SMS messaging is quick and convenient, and can be used to your advantage when sending out booking notifications to your customers.
SMS booking notifications are an integral feature within 10to8 and can be customized with your own branding and personalization.
10to8 use Twilio amongst some other providers to send SMS messages to your clients to confirm, cancel, and remind them of their bookings.
Customization of SMS message content is limited to our Pro plan and above. Customization of SMS sender ID is limited to our Premium plan and above.
This guide will explain the SMS settings available within 10to8.
SECTIONS:
How long can an SMS Segment be?
How can I Purchase More SMS Segments?
How do SMS Segments work in 10to8?
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How to Customize Your SMS Message Content
How to Customize Your SMS Sender ID
SMS Segments
What is an SMS Segment?
An SMS segment is a piece of an SMS message. When SMS messages are sent, they will look like one continuous message to the recipient, but they are actually made up of multiple segments that have been 'knitted' together.
How long can an SMS Segment be?
As standard, an SMS segment can contain 160 characters. 'Characters' are plain letters, punctuation, numbers and spaces.
However, SMS segment length is reduced to a maximum of 70 characters if any special characters are used. Special characters include accented letters, symbols and emojis. This applies even if you only use one special character in the whole message.
It's important to note that when sending an SMS message made up of more than one segment, some characters are used to 'knit' the segments together. So, for instance, two SMS segments would have a maximum of 306 characters (not 320).
How can I Purchase More SMS Segments?
You can purchase more SMS segments to top up your overall balance under the 'Billing' tab.
Scroll to the 'SMS Segments' section and click the button to buy more segments. You'll then be prompted to enter your card details to complete the transaction.
How do SMS Segments work in 10to8?
When you create your 10to8 account, each of your bookable seats (staff members) will come with some SMS segments included. The number of segments included will depend on which plan you have.
In addition to the SMS segments included as standard with your plan, you can purchase more to top up, whenever you like. The additional SMS segments you purchase will be applied to your account as an overall balance, and they'll be used with each SMS message you send from your account. These segments are not reserved for any specific service or booking; they make up your total available balance. If you don't have enough SMS segments left to cover a message, you can top up again.
The maximum number of SMS segments you can use for a single message is 7, which adds up to approximately 1000 characters.
How to Customize Your SMS Message Content
To customize the content of your SMS messages, head to 'Configuration' > 'Messaging' > 'Customer Messaging' and then navigate to the 'SMS Notifications' menu.
Select the message you'd like to edit from the drop-down, then click on the text box to edit the message content.
How to Customize Your SMS Sender ID
To customize your SMS sender ID, head to 'Configuration' > 'Messaging' > 'Customer Messaging' > 'Extra SMS Settings'.
Under 'Edit SMS Envelope', you can input the name you'd like to see at the beginning of your SMS messages (usually your business name). Whatever you input here will be shown as 'From _______' at the start of the message.
Under 'Edit SMS Sender ID' you can input your business name which will override the default number from which SMS messages are sent by 10to8.
10to8 uses a pool of different phone numbers on rotation to ensure that messages are delivered efficiently, and to enable two-way communication between staff and customers. Editing the SMS sender ID will remove this default number from view.
Note: if you edit the SMS sender ID, your customers may not be able to reply to messages. Any replies that are sent will not appear in your inbox or within the appointment activity window.
Need More Help?
We hope you've found this guide useful! If you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out to our support team who will be more than happy to help.