IN THIS ARTICLE:
Overview
Send text messages directly to your users for urgent updates and immediate impact.
From manual one-off SMS, to automated SMS messages throughout the volunteer journey, Rosterfy's communication tool has you covered.
This article will take you through everything you need to know.
Note: This is a paid add-on, and messages are billed in 160-character segments.
Please speak with your Customer Success Manager, if you would like to utilise SMS within your platform.
Enabling SMS
SMS is a paid add-on to your Rosterfy platform, to enable SMS for your organisation within Rosterfy, you will need to contact your Customer Success Manager.
Your Customer Success Manager will be able to take you through the available options for SMS within Rosterfy, as well as assist you to customise the SMS options to suit your organisations needs.
SMS Templates
SMS templates allow you to write content and save it for later use, they can be used in many ways, including:
Sending out SMS in bulk, for example before an event or shift
Scheduling SMS to be sent in the future
When any automation is triggered, including:
Registering for your account or a shift
Shift confirmation links
Checking in or out
Completing a training module
Reminders to complete a form or sign up to a shift
And many more
For more information on SMS templates, take a look at the SMS Templates article.
Sending SMS Messages
SMS Messages can be sent to your users either via automation or by sending emails manually from Rosterfy.
Manually emailing your users follows a consistent process, regardless of who the SMS messages are intended for. Here are some helpful examples to guide you in determining the recipients for your SMS:
For information about automated SMS, take a look at the Automations article.
SMS Users Manually
To manually send an SMS in Rosterfy, you can follow these simple steps:
Navigate to the Communications Tab > Send Communication, you will have the option to select the type of communication, select SMS.
The same content screen will display anytime you send SMS in Rosterfy.
You can define the following option on all SMS sent from within Rosterfy:
Template: The content of the SMS can be manually typed, be a pre saved template or a combination of the two.
Name: This is only visible in the Admin Console, the name should be descriptive as this is how you will identify this SMS from the list.
Content: The body of the SMS to be sent. The editor allows you to customise the template, we recommend using mail merge tags to make the content as personable as possible, but be aware that the character count will not be accurate if you use mail merge tags.
For help with Mail Merge Tags, check out the Mail Merge Tags article.
After you have completed crafting the SMS content, proceed by clicking Next at the bottom of the page. This will take you to the Recipients page where you can select the users you wish to send the SMS to.
Select Add Recipients, a side bar will open with the User Search. You can search for the User/s, or filter your Users with the filters available.
Drag and drop the User/s you wish to SMS into the Recipients list, you can then preview the SMS for those Users.
The Confirm page will outline the name of the SMS and the number of recipients you intend to send this communication to, you can either send it immediately or schedule for later.
If you would like to schedule it for later, select the checkbox and input the date and time you would like it to be sent. When ready, click Confirm and Send.
A notification will appear to confirm the communication has been successful.
SMS History
Rosterfy's SMS history allows you to track all SMS communications that are sent, and stores a 12 month history within the platform.
To access the history of SMS, navigate to Communications > SMS and select History from the top menu.
SMS History includes the status of the message, so you can track any SMS that do not reach the recipient. You can also resend SMS, and view the contents of previous SMS.
SMS History also allows you to view incoming SMS from your users. When a user replies to an SMS sent from Rosterfy, their reply will be stored within the SMS History.
There is also an option for replies to be sent to a nominated email address (Or with the Slack Integration, they can be automatically sent to a chosen channel).
Note: All communication history to an individual user can also be found on their profile page, under Communications.
Unsubscribe SMS
Users are able to unsubscribe from SMS messages by replying STOP to any message received through the Rosterfy SMS system.
Once a user has unsubscribed, they will be marked as Unreachable by SMS, this field can be added to the user listing page.
Note: It is important to note that unsubscribing from marketing or transactional communications does not impact SMS messages.
SMS messages sent from Rosterfy do not include any instructions for opting out of future messages, we recommend to include this in your communications. However, this will also be included in your 160 character limit, per billable message.
This can be best achieved by creating a custom mail merge tag. For assistance with how to do this, check out the Mail Merge tags article.
Note: Unsubscribing from SMS messages is only available if the organisation setting, Strict SMS has been enabled. Please speak with your Customer Success Manager to enable this.
SMS - Frequently Asked Questions
1. What phone number are the text messages sent from?
SMS messages by default will be sent from an allocated Rosterfy phone number.
In most regions, this number will remain the same.
Note: If users of your organisation are also receiving messages from another Rosterfy organisation, the messages will potentially come through from the same number.
Replies will be sent to the most recently received message organisation.
2. Can the phone number be personalised?
There is an additional option to have a number allocated to your organisation, rather than a generic number.
This number is unable to be your own number however, and will come with additional costs. Please speak with your Customer Success Manager for more information.
3. Can the messages be sent from an organisation name instead of a number?
SMS messages from within Rosterfy can have the option to be sent from an organisation name rather than a number. However this will come with additional costs, and you will not be able to receive replies from users to the messages.
4. What happens to an SMS if it is sent to a landline number?
If a user's phone number field contains a landline and an SMS is sent, the message will be delivered to the landline.
In certain regions, the telecommunications provider may convert the SMS into a voice message, which will be read aloud to the recipient by an automated system when they answer the call.
5. What happens when a user responds to a text message?
When a user responds to an SMS message, it will appear in the SMS History tab of the Communications module. There is also an option to have the reply be emailed to an allocated email address.
Note: If you would like to have reply messages emailed to an allocated email address, please speak with your Customer Success Manager.
6. How are SMS messages charged?
SMS credits within Rosterfy are available for purchase in bundles through your Customer Success Manager. Each SMS is limited to 160-characters per credit, and are valid for a 12-month period, after which any unused credits will expire.
Admins will receive notification when they are approaching the limit of their credits available.
7. How can an SMS be sent for Shift Confirmation?
SMS messages can be sent for shift confirmation, to do this, you will need to send the SMS to the user from within the Shift User Listing, or the specific shift.
Users will then be able to reply with YES / NO and will be confirmed on the shift, if applicable.