While we highly recommend using our Chat feature for employee communication, we understand that your company may need to send text messages at times. Whether you’re reaching employees who are off-shift or in areas with limited internet access, SMS provides a reliable alternative. In these situations, you have the option to send text messages for seamless communication.
In this article, we will discuss the following:
Before we begin, you can access the text message feature from the left sidebar. At the top right-hand corner, you'll be able to see how much money is left in the budget and an estimate of how many messages it equates to. To learn more about the cost of text messages and topping up your budget click here.
How to Send a Text Message
Text messages can be sent in various ways throughout the platform. The first is as a one-time message and the second is as a form of notification when you take certain actions on the platform for example publishing shifts in the job schedule, or sending out an update. Let's go over the differences below
One Time Text Message
To send a one-time text message, enter the text messages feature and click on new message. Give it a title and write the message.
Next, select who should receive the message, you can choose from smart groups, selected users, or both. On this page, you will also be able to see the total cost per message and the total and press continue.
Now you'll receive a summary that you can review and confirm. The summary displays the following:
The number of messages being sent - this is dependent on the character length of your original message.
The number of recipients
The total number of messages - this equals the number of messages being sent x the number of recipients
The current balance
The message price - this is the total number of messages x the cost per message.
Below you can see an example of sending a text message from start to finish.
From the Job Schedule Feature
To enable the Text Message reminders for upcoming shifts, follow these steps:
Access the Job Scheduling feature from the left sidebar, and enter the relevant schedule.
Access the Settings found in the top right corner.
Head over to the Notifications tab, and switch to the Text Messaging tab.
Ensure the Text Messages are activated, and that you enabled Auto-reload, in order to ensure uninterrupted delivery. To enable Text Messages Auto-reload, make sure to check out this article!
Select the Send Reminder checkbox and choose how many minutes or hours before the shift starts you want users to receive the text message.
That's it! users will now receive a text messages reminding them their shift is coming up.
From the Updates Feature
When publishing an update, you can notify users that the update was posted through a text message. To set this up, follow these steps:
Access the Updates feature from the left sidebar and click Add new.
Start from scratch or select a template, and enter the relevant details.
Select the recipients and move on to the Publish Settings tab.
Check the Notify users option, and select the option to notify via Text Message.
When done, click Next and Confirm.
Gaining Insights on Sent Messages
When accessing the text message feature you'll be able to see an overview of all the messages that have been sent. Here you will be able to receive a breakdown of the date & time a message was sent, by whom, from where (job schedule/updates or text message), the message itself, the number of recipients, the percentage of recipients who received the message, and the total cost for the message. Below you can see an example of how this looks:
Tip: Use the filters to gain insights on different specifics for example how many messages were sent in a month, or how many messages were sent by a specific admin.
To get a specific breakdown on which users received a message, click on the message itself. Here you will be able to see all the message recipients and if they received the message or if it was queued. For quick results, you can use the status filter to see all recipients with a specific status.
To export this information for further reporting purposes simply click on export.
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