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Please note, this module is available only to clients who have the marketing package.

 

Usage Charges for Sent Text Message Volume

Because of costs involved in facilitating text messaging, at higher levels of volume there will be an additional charge on your service bill for text messages sent from the system. Here are the different tiers of text message charges:

 

Tier One

Number of Segments*: 1 - 500

Charge per Segment: Free

 

Tier Two

Number of Segments*: 501 -  10,000

Charge per Segment: $0.027

 

Tier Three

Number of Segments*: 10,001 - 25,000

Charge per Segment: $0.018

 

Tier Four

Number of Segments*: 25,001 +

Charge per Segment: $0.014

 

*Segment: Each message you send will usually only have one 'segment', which is 160 characters (including spaces and punctuation). If you send longer messages, they may involve more than one segment. Segments are a standard of measurement used by cellular service providers for calculating usage for text messaging.

Here's an example of how this would be billed: A store sends out 28,500 messages in a billing period. Each tier's pricing is applied to those messages, so here is the total of what would be charged to that store:

Tier	Number of Messages	Charges
Tier One	500 (1 - 500)	$0
Tier Two	9,500 (501 - 10,000)	$256.50
Tier Three	15,000 (10,001 - 25,000)	$270
Tier Four	3,500 (25,001 - 28,500)	$49
Totals	28,500	$575.50

 

Please Note: Our rates are highly competitive, we welcome you to compare this pricing to other providers out there. There are also no additional fees (many providers charge a base rate like ours and then add carrier fees on top of that, but our service is all-inclusive and does not have carrier fees).

 

Some Important Notes About Text Message Charges

• Only What Is Sent - Messages you receive in areas such as Work Orders do not count toward your billed volume, but any sent from the system will, including automated text message notifications about web orders.
• First 500 Free - Even when charges are calculated for Tier Two or higher, the first 500 messages are not charged in that calculation. Ninety percent of the stores using the system do not exceed 500 messages a month.
• Free Messages Don't Impact Your Tier - For the Tier you're in, the system will include all sent messages, even the 500 free ones, so if you have sent 10,200 messages, even though 500 of them will be free, since you exceeded that benchmark number, you would be in the Tier Three pricing.
• Carrier-Inclusive Pricing - The charges listed include everything that will be charged, including carrier costs.

To check your current volume for the past 30 days, you can go to Marketing > Text Message and at the top of the page you'll see how many messages you've sent. Right now we are only able to show the past 30 days total usage, but it should give you a good idea of where you stand:

 

The Most Effective Marketing Medium

You can get to this part of the system by logging into the system and then in our blue Admin Toolbar, click Marketing > Text Messages.

Take advantage of the most effective means of modern communication with this powerful tool! Text messages are opened over 90% of the time, and most often within seconds of being sent. Use our Text Message Marketing service to send bulk texts to all of your marketing-text enabled customers, or just send reminders or promotions to specific individuals.

In our example messages above, the ones that show Test Message in the Location column were sent to a specific number. The messages that show the Physical Location are actually replies from customers. The messages are sent as No Reply texts, so you won't see any replies your customers might send.

For bulk messages to all customers who are set to receive Marketing Texts and who have a Mobile Phone number saved in the system (see more info below on setting up customers), we recommend sending such messages sparingly. Such messages should ideally be sent only for your major events.

Any customers who do not wish to receive your marketing text messages any longer can reply STOP and the bulk texting service we use will automatically remove them from your list.

To compose a new message, click the +New Text Message button.

You'll note that the maximum message length is 110 characters, and that includes spaces and punctuation. It will be around two-and-a-half lines of text in the box pictured. The message above was 82 characters, and while the module doesn't count your characters as you type them, it will not allow you to enter more than its maximum amount, so you don't have to worry about your text going too long and being cut off or anything.

Everything you send from the Text Marketing system is sent as a No Reply message, and at the end of each message, your company name will be appended with (No Reply) after, as pictured above. This appended text does NOT count toward your 110 character limit.

You can enter a Test Number to send a message to for a single-recipient message, and many clients find this to be a convenient way to notify customers about special orders being received, or other important notifications.

 

Setting Up Customers for Text Message Marketing

Due to the increasing amount of spam messages sent out via text message, our SMS provider requires stores to register and follow certain guidelines. Rain POS takes care of the registration process, but it is up to you to make sure that the customer gives express written consent to receive marketing communication. Below is a form for you to have your customers sign.

Click here to download the SMS Terms Adobe Acrobat PDF file.

By default, all customers with a mobile phone number will be set to receive your bulk Marketing Text Messages. Customers can unsubscribe by replying to any marketing text message with STOP, or you can remove them manually by following the steps below.

1. Go to either Website > Customers or POS > Customers.
2. Search for the customer and click on the name to open their Edit Customer panel.
3. Go to the Settings tab.
4. Find the on/off toggle for Send Marketing Text Messages and turn it OFF.
5. Click Save at the bottom, and your setting will be configured.