❖ Heads up! This article is only intended for Site Managers.
You can use text messaging to make important announcements about upcoming events, emergency needs, final updates and reminders, and other items of interest to your community! The process of sending a text message from your site is similar to sending an email blast—only your message goes straight to the recipient's phone.
SMS means short message service—which is the formal name for text messaging.
Getting Started
Before you can begin text-messaging your site's users:
You must purchase credits
Users' mobile numbers must be validated
How to purchase credits
Your site must have text credits before you can send text messages. Please email us at accounting@galaxydigital.com to purchase credits.
Credits are available for purchase at $100 per 10,000 units (messages), with a minimum purchase of $100.
Purchases must be made with a credit card.
We accept all major credit cards, including Visa, MasterCard, American Express, JCB, Discover, and Diners Club.
How Users opt-in to SMS
New Users
New users can opt-in to receive SMS messages when registering on your site. The option to opt-in is located below the Mobile phone number field.
Existing Users
Existing users can opt-in from their profiles. The option to opt-in is located under Basic Info when they click Edit Profile.
How Users Opt-Out
Users can opt-out by going to the Edit Profile area and selecting Stop Receiving Texts From This Site under the Mobile number field.
Validating Numbers
When a volunteer checks the box beside Send me texts from this site, they're sent a text message to confirm their selection. They must reply YES to validate their number and start receiving those messages.
Sending Text Messages
Like the email blast tool, text messaging incorporates the user filter to send messages to specific groups of people.
To create and send a text message from your site:
1. Go to Communication > Text Messaging.
2. Filter your recipient list.
The filter User Data > SMS > is > A Validated SMS User is applied by default. To filter it further, click Add New Filter.
3. Enter your message in the Message field and click Send Message when you're ready!
Limitations
There are a few limitations to keep in mind when sending text messages, including the maximum length for a text message is 160 characters.
If you insert a URL, it's automatically converted to a clickable link.
The message appears in the recipient's phone from a five-digit "return" phone number. This number is created by the system and can't be changed. Responses to this number aren't processed. If you want recipients to reply, be sure to provide them with an alternate response number.
Viewing Text Message Stats
To see information about text messages sent from your site:
1. Go to Communication > Text Messaging.
2. Click the History tab.
Here you can review information about sent text messages, including:
ID number - A unique ID number is automatically assigned to each text message.
Message - The message text. To filter messages by keyword, type the keyword(s) into the field at the top of this column and press Enter.
Sender - For validation code messages, the sender will typically be the user who triggered the code. To filter messages by sender, enter all or part of the sender's name in the field at the top of this column and press Enter.
Recipient - While the column shows the number of recipients, you can click the linked text to view the recipients' names. To filter messages by the recipient, enter all or part of the recipient's name in the field at the top of this column and press Enter.
Date sent - Both date and time of day are shown.
Group - All text messages sent in a batch are part of a specific group, indicated by a 5-character group name. To filter text messages by group, type all or part of the group name into the field at the top of this column and press Enter.
Use the Table Filter as needed to show or hide columns.
Exporting Text Message Data
To export text message data, click the Export icon above the data table.
Results are exported into a CSV that can be opened with Microsoft Excel.