SMS

SMS is for the messages that can't wait for email: game-day changes, ground closures, urgent renewal chases. You'll find it under Publish updates → SMS in the admin sidebar. SMS is a Pro-plan feature with a metered allowance per billing cycle — texts cost real money to deliver, so the meter is a hard cap, not a suggestion. On a plan below Pro the page is a read-only preview: every field and button is disabled until you upgrade from the Subscription page.

SMS is strictly consent-based. A member only ever receives texts from your club if they have opted in from their own account page for your club and have a phone number on their profile. Consent is never assumed and members can opt out at any time.

Who can use this

• Admins and moderators, plus anyone granted the Send broadcasts permission through a council position, can compose and send.
• Members control their own opt-in from their account page — there is no way for staff to opt a member in.

What's on the page

• Send a text — the composer, with a live counter showing characters, segments per recipient, the total for the send, and whether the message goes as standard text or Unicode. It also shows the number of opted-in recipients, your remaining allowance, and a Send test to me button.
• Settings — an optional alphanumeric Sender ID (e.g. NORTHFC) shown as the sender on recipients' phones.
• Recent sends — the last 30 messages with delivery status, your audit trail for what was sent and when.

Step by step

Send an urgent update

1. Open Publish updates → SMS.
2. Type the message — keep it short. A standard text holds 160 characters in one segment (153 a segment once it runs longer), and each segment is billed per recipient.
3. Click Send test to me and check it on your own phone (you need a phone number on your profile).
4. Click Send to N members and confirm. Texts can't be unsent.

Get members opted in

1. Ask members to open their account page on your club site.
2. They flip Opt in to SMS under "SMS updates" and make sure their profile has a phone number.
3. The composer's recipient count updates as members opt in.

Field reference

Tips & FAQ

• How big is the allowance? Pro includes 500 texts per billing cycle, Enterprise 2,000. A send that would go over the remaining allowance is refused outright — nothing is partially sent.
• Why is my recipient count zero? No active members have both opted in and a phone number on file. Point members at their account page.
• Why did my segment count jump? One character outside the standard SMS alphabet — an emoji, most accented letters such as ã or ê, or any non-Latin script — sends the whole message as Unicode, which fits 70 characters in a segment instead of 160 (67 once it runs longer). The composer says when this happens. Accents such as é, è, ü and ñ are in the standard alphabet and cost nothing extra. Symbols such as €, [ ] and { } count as two characters each. We never swap your characters for look-alikes, so names and languages arrive as written.
• Should I use SMS or a broadcast? Email broadcasts for anything routine; SMS only for time-critical messages. Push notifications (free) cover most "right now" needs for members who installed the app.
• Compliance: only sending to members who explicitly opted in keeps you on the right side of the Spam Act. Don't paste in numbers from elsewhere — the composer only ever sends to opted-in members.