Planning a text campaign
Plan a text campaign your audience can act on
A useful text reaches people who asked to hear from you, arrives while it still matters and fits a budget you set in advance. Work through each decision before the first message goes out.
Create a free account, then create a campaign and choose Civic and community programs or Business campaigns. Open Texting and ask us to review your campaign; texting opens after that short review. Political committees text from their own registered campaign number.
Six decisions before the first text
Work through them in order. Each one changes what you can send, to whom and when.
Name the purpose
Decide what the messages are for: a reminder about something the recipient signed up for, a notice to your own team or a promotion. The purpose decides the consent you need and how carriers review your sender.
Confirm who agreed to hear from you
Text only people who agreed to receive this kind of message from your organization, and keep a record of when and how each person agreed. Consent covers the sender and subject it was given for; a purchased or shared list does not carry it.
Register the sender
In the United States, application-to-person texting from a standard 10-digit number is registered with the carriers as a brand and a campaign that describes your messages, opt-in and opt-out. Registration identifies the sender. It does not create consent.
Write a message that fits
Say who is texting and why, include how to opt out and keep it short. Length and characters decide how many billable segments one message uses.
Pick the delivery window
Choose when messages should arrive and the last moment they are still useful. A reminder that lands after the event helps nobody, so plan the send with time to spare.
Plan for replies and results
Decide who answers replies and honor STOP immediately. Read delivery reports for what they are: a delivered text reached the phone, which is different from being read or acted on.
What a text campaign needs before it sends
An audience with consent
A list of phone numbers is a starting point. Each number needs a consent record that covers your organization and this kind of message, and anyone who opted out stays out.
A registered sender
Carriers review who is sending and what the messages contain before sending starts. Leave time for that review ahead of your first deadline.
A budget counted in segments
Providers bill by segment, not by message. A message in standard characters fits 160 characters in one segment, and longer messages split into segments of 153. One emoji or other special character switches the whole message to a format of 70 characters, or 67 per segment when split.
How Credits work →Replies, opt-outs and results
Expect replies, questions and STOP requests from the first send. Track sent, delivered and failed counts separately, and treat delivery as reaching the phone, not as a response.
Informational, promotional and campaign texts
Informational notices
Messages about something the recipient asked for or took part in, such as a reminder for a program they registered for or a schedule change. Twilio's messaging policy, for example, requires prior express consent for these messages and does not allow them to promote anything.
Promotional messages
Messages that sell or promote, such as offers and newsletters. Twilio's messaging policy, for example, requires prior express written consent for them, and consent covers only the subject it was given for.
Campaign texting
Candidates and registered committees text voters from their own registered campaign number. The committee completes Campaign Verify, registers that number with the carriers and accepts the political texting agreement once. Volunteers can send each text themselves, or a manager can review and confirm a finite automated sending plan.
Texting for your organization in Activate
Civic and community programs and business campaigns text from the organization's own registered number. Create your campaign, open Texting and ask us to review it. We admit each campaign ourselves, and until we do, nothing can send and nothing is charged. After the review, Texting walks you through six steps.
Who's texting
Enter your organization's official details, its public pages, the person who answers for the program and the kinds of messages you send. Carriers receive them exactly as you write them.
Carrier registration
Submit your sender for carrier registration. It is paid from a reserve in purchased Credits, and the app shows that amount before anything is charged. While carriers review, you can prepare the next steps.
The texting agreement
Read one scrollable agreement and accept it once for the campaign. It covers every way you send in Activate and stays on record.
Your phone list
Upload a CSV and choose its phone column, with a first name if you like. Activate shows which numbers are ready, which are not usable, which are duplicates and which opted out before.
Message and plan
Write the message, choose your rounds and sending days, and see the cost in Credits before you schedule. Activate adds your organization's name and how to opt out.
Results
Follow sent, delivered and not-delivered counts, replies and opt-outs, and pause or cancel a plan from the app.
One agreement, in plain words
A manager accepts one texting agreement for the campaign. In plain words, it means:
- Your organization is the sender. Activate is the software; you decide who to text and what to say, and the texts go out in your organization's name.
- You text only people who gave your organization permission to text them. Permission given to someone else, and purchased or shared lists, do not count.
- You keep the record of how and when each person agreed, and you provide it when we or our messaging provider ask.
- STOP and HELP are honored automatically, and quiet hours apply. You also honor any other request to stop, however it reaches you.
- Activate adds your organization's name and opt-out wording to your texts, and you keep your registration details accurate.
- Activate may pause sending if opt-outs or complaints rise or a carrier asks, and lets you know when it does.
Count segments before you buy anything
Count recipients, then messages per recipient, then segments per message. Two 1-segment reminders to 500 people is 1,000 segments. Add an emoji to a 100-character reminder and each copy needs 2 segments, so the same send becomes 2,000. Sender registration and number upkeep carry provider costs of their own. Texting in Activate uses purchased Credits, and the app shows the cost before you commit.
Read the pricing boundaries →Texting for civic and community programs and business campaigns opens after a short review by us; before that, nothing can send and nothing is charged. Candidates and registered committees text from their own registered campaign number. Texts use purchased Credits, and the app shows the cost before you commit.
Questions to answer before you plan a send
Can you show how each person agreed?
If the answer depends on a list someone else collected, start by collecting consent directly from the people you plan to text.
Whose name is on the messages?
The sender is the organization the recipient agreed to hear from. That organization registers the sender and is named in the messages.
When does the message stop being useful?
Set the latest useful delivery time first. A provider can stop trying to deliver a message that is still queued past its validity window, so leave room for registration, review and sending.
Plan your first text campaign
Create your campaign, open Texting and ask us to review it. Once texting opens, prepare your list and message while carriers review your sender.