Getting Started

Overview

engageSPARK is a self-service platform that enables anyone to build interactive automated phone calls (IVR) and two-way SMS campaigns. You’ll quickly discover how easy it is to create Surveys, Auto Replies, Blasts or Information Services, Curriculums, and Hotlines.

• Reach out people in over 200 countries. We are integrated with telcos worldwide with Voice virtual numbers in 90+ countries and SMS virtual numbers in 50+ countries.
• No tech skills or training required. Our goal is to enable anyone to create and launch SMS or Voice campaigns within minutes.
• Our service is pay-per-use, meaning we charge only per SMS or per voice call minute and per virtual number. We have no contracts, no minimums, and no subscription plans.

Setting up an account

Signing up is free and easy to do. Simply fill out your basic information details. No credit card or payment info is required. Immediately test the IVR and SMS service with the free credits you’ll receive once you set up an account.

 

Site tour

Activate the Site Tour to quickly learn how to use the platform by switching the  toggle button on the top right. It will walk you through how to create a simple SMS Blast or Voice Blast engagement.

 

Engagement Wizard

Our three-step engagement wizards will be your setup assistant to quickly create 2-way SMS and Automated Calls (IVR) program. When logged in to your account, click Create an Engagement on your dashboard. Choose either SMS or Voice as your communication method and select your engagement wizard.

❶ Content	Upload mp3s or record audio for Voice engagements; or enter the message for SMS engagements.
❷ Contacts	Select contacts OR incorporate a Missed Call and/or SMS Opt-in to let people subscribe to your engagements.  More about Step 2 »
❸ Confirm	Schedule your messages immediately or in the future. Enter your organization’s registered Sender ID/Caller ID or set the outbound or ‘send’ network here. Click Launch to set the engagement live or save it as a draft.  More about Step 3 »

 

View Reports

Analytics and statistics on audience responses are available real-time to quickly get actionable insights. View detailed reports for an in-depth analysis of the engagement results. Click   Reports under Actions in the Engagement dashboard.  Learn more »

 

Learn from video tutorials

Visit our YouTube page to watch demo videos and webinar recordings. Check out the following video tutorials:

IVR Advanced – Sophisticated IVR Survey / Voice Poll.  Watch a video »

IVR Simple – Simple IVR Hotline / Automated Call.  Watch a video »

Manage Contacts – Bulk Contacts Upload and Smart Groups.  Watch a video »

 

Voice engagements

Wizard	Description	Sample Uses
Voice Blast	Push out calls using pre-recorded voice messages, immediately or scheduled.  Learn more »	Emergency Alerts: Send people a voice message about emergency information and how to prepare (e.g. typhoon, hurricane, el niño or drought) Automated Voice Reminders: Send farmers reminders or tips on how to safeguard crops based on the weather forecast Community Engagement: Drive people to attend local events or to participate in community building activities
IVR Simple	Provide or retrieve information in a voice menu. People can answer by pressing keys during the call or by leaving a spoken response.  Learn more »	Concern Hotline: Let people call anytime to report abuse, complaint or issues and get help Customer Feedback: Learn from your customers to improve your product and services Health Education: People will missed call your phone number and they will receive an IVR call back. They will press keys to retrieve information (e.g., “Press 1 to learn about Malaria”, and “Press 2 to learn about HIV”)
IVR Advanced	Build sophisticated surveys with jump logic and autoupdate of contact information. View and listen to answers in the engagement Report. Learn more »	Literacy Campaign: Use an engaging format such as phone based soap-operas with quizzes which are very effective way to change behavior Automated Interviews: Shortlist applicants by creating an interview workflow and screen their recorded responses—to hire higher quality candidates, faster, and at lower cost Employee Sick Hotline: Let employees report absenteeism or tardiness and immediately notify their manager and/or human resource person to easily track attendance

 

SMS engagements

Wizard	Description	Sample Uses
SMS Blast	Send information via SMS text, immediately or scheduled. Learn more »	Employee Engagement: Message your employees about upcoming company events or important announcements Brand Awareness: Send product announcements or special offers to expand customer database and promote customer loyalty SMS Recruitment Tool: Generate interest, confirm interviews and send follow-ups to fill job vacancies fast
Curriculum	Schedule a series of SMS text messages spread out over time. Learn more »	Automated SMS Reminders: Schedule daily or weekly SMS messages to remind or educate people (e.g. medication reminders) Public Health Campaign: Conduct a public health awareness campaign with a new topic every week Maternal and Child Care SMS Program: Send messages to pregnant women or a new parent to remind them about checkups and vaccinations
SMS Poll	Conduct quick SMS surveys. Participants reply with the pre-defined keywords that correspond to their answer.  Learn more »	M&E: Data collection for name, demographics, etc. using SMS text—a faster and cost-effective survey method Polling: Let people vote via SMS and quickly gather results SMS Quizzes: Educate people by sending a lesson followed by a quiz to reinforce the lesson and test comprehension
Auto-Reply	Get users to send an SMS keyword and the system automatically reply with information you specified.   Learn more »	SMS Booking Reservation: Let customers send a booking code and send back an automated SMS confirmation (hotel accommodation, restaurant or events) Promo Redemption: Customer text in the promo code and get an SMS confirmation Product Authentication: Have buyers send an SMS code to verify if item purchased is authentic or counterfeit
Webhook	Manage data on your own server, but send and receive SMS via simple API integration.  Learn more »	SMS Lookup: Health care workers SMS Text the ID of a patient to look-up patient info from your server SMS Weather Forecast: Farmers send the name of their town to get the weather forecast SMS Query: Your staff text in a keyword to query your database server and easily get information

 

Add funds or credits

Different payment methods are available to top-up your engageSPARK account. To add funds, click on the Avatar and go to Billing (or click the Balance Amount on the top right corner of the page). Then select your payment method: credit card (Visa, Mastercard and American Express), PayPal, bank transfer or Western Union.

Enable Low Balance Notifications to receive an email alert to know when to top up your Balance and ensure you have enough funds to cover the cost for sending SMS or Voice messages.

 

Get a local phone number to launch two-way SMS or Voice campaigns

In order to create two-way SMS (e.g. SMS Polls and Auto-Replies) or IVR engagements with Missed Call/SMS Opt-ins you either need to purchase a Virtual Phone Number OR have an android phone with our Android Relay App installed to get a local number people can dial or send SMS messages to.

A local phone number is not required if you simply want to push out Voice IVR calls or send SMS (outbound) without requiring people to text back. But if you want to receive missed calls or receive SMS (inbound), a virtual number or android relay app is needed.  How to buy a virtual number »

 

How to upload contacts

Either add each contact manually on the Contacts page or on Step 2 of the engagement wizard or save time with bulk upload by using the Contacts Excel template.

Upload millions of contacts in one go!

1. Go to Contacts page
2. Click Upload Contacts button
3. Download Excel Template 
4. Read and follow instructions and tips before uploading contacts
5. Populate the spreadsheet with contact data, then save as .xlsx file
6. Select file to upload
7. Then click Upload Contacts button and wait for the upload to finish.

Important Notes:

• Only numbers in international format (with country code) are accepted. Avoid using a hyphen (-) when entering phone numbers.
• Do not change default column headers. Otherwise, upload errors may occur.
• Only the first sheet of the excel file is read by our system.

 

Create organizations and add users

Your staff or team can easily work together with the platform by setting up an Organization account. Simply add them as users to send an invitation and once the invitation is accepted, the new users will have access to your account and/or engagement reports.

How to add users to your organization:

1. Log in to your account
2. Go to the Avatar section in the top right corner
3. Select My Organization
4. Click Users tab
5. Enter the user’s email address (required) and other details. Assign a user role to define the access level.
6. Click Add User. Once added, the user will receive an automated email with instructions on getting started.

To create a new organization, go click here to learn how »

 

Get help and support

Explore support articles and find out answers to the most frequently asked questions about using the platform.

Visit Help Center

Need a little extra help?  Don’t worry—we’re easy to reach and always happy to help! Use our live chat tool or drop us a message here.