SMS Messaging

Buying credits

SMS works like a prepaid wallet: buy credits first (Dashboard → SMS → Buy Credits, paid by card), then each message debits your balance. One message costs one credit per segment - 160 characters, or 70 if it contains emoji. The composer shows the live cost as you type, so there are never surprise charges. Every purchase emails you a PDF invoice, downloadable again from SMS → History.

Your available credits are always shown in the top bar of the dashboard (the speech-bubble badge). It turns red when you're running low, and clicking it opens your SMS dashboard. When you're working on a team owner's account with permission to view their SMS wallet, it shows the owner's credits instead.

You can also buy a custom amount instead of a package: enter how many credits you want on SMS → Buy Credits and pay the per-SMS price shown, from the minimum order upwards. Packages work out cheaper per credit for the same volume, so the custom option is there for when none of them is the size you need. If it isn't shown, only packages are on sale at the moment.

Sending a message

Go to SMS → Send SMS, pick an approved sender ID (the name shown as the sender), enter the recipient number in international format (e.g. +27821234567), type your message, and send. Sending is immediate and online-only. You cannot message your own number, a number that opted out, or an invalid number - those are blocked before any credit is touched, with a plain explanation of why.

Delivery statuses

Each message moves from Sent to Delivered or Failed as the mobile network reports back - follow it on SMS → History, filterable by status and date, with CSV export. A message the provider rejects on send (bad number, no route) is marked Rejected and costs nothing: the held credits are released back to your balance automatically.

Sender IDs

The name shown as the message sender is picked per send from your approved sender IDs (SMS → Sender IDs). Request a new one there - letters and numbers up to 11 characters, or digits up to 15 - and it becomes selectable once approved; make sure the same ID is also registered on the SMS Portal account. If you work with a team, the account owner can grant sending, contact, or wallet-view access per person from Dashboard → Team - buying credits always stays with the owner.

Bulk and scheduled sends

For more than one recipient, go to SMS → Bulk SMS → New bulk send. Pick your recipients from a pasted list, a CSV upload (download the template on the same page), a saved Contact Group, your leads, your team, your event ticket holders, or your venue guests. The preview shows exactly who will receive it and who will be skipped (invalid numbers, duplicates, opt-outs) - nobody is ever dropped silently - plus the total credit cost. Confirm to reserve the credits, then send immediately or schedule for later; scheduled sends appear under Upcoming with a countdown, and can be edited (re-reserving automatically) or cancelled (full refund of the reservation) any time before they go out. After a send, the campaign page shows per-recipient who got it and who didn't, and a failed campaign can be re-queued to retry only the recipients that never received it.

Opt-outs (STOP)

Anyone who replies STOP (or UNSUBSCRIBE, OPT OUT, END, CANCEL and equivalents) is added to your account's suppression list and can receive no further SMS from you - every send checks that list first. Sending limits per hour and day also apply to every account, to protect the platform's sender reputation.