Text messaging
Get your organization its own texting number, see what it's used for, and check who has opted out of your texts.
With your own texting number, you can send text campaigns, add text steps to sequences, text event updates to guests and reply to customers by text from your inbox. Phone carriers require every business number to be registered by hand, so the Lahuta team sets yours up for you.
Go to Settings → Messaging. Its subtitle reads "Your organization's own number for texts, and who has asked it to stop."
Get your number
Request it
On Settings → Messaging, the card says "Messaging is not enabled" with a Not enabled badge. Select Request messaging. Your email app opens a message to support@lahuta.org with the subject "Enable messaging for northside-pottery". Send it.
Wait for registration
The Lahuta team registers a number for your organization with the carriers. There's nothing to set up on your side while that happens.
Start texting
Once it's approved, the card shows your number and an Enabled badge, with the note "Text campaigns, sequence steps and conversations send from this number."
What needs your own number
| Feature | Without your own number |
|---|---|
| Text campaigns | Only the Email button shows when you start a campaign from contacts |
| Text steps in sequences | The Text step option is greyed out |
| Event updates by text | The Text switch says "This organization has no texting number yet." |
| Replying by text from the inbox | The text channel says "Texting isn't enabled for your organization" |
Automatic texts to people who signed up for something, like a booking or an event, don't need your own number. Until you have one, Lahuta sends them from a shared number. Once your number is enabled, they come from yours.
Opt-outs
Every text ends with "Reply STOP to opt out", unless the message already tells people how to stop. When someone replies STOP, or a similar word like UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END or QUIT, your number stops texting them.
The Opted out section on Settings → Messaging lists "Numbers that asked your number to stop." Filter it by reason:
| Reason | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Texted STOP | The person replied STOP to your number |
| Reported by carrier | Their phone carrier told Lahuta to stop texting them |
| Added by staff | The Lahuta team added the number |
The list is read-only. You can't remove anyone from it, because only the person can take back a STOP. They do it by texting START to your number.
People who reply STOP to Lahuta's shared number don't appear on your list. That list covers every organization that texts through the shared number.
Text people who signed up
Text people who gave you their number for something, such as a booking, a ticket or your list. A STOP blocks every text from your number, while an email unsubscribe only stops marketing email.
Related
Connect your Gmail or Outlook mailbox to send campaigns from your own address, bring replies into your inbox, and manage who never gets marketing email.
What your customers see
The pages your customers use to pay, open tickets, manage bookings, accept offers and message you, with and without a Lahuta account.