SMS notifications
How to send important notifications by SMS as well, to staff and customers: add-on, sender ID, triggers, costs from the credit, consent and history.
Some people don't read e-mail and haven't installed the staff portal as an app. For them you can send selected notifications by SMS as well – for example “New shift tomorrow 7:00” or the reminder before the event to the customer. E-mail, bell and push keep working exactly as before; the SMS is only added on top.
What you need
- The “Messaging” add-on from the Core plan (€29 per month). It is not part of any plan and has no free trial, because every SMS costs real money. Get in touch and we'll unlock it.
- Credit: each SMS costs €0.15 and is charged to the same credit as the AI – one balance for both. You'll find your balance under Billing.
As long as SMS sending is not yet set up at Univents, the page shows a notice. You can still prepare everything.
Setting up SMS
- Open Integrations and choose the SMS card in the Messaging category.
- Enter a sender ID and click Save. This is how your business appears on the phone, for example “SaltAndSun”. At most 11 characters: letters, digits, spaces and
. & + _ -, at least one letter. Recipients cannot reply to an SMS with a sender ID. - Turn on Turn on SMS sending.
- Under Triggers, turn on what should also go out by SMS. When you turn one on, a window shows the price per SMS and your current balance. It only takes effect after Turn on.
- Optional: set a monthly limit. Once this month's SMS costs reach it, no further SMS is sent.
Only workspace owners can change these settings. Everyone else can see the page but cannot switch anything.
Available triggers
| Trigger | Who gets the SMS | When |
|---|---|---|
| Shift assigned | the person assigned | as soon as the shift is assigned; held-back requests only when released |
| Shift cancelled | everyone assigned | when the shift is deleted |
| Shift reminder | everyone assigned | at the same time as the reminder e-mail |
| Reminder before the event (customer) | the event's main contact | together with the reminder e-mail; never after a declined quote |
The text is short and contains a link to the shift in the staff portal or to the customer portal. The SMS uses the person's language and is at most two SMS long.
Consent
- Staff only receive SMS with consent. Staff members turn SMS on and off themselves in the staff portal under Notifications. If someone consented verbally or in the employment contract, you can record it in their staff file under SMS with Record consent – a note is required.
- Customers receive the reminder about their booked event even without consent, unless they have opted out. Record an opt-out on the contact under SMS with Record opt-out. There is no marketing by SMS.
Every consent and opt-out is saved with date, origin and number. Consents cannot be imported – an import has no proof.
History and costs
On the contact or staff file you'll see every message under SMS with its status: sent, delivered, failed or not sent, with the reason. The integration page shows the workspace's last 20 SMS.
Only what was actually sent is charged. Nothing is charged when:
- the number is invalid (“invalid number”) or a landline,
- the credit is used up (“credit used up”),
- the monthly limit or the daily limit is reached,
- there is no consent.
In all these cases e-mail, bell and push still go out.
Good to know
- Which number? The contact's mobile number. If there is only a number in the Phone field, it is used if it is a mobile number. Numbers without a country code are treated as numbers from your business's country.
- Countries: SMS only go to mobile numbers in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and further European countries.
- No duplicate SMS: if a reminder runs twice, still only one SMS goes out.
- Turning off works at any time, even without the add-on.
- You can ask the AI chat which triggers go out by SMS and have it turn triggers on or off. You confirm turning on and consents there with a click.