Overview
Your sender details are the first thing a recipient sees when an SMS arrives. They appear in place of a contact name on the phone's lock screen and in the message thread, so they play a big role in whether your message gets read — or written off as spam.
In CX Platform, you configure these on the Settings tab of your SMS template, in the From section. You only need to set them once per template, and you can come back and update them whenever you need.
Open the Settings tab
Sender details live alongside your SMS message content, on a separate tab.
- Open your SMS template from the Templates tab of your Application.
- At the top of the template, click the Settings tab.
You'll see three cards stacked top to bottom - Basic Settings, From, BCC Setting. We'll start with Basic settings.
Fill in the Basic settings
The Basic settings card sits at the top of the page and has two fields — Code and Description. They look simple, and they are, but the Code in particular is worth taking a moment over.
Why the Code matters. The Code is a short label that lets other templates reference this one. The most common use is linking from one template to another — for example, an SMS that points recipients to a longer online version of the same message, built as its own HTML template. The Code is how those templates find each other.
Even if you don't have a linked template in mind today, setting a sensible Code now keeps your options open later. Once a template's been sent, changing the Code can break references in templates that point to it, so it pays to get it right up front.
- In the Basic settings card, enter a Code. Keep it short and meaningful — something specific like SMS-CampaignReminder if you're working with linked templates.
- Add a Description. This is just for your own reference, so write something that'll make sense to you and your colleagues when you come back to it later.
Choose your sender format
You've got two options for what to put in the Caller ID / From name field. Pick the one that fits how you want recipients to receive — and reply to — your messages.
A 10-character alphanumeric sender ID. Something like ACMECORP or CLIENTNAME. This is the most common choice for one-way messages such as appointment reminders, notifications, or alerts. Recipients see your brand name instead of an anonymous number, which makes the message feel more legitimate. The trade-off is that recipients can't reply to an alphanumeric sender.
A valid mobile phone number. Use this when you want recipients to be able to reply — for example, a confirmation request or a customer service line. The number you enter is what their reply will go to, so it needs to be a real, monitored number.
Australia — SMS Sender ID Register from 1 July 2026
The way businesses and organisations send branded text messages in Australia is changing. From 1 July 2026, new rules mean texts sent with an organisation's name at the top of the message (known as a branded sender ID) will need to have the sender ID registered.
If you're using an alphanumeric sender ID like ACMECORP, this applies to you. Find out about the changes and how they affect your sends on the ACMA SMS Sender ID Register page.
Heads up — Using a phone number
If you enter a real mobile number as your Caller ID, make sure it's a number you actually monitor, or that you've set up a two-way SMS service to handle responses. Otherwise, any replies your recipients send will go nowhere.
Enter your sender details
- In the From card, click into the Caller ID / From name field.
- Type your alphanumeric sender ID or phone number.
- Click Save at the bottom of the page.
Your sender details are now locked in. Every SMS sent from this template will display them in the recipient's message thread.
Personalise the sender (optional)
If you want the sender details to vary by recipient — for example, pulling in the name of the assigned account manager — you can use a personalisation token instead of fixed text.
Personalisation tokens are dynamic fields that pull recipient data into your message at send time. Each recipient sees their own value, even though the template itself only contains one token.
- Click into the Caller ID / From name field.
- Click the Insert field dropdown to the right of the field.
- Select the field you want to insert. The token will appear in the format %%FieldName%%.
- Click Save at the bottom of the page.
Tip — Preview before you send
Tokens only fill in when the message is sent, so you'll still see the raw token text (e.g. %%FieldName%%) in the editor. Use a test send to confirm everything's pulling through the right data before going live.
That's it — your sender details are configured and ready to go. Next, head back to the Content tab to build out the message itself.