Sending texts to motivate, congratulate or check in with your students can be a fun and effective tool to help keep them on track and moving forward in your course!
And at XP, every plan level comes with the ability to send automated SMS messages to a student.
How does it work?
You can send SMS messages as part of an Experience in the Experience Engine.
Some examples of when you might send a text could be:
- to welcome a student to the course
- congratulate them for finishing a module or training
- notify them of a new training released
- reach out if they’ve fallen behind
The possibilities are pretty limitless!
For how to set up your text message, read all about how to set up a Communication sequence in the Experience Engine here.
How much does it cost to send a message?
Text messages can be up to 140 regular alphanumeric characters (with no emojis).
If a message has more than 140 regular characters, the full message will still go through, but will be billed extra credits to send.
For example, if your message is 141 regular characters in length, you'll be billed TWO credits to send it. If your message is 280 characters, you'll still be billed TWO credits.
IMPORTANT: Sending emojis in your messages is expensive, becuase emojis aren't treated as "regular" characters by the carriers. In fact, when you send an emoij, your ENTIRE message is encoded in a different way which makes it much larger and therefore costlier to send. Each emoji is handled differently, so watch your credit count as you compose your message, and use your emojies sparingly if you want to save money.
Your account automatically comes with 50 free SMS messages per month.
(Note: Sending or receiving a text is considered a use of this feature)
On the first of every month, your balance of free SMSs will reset to 50.
If you want to use more than 50 SMSs per month, you have options to purchase a package of additional SMS’s...
- 2000 SMSs for $100 (5c each)
- 5000 SMSs for $200 (4c each)
- 10000 SMSs for $250 (2.5c each)
We’ll email you to notify you when your balance of free SMS’s is running low so you can "top off" your balance.
If your free balance runs out, then we’ll automatically bill you for the preferred package of SMS's you’ve chosen. (You can set your preferred package in your Accounts section).
If you haven’t chosen a preferred package, we’ll bill you for the lowest priced package ($100), so we can make sure and keep things running smoothly with no interruption to your students’ experience.
Can the student reply to the text? (2-Way SMS Texting)
YES! If you want to have the option to have two way communication with your students, you can rent a dedicated phone number from us for $99/year (just fill out this application to receive your 2-way SMS number.)
Replies to the text will go to your inbox inside your account.
NOTE: If a student has replied to a message (and the message has not been removed from your inbox), any new communication with that student will be added to the existing thread- it will not start a new thread.
What number does the text come from?
Texts will come from our central XP number. OR, if you rent a dedicated number from us, it will come from the number you’re assigned. (At this point, it’s not possible to select your number.)
Your number will be active within 24 hours of payment.
Are we notified when we get a reply?
Yes. We'll email you a notification (to your main account email address) when you have a new reply to an SMS text message.
Does this work for international numbers?
Yes. As long as the country code is entered correctly in the student's profile, this will work for international numbers.
Can my students opt out of receiving text messages?
Yes, they can just reply STOP at any time and they’ll no longer receive text messages.
How Long Can My Text Messages to Students Be?
Text messages can be up to 140 regular alphanumeric characters (with no emojis).
If a message has more than 140 regular characters, the full message will still go through, but will be billed extra credits to send.
For example, if your message is 141 regular characters in length, you'll be billed TWO credits to send it. If your message is 280 characters, you'll still be billed TWO credits.
IMPORTANT: Sending emojis in your messages is expensive, becuase emojis aren't treated as "regular" characters by the carriers. In fact, when you send an emoij, your ENTIRE message is encoded in a different way which makes it much larger and therefore costlier to send. Each emoji is handled differently, so watch your credit count as you compose your message, and use your emojies sparingly if you want to save money.
What if I have further questions?
Just message us at support using the chat widget in the lower right corner of the screen, and we'll help you out!
