Services can use SMS Messages in Office to send text messages directly to any parents, guardians or family members on their database who have a mobile number!
Once switched on, you can use SMS Messages to communicate critical updates and reminders with your families without leaving your Office software. See our guide below on how to turn this feature on, manage your settings and gather ideas on what to send to your families.
In order to toggle SMS Messages on/off, you'll need to ensure you're logging into Office with Provider/Admin Level credentials.
To switch on your SMS Messages, navigate to Comms Centre on your left hand side menu in Office. Once here, in the top right hand corner, there is a menu item called 'Preferences' indicated with a gear icon.
Once clicked, scroll down to the 'SMS' section. The first option, SMS Booster, when toggled on and shown in orange, indicated that the feature has been turned on.
You can also use this menu to set monthly limits for text messages, enable bad debtor, statement notifications and booking request messages as well as review previous messages sent and whether they have been read or not.
Messages sent through the SMS Booster incurs the following charge: 10 cents + GST per SMS.
1 SMS = 160 characters in total.
If the message length is longer than 160 characters, you will be billed for another SMS. For example, a 200 character message will be billed as 2 SMS.
You will be billed monthly or as a part of your normal billing, depending on your contract. If you have an auto-direct debit setup, this will be deducted automatically at the same time as your subscription.
There are 3 different automatic SMS options built into Office, with preset templates. These templates cannot be edited.
You can view the three different types and their triggers below:
Statement Notification
This will send an SMS to families about their statement when the Bulk Email Statement tool is used in Parent Accounts.
This will send a message to the primary carer on the account if they have a mobile number entered on their profile with the following text:
Hi [First Name] [Last Name]. Your latest statement is now available. Please login to Xplor, or check your email to view.
Your families can follow the steps outlined here to check their statement via the Home App.
Allow Booking Requests
This will send an SMS to families about their pending booking requests when they are confirmed or denied through the notification bell.
This will send a message to the primary carer on the account if they have a mobile number entered on their profile with the following text:
"[First Name], your booking request for [Child First Name] was just updated. Please login to Xplor for more info."
Your families can follow the steps outlined here to make booking requests through Home.
Bad Debtors
These messages need to be actioned by an admin user in Office using the SMS icon on the Debtors widget on the Dashboard. Admins can select which debtors to send this message to individually by pressing the icon near their name.
This will notify the parent that they have an outstanding amount owing to the service with the following text:
"Notice from [Centre Name]. Your account is currently in arrears and needs attention. Please arrange payment at your earliest convenience."
Your families can follow the steps outlined here to make PayNow payments and avoid this.
Once the SMS booster has been turned on, you can begin using Comms Centre to send custom SMS messages to your families.
To begin, navigate to Comms Centre > New > SMS. Enter in your title and your message. Use the 'Add Contacts' button to select which families will be receiving this message. You can filter recipient by:
- Child - carer type, room, age, status, booking
- Parent - carer type, tag
Once selected, we recommend checking that the recipients have a mobile number in the 'Phone' column. If no number is visible, uncheck them. This ensures your pricing is accurate and that no errors occur when sending the message.
If your message is longer than 160 characters, it will be broken up into multiple messages. The service fee on the right hand side will reflect the updated pricing.
There are many scenarios where you might like to send an SMS to the families at your centre. We have created a few templates to help get you started which you can find here.
- Your SMS messages will be sent from a randomly generated number which will most likely not be a saved contact on your families devices.
- Consider using a clear greeting or sign off to let your families know who is contacting them and avoid scam or phishing reports.
- If you need to go over the 160 character limits, you can send additional messages. Each additional message will incur a charge of 10c.