Sending a message is the most fundamental function in AlertManagerPro. We make it very simple for you to send messages to your entire opt-in list, one or more groups (defined by "tags") or even to just one phone number. You can send messages immediately or schedule them to be sent later. It's all quite easy to do using AlertManagerPro.
The main "Send Messages" screen in AlertManagePror is divided into three basic sections:
- What message do you want to send?
- Who do you want to send the message to?
- When do you want to send the message?
In the first section, "What message do you want to send?" you will see a field into which you can type a message. Note that you should never paste text from another application into this field. This may cause the entry of illegal characters that will cause your message to be blocked and it will not get sent. In the descriptions below numbers in parentheses such as "(1)" refer to the arrow in the screenshot below
- (1) Just type the message that you want to send into this box. There are a few helpful things for you to know: Standard text messages are limited to 160 characters. Our system will allow you to send messages longer than 160 characters but you will be charged for each 160-character segment.
- (2) There is a "character countdown" shown below the message entry field that will show you how many characters you have remaining, or by how many you have exceeded, the 160 characters limit.
- (3) You can abbreviate URLs that are entered into the message entry field by simply clicking the "Shorten URL" button. Our system finds any fully-entered URLs (they must contain either "http://" or "www." to be recognized) and will abbreviate them down to just a few characters using our own URL shortener. All abbreviated URLs will be formatted as https://txts.cc/[YourUniqueShortenedURLHere.
- (4) You can create, save and use the same message repeatedly by taking advantage of our "AutoFill Messages" function. Create the message that you want to save as an AutoFill message and click the "Save as AutoFill Message" button.
- (5) To use an AutoFill message simply select the one you want from the AutoFill Message dropdown menu and it will automatically populate the Send Message field.
- (6) You can also delete saved AutoFill messages by choosing the one you want from the dropdown menu and clicking the red "Remove Selected AutoFill Message" button.
Sending the message after you create it is described in the "How Do I: Send The Message" section.