SmartText

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SmartText, group text messaging, available right within your ChamberMaster database allows you to contact your members, community, or other individuals via group text messaging. Use it to promote your own events or gain non-dues revenue by offering the service to your members at a fee.

SmartText Basic Concepts

SmartText has great capabilities and is easy-to-use. Here are some foundational concepts to help understand how SmartText works with ChamberMaster.

Availability

  • SmartText is currently limited to subscribers on US mobile phone carriers.

Credits & Costs

  • One credit equals one text – either a received text or a sent text.
  • One credit currently costs .05 cents. Credits do not have an expiration date and are non-refundable.
  • Purchase additional credits right in your ChamberMaster database under SmartText->Purchase tab.
  • When someone subscribes to your list, that will cost 2 credits = 1 for the incoming request and 1 for the automatic thank-you reply. So, one subscription will cost .10 cents at the current rate.
  • Examples:
Sending a single group text to 100 subscribers would cost $5.00.
Sending a single group text to 500 subscribers would cost $25.00.
Sending a single group text to 1000 subscribers would cost $50.00.

Subscribing

  • This list is opt-in only; Subscribers must opt in to be included in your subscriber groups. Lists of phone numbers may not be imported. Existing mobile phone numbers in ChamberMaster will not auto-populate your subscriber list.
  • In order to have subscribers opt in, you must create a keyword – either a shared keyword (no charge) or a custom keyword ($25/month). (done on the Setup tab)
  • Practice and testing can happen without a keyword.
  • If desiring to have different lists of subscribers (event list, board member group etc), you must create a group and have your subscribers opt in to each group. You must setup these groups prior to advertising your opt-in information to the public so that subscribers are placed in the proper groups. Subscribers may not be moved from one group to another.

Testing Smart Text

Testing SmartText Prior to going live with advertisement of your group texting ability, you will want to test the functionality of SmartText on your own. Testing without Subscribing Note: 50 free credits are provided to accommodate messages such as these. Sending test messages will reduce your available credits

  1. Click Communication in the left-hand menu.
  2. In the Other Communication Tools section click SmartText
  3. Click the Dashboard tab.
    Send a Test Message
  4. Type your mobile number in the Send Test Message box and click Send Test.
  5. A test message will arrive on your mobile device.
Example Message: “This is a test message sent at (date/time).”

Testing and Self-Subscribing to SmartText Note: 50 free credits are provided to accommodate messages such as these. Sending test messages will reduce your available credits.

  1. Click Communication in the left-hand menu.
  2. In the Other Communication Tools section click SmartText
  3. Click the Dashboard tab.
  4. Type your mobile phone number and click Show Me! (only available if you have not yet setup your account.)
    SmartText - Show Me
  5. A sample text message will arrive on your mobile device.
    This thank you subscription message is the message all your subscribers will receive. The association name listed in this message is pulling from the name listed under Setup>Organization Information.
  6. You will also notice your Dashboard Statistics shows an additional Subscriber and one less credit than before. Note: 50 free credits were given when SmartText became available.
    SmartText - Statistics
  7. You will also notice, if you click on the Send tab, that you belong to the subscriber list “Subscribers without Specific Groups”.
    SmartText - Message Recipients
  8. You are officially part of the list of subscribers that would receive a message if this group “Subscribers without Specific Groups” is selected as a recipient.

Send a Smart Text

A group text may be sent to those that are included in the subscribers list(s) on the Send tab. The default group of “Subscribers without Specific Groups” will always be available and may be the only group available if no additional groups have been created. To send a group text

  1. Click Communications in the left hand menu.
  2. Click SmartText
  3. Click the Send tab.
    Smart Text CP.JPG
  4. Click to select the group(s) in the Message Recipients section that should receive your group message.
  5. Type your outgoing text message in the Message to Send box.
    Note: For people that have a SmartPhone with a web-browser you can insert a link into the message. A full website address will take too many characters so use the Web Address Shortener to produce a compact URL. Type your full website URL, click Shorten and Insert. The short version will be inserted within your message.
  6. Click Send Message.