There is nothing worse than launching a time-sensitive customer broadcast—such as an event reminder, system maintenance alert, or flash sale—only for the campaign to stall halfway because your SMS unit balance ran out.
Nyota SMS includes an automated Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) Failover Engine that bridges unit shortages directly from your master Nyota Wallet, alongside a 1-click Campaign Resume mechanism that prevents duplicate sends.
1. How PAYG Auto-Topup Works Under the Hood
When a campaign runs, the Nyota Dispatcher Worker tracks your available unit balance in real time:
2. The Two PAYG Auto-Topup Strategies
You can configure two different automated top-up behaviors depending on your budget preference:
Strategy 1: Volume Package Auto-Reorder (Recommended)
- How It Works: As soon as your unit balance hits zero, the system automatically purchases a pre-selected volume package (e.g., 5,000 units for KSh 2,500) from your master Nyota Wallet.
- Best For: High-volume broadcasters who want to lock in volume discounts (17% to 33% savings) automatically.
Strategy 2: On-Demand Unit Debiting
- How It Works: When units hit zero, the system debits exactly KSh 0.60 per unit directly from your master Nyota Wallet on a per-message basis.
- Best For: Low-volume transactional applications (e.g., occasional user OTPs and password resets) where purchasing a large bundle is unnecessary.
3. Step-by-Step: Enabling PAYG Auto-Topup
- Log in to the Nyota SMS Console.
- Click Settings in the left sidebar
→→
Billing & Auto-Topup. - Toggle "Enable PAYG Auto-Topup" to
ON. - Select your preferred failover strategy:
- Auto-Purchase Package: Select your preferred unit bundle (e.g., 5,000 Units @ KSh 0.50 or 50,000 Units @ KSh 0.40).
- On-Demand: Settle unit debits per message directly from your wallet.
- (Optional) Set an Emergency Low Balance Alert (e.g., notify admin when units fall below 500).
- Click "Save Configuration".
4. How to Resume a Paused or Failed Campaign
If a campaign paused because your SMS units and Nyota Wallet were both empty:
- Step 1 — Fund Your Account:
- Go to accounts.nyotaimara.com/billing and deposit funds into your Nyota Wallet via M-Pesa STK push or Card, or purchase a new SMS unit package.
- Step 2 — Resume the Broadcast:
- Open sms.nyotaimara.com/campaigns.
- Locate the paused campaign (
status: "paused"). - Click the "Resume Campaign" button.
Zero Duplicate Sends Guarantee
When you click Resume, the dispatcher worker queries sms.sms_messages specifically for rows where status: "queued". Recipients who already received the message will never be re-messaged. The system picks up precisely where it stopped.
5. Common Pitfalls & How to Troubleshoot
Pitfall A: "Why was I debited KSh 0.60 per unit instead of KSh 0.50?"
- The Cause: Your PAYG mode was set to On-Demand instead of Auto-Purchase Package. On-demand units settle at the standard Tier 1 rate (KSh 0.60).
- The Resolution: Change your settings at sms.nyotaimara.com/settings to auto-reorder the 5,000 or 50,000 unit bundle.
Pitfall B: "My campaign is stuck on 'Paused' after I topped up."
- The Cause: Topping up your wallet funds your account, but paused campaigns do not restart automatically to prevent accidental sends outside business hours.
- The Resolution: Manually click "Resume Campaign" on the campaign overview page when you are ready to resume dispatching.