Text and Email Messaging
Intro
AlumnIQ offers two communication channels for easy(-ish) registrant messaging:
Text Messaging (SMS)
Email Messaging (MSG)
Both services are available to communicate with registrants only - these services are not provided for invitation nor solicitation purposes. Both of those would depend on opt-in permissions and proper exclusion handling, which only your in-house tools are configured to comply with (we hope, anyway).
When to use each one
If you need reach use email.
If you are under heavy time pressure use SMS (and, if it makes sense, email).
If it's purely informational use email.
If you need to reach the largest possible audience use email.
If you need to send a know before you go message, use email.
Perhaps you've noticed we don't recommend SMS for most use cases. That's because it's an obvious interruption demanding real time attention - and that should be reserved for truly time sensitive or emergency matters. Every social media platform disagrees, but we're not them.
Text Messaging (SMS)
Your ability to send text messages is dependent on choices made during setup and registration:
the Org must have the mobile phone number field active
the registrant must provide a mobile number at the time of registration
and the registrant must opt in to allowing us to text them
The system automatically aggregates and formats these mobile numbers so that we can send text messages to only those who are open to receiving them.
Your reach for a text message is almost always significantly less than that of an email. Such is the consequence of respecting communication preferences.
In order for you to be allowed to send a text message, your user account must have the "SMS and Bulk Email" permission granted. Without it you'll be stopped cold. Please be super stingy about who gets this permission.
Scheduling a Text Message
Text messages can (and ideally should) be scheduled ahead of time.
Log in to admin and go to reports. In the upper right panel titled Communications tap on the "Scheduled Text Messages" link.
Tap New Message
You're then given a choice of which segment to send the message to. We offer a choice of:
all eligible registrants (rarely used)
registrants associated with a given registration group
registrants signed up for a specific event
Of these options the third is the most frequently employed.
Need to message registrants of more than one event or registration group? Schedule multiple independent messages. A little extra friction to keep you from over-communicating accidentally.
Set the date and time that you're content to see the message start going out.
The message content itself is pretty straightforward but we ask a few things of you:
Be BRIEF. 140ish characters max ideally.
Be CLEAR. If it's complex, send email instead.
Be PATIENT. Delivery isn't instantaneous (read on!)
SMS delivery happens in two deliberate phases.
Every 15 minutes we look to see if there's a new message to send. We'll add all recipients to the sending queue within 15 minutes of your desired scheduled delivery time. Don't panic if it's not on the dot - this is normal!
and then every 3 minutes we'll send a batch of individual messages out until there's nothing left in the queue.
This will take time and even then we have no guarantee for when each carrier (Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, etc.) actually hands it off to the handset. They will land in due time. Again: don't panic!
Excessively long messages (> 160 characters) will be split into multiple segments that will take even longer to deliver and cost an excessive amount of money to deliver. Please do not abuse the service by violating the three principles listed above and we'll continue to be very happy to offer it.
Replies to text messages will go to the AlumnIQ team. We'll attempt to route them if we can discern who they should go to - the sending number is a shared resource. Please do not ask questions or provoke responses if you can avoid it.
Email Messaging (MSG)
We're all familiar with the concept of emails. No need to beat a dead horse there. This messaging service is helpful for all the situations where text messages would be inappropriate or silly.
you want to send out a 'know before you go' message with a check in link
you need to hit everybody with a lengthy reminder
you need to hit certain registration segments
you need to hit those who are (or are not) signed up for campus housing (never a brief message)
As you are no doubt aware, we do not require an email address from every guest registrant (and never from a minor). We are not, at present, rerouting a message for an email-absent guest to the primary registrant of the party. We may reconsider this at a later date. Today we will only message directly to the primary or guest if they are part of the segment and are in an emailable state.
Opt-in is not a consideration as this is a transactional followup message. Implicitly cool to send. Don't ruin it by soliciting!
What do the emails look like?
We built this as simple as possible so you should only focus on content not presentation.
the header background color is the same as the master event's site header background color
the header logo image is the same as the master event's site logo image (max 300 px wide)
the message content area is 600px wide and is off-black text on a white background for good contrast without coming off harsh
the message content, if you don't do anything too weird, will automatically render at 16px baseline which is quite readable
if you instruct us to INCLUDE the check in button, it'll appear immediately above your content so it's highly visible
Below that header logo is a repeat of the subject line you put on the message (brevity, again, is appreciated).
Here's a sample email that Stevens Institute of Technology sent to their on campus housing dwellers. Isn't it pretty?
And here's an example of a "know before you go" email including the check in button in eye-catching green that communicates click-here-to-win.
Check In Button
The check in button takes the registrant to their own personal schedule page with the QR code prominently displayed at the top for fast scanning. Whether you're using it just to check in and get a name tag or you've gone entirely paperless and will be using this for individual event check ins, it's optimized for scan speed.
The check in button itself is green and this cannot be customized.
The schedule of events will shrink as your day/weekend/week of events unfolds with the "next up" scheduled event appearing at the top.
Read more about The Pass, what it contains, and what it is capable of.
Scheduling an Email Message
In order for you to be allowed to send an email message, your user account must have the "SMS and Bulk Email" permission granted. Without it you'll be stopped cold. Please be super stingy about who gets this permission.
Email messages can (and ideally should) be scheduled ahead of time.
Log in to admin and go to reports. In the upper right panel titled Communications tap on the "Scheduled Email Messages" link.
Tap New Message
You're then given a choice of which segment to send the message to. We offer a choice of:
everybody (rarely used)
a specific registration group
registrants signed up for a specific event
registrants with some sort of campus housing situationship
Of these options the third is almost certainly to become the most frequently employed.
Need to message registrants of more than one event or registration group? Schedule multiple independent messages. A little extra friction to keep you from over-communicating accidentally.
Set the date and time that you're content to see the message start going out. This is when we'll start working on it, not when it'll hit inboxes. Read on for more about that...
We also need to get from you:
a sender name (not an email address) like "Hogwarts Reunions"
a reply-to email (an actual email address) that is human-monitored (alumni@hogwarts.edu)
a subject line (topical, interesting, not lame, and not long)
whether you want us to include the check in button (or not)
AND THEN the message
Including the check in button is your call. Sometimes it would be weird or inappropriate to include it. Pre-event it makes TONS of sense to plug it in so it's present for your attendees.
The message content itself is pretty straightforward but we ask a few things of you:
Don't overstyle it. The more vanilla you are here the cleaner the resulting email will be.
Always include a call to action or, lacking one, a friendly signoff
Include contact info if you do want to hear from folks in response to it
Email delivery happens in two deliberate phases.
Every 15 minutes we look to see if there's a new message to send. We'll add all recipients to the sending queue within 15 minutes of your desired scheduled delivery time. Don't panic if it's not on the dot - this is normal!
and then every 3 minutes we'll send a batch of individual messages out until there's nothing left in the queue.
This will take time. Hence, scheduling well ahead of time so there's plenty of time for them to trickle out in controlled fashion before whatever moment you need someone to be ready for is the ultimate maximum best practice.
Interested in other specific segments that we should consider adding? File a ticket! These four segment classifications reflect the most commonly requested chunks of attendees we're aware that most ever want to address with any specificity.
Change Log
2024-09-03 - added check in button capability
Last updated