Texting Patrons Through Sportsman
Sportsman has built-in texting functionality to allow you to text
your patrons directly from the application.
Being able to send a text to a team roster, a group of members or
facility reservation patrons is a convenient method for Recreation facilities
to communicate critical information like pool closings, weather cancelations
and schedule changes. Our “Timeslot Registration”
feature and Day Pass purchases sold on ActivityReg websites can be configured
to send QR entry codes to patrons via email and/or text. Only the Sportsman
Core module is required for Texting. Texting is provided under an account
through Peak Software however you may also use Clickatell (3rd
party) account.
Beginning September 1, 2020 all
Sportsman customers are automatically enrolled in the basic Sportsman Text
Services plan which allows up to 1,000 standard text messages or 500 QR texts
(which count as 2 texts) a month for free (or an equivalent combination). A
portion of your Sportsman Core renewal price covers the expense of this free
service.
It is important to note that standard texts over 160 characters
are divided up and charged as multiple messages to the same number by most
texting carriers. Please read thru the detail under the Free
Service and Pay As You Text Plan to understand how
total messages are counted.
To help you keep your texting under the
Free Service limits we offer administrative tools including a text counter and
a site configuration tool to limit all texts to no more than 160 characters so
that multiple texts are not sent as part of the same message. You cannot exceed
the 1,000 total count per month unless you are on our
Pay As You Text Plan. You may also elect
to email reservations and day passes with QR Codes rather than included a text
message.
For the small percentage of our
customers that need additional texting volumes each month or on occasion, we
will offer a Pay As You Text Plan
that will invoice you for any overages. This plan requires acceptance of our Texting Agreement before you can exceed the monthly
threshold. If you are on this plan and continue to use less than 1,000 total
messages per month you will not have any charges.
Free
Service and Pay As You Text Plan
Free Service
Limits and Calculations
Using our free
service you will receive 1,000 text messages per month. Based on the length of your standard texts
sent along with the number QR Codes sent via text your total number of patron
communications may be much less than the total 1,000 count.
Standard
(character only) texts of 160 characters are considered a single text. Texts of 161 to 306 characters to a single
cell number are counted as 2 text messages because of the way most service
providers divide up longer texts. Further divisions are based on each
additional 153 character limits.
QR Codes sent as
texts always count as 2 text messages to a single cell number because both a
short message and a QR code image is sent.
In the example
below while only 815 texts were sent to patrons, the total text messages
counted toward the 1,000 free limit is 905.
Pay As You Text
Plan
If you do not
want to be restricted to 1,000 total messages per month you can sign up for our
Pay As You Text Plan by executing this agreement. This removes
the Sportsman limitation of 1,000 per month and allows you to send as many
messages as you want, the first 1,000 are still free. For each month that you exceed the 1,000
count, you will receive an invoice for the text message count over 1,000 at
$0.01 for each. (Pricing is subject to
change). We reserve the right to hold small overages each month and combine
with subsequent month charges to reduce invoicing for small amounts. This allows you to use the power of this
important tool as you need it and allows us to keep our Sportsman license
prices fair and reasonable for all customers.
Important Parameters:
ü Texting service is included for basic
patron program and event notifications such as last-minute cancellations and
not intended to be used for marketing purposes.
ü Text may be sent to a maximum of up to
300 patrons at a time.
ü Inappropriate use of texting by any
customer could jeopardize this shared texting service. In rare cases SMS text accounts can be
blacklisted for gross misuse. Here are
some behaviors that can contribute to blacklisting:
ü Be sure you are only sending texts to
current patrons and patrons that want to receive them. Use the Sportsman patron
account Opt In/Out flag to keep track of patron preferences.
ü Keep your texts short and direct,
avoid texts over 160 characters all you can.
ü Do not sent marketing type texts as
these require compliance with FCC rules about message cost notifications and
the ability opt Stop accepting messages which is not a service included with
Sportsman at this time.
This Document will cover:
ü Configuration
and Settings
o Set
or Remove Texting Service
o Configuration
Options
ü Sending
Texts
ü Log
Report and Counter
Configuration and
Settings
Setup or Remove
Texting Service
1. Select the gear at the top
right.
2. Select Site Configuration
on the left.
1. On the Texting Service Setup panel find the Service Provider drop
down list. From here you can select the
following options:
None: if you want to disable texting
completely
Click-A-Tell (Platform) New or Click-A-Tell (Communicator/Central)
Old: if you
have a Click-A-Tell account and would like to use that. If you are unsure of your account type please
check your account information and/or call our Technical Team.
Sportsman Default Account: to use the Sportsman service.
Click the [OK] button to save your selection.
Configuration
Options
In the Texting
Service Setup panel (see above for navigation) you can configure several
additional items:
Limiting texts to
160 characters: To help you limit the number of texts actually used,
the default setting is activated for the 160 character limitation (the box for
that setting is checked).
You can uncheck
the box to send texts over 160 characters, but this will result in multiple
text counts against your maximum monthly quota for free texting.
Keep in mind that
the maximum length of text message that you can send is 918 characters.
However, if you send more than 160 characters then your message will be broken
down in to chunks of 153 characters before being sent to the recipient’s
handset. Due to this break down the max
count for a 2 text message is 306 and a 3 text message is 456.
Sending QR Codes
via Text: Here you can
leave the box checked if you wish to send QR entry codes (for timeslot and daypass reservations) as text messages in addition to
sending them with emails. Unchecking the
box will prohibit these from being sent as texts. Please remember that QR codes include both a
short message and an image of the code so they count as 2 text messages.
Email Address for
Notifications: You can add an
email address if you want to be notified when you hit texting message count
increments of 1,000.
Sending Texts
1. Click on an
option from the “Reports” menu at
the top of the Sportsman application to select an available report with patron
lists that would contain cell phone numbers. (The examples below illustrate an
Activity Roster Report).
2. Run the
report and from the Report Preview screen, click on the “Email/Text Participants” button. (If
no texting or emailing information is available, Sportsman will tell you.)
3. Select
your delivery method (email, text or both) and other checkbox settings (such as
Include Coaches) in top frame. Where a cell phone does not exist in the record
an Email can be sent. Notice additional settings. Select the
individuals you want to send to, then click [Continue] button.
4. Draft your text and send it. We
recommend including a statement letting patrons know not to reply.
It is
also good practice to include a facility or name of sender and include contact
for additional information. See example
in the screen shot below.
Note the
character counter, segment counter and message at the bottom of the screen
about multiple messages. Click [OK Sent It] button
to send.
Log Report and Counter
To help you
monitor the texts and emails that were sent we have created a new utility that
allows you to review counts, message content and more. To see reporting
navigate to File>Utilities>Email
& Text Log.
Click here for a full
description of this Log
The Totals Panel will
show the counts given the filters set in the Settings Panel. The Billable Segments data will show the exact
number of Regular and QR texts sent (if any) the total number of message
segments and whether you are under the free 1,000 segment limit or over. (You
can only exceed 1,000 message segments per month if you are on the Pay As You Text plan.)
SM:PA:B:Aug20
