users Management<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>\n  <\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Welcome to the next episode of&nbsp;the SMSAPI&nbsp;\u201cDo it yourself\u201d&nbsp;Guide. In&nbsp;the next couple of minutes, you&#8217;ll learn how to set up your account and start using&nbsp;SMSAPI&nbsp;within minutes.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":3402,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[20,36],"class_list":["post-3263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tutorial","tag-english","tag-do-it-yourself"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smsapi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smsapi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smsapi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smsapi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smsapi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3263"}],"version-history":[{"count":46,"href":"https:\/\/www.smsapi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3263\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5482,"href":"https:\/\/www.smsapi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3263\/revisions\/5482"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smsapi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smsapi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smsapi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smsapi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}