SchoolConnects Best Practices Guide to Sending SMS Text Messages 1
SchoolConnects Version 9.30 and later Copyright 2002 2011 Synrevoice Technologies Inc. Although the information in this document has been carefully reviewed, Synrevoice Technologies Inc ( Synrevoice ) does not warrant it to be free of errors or omissions. Synrevoice reserves the right to make corrections, updates, revisions or changes to the information in this document. UNLESS OTHERWISE EXPRESSLY STATED BY SYNREVOICE, THE PROGRAM DESCRIBED IN THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED AS IS AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT WILL SYNREVOICE BE LIABLE TO ANYONE FOR SPECIAL, COLLATERAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY LOST PROFITS, DATA, OR SAVINGS, ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THIS PROGRAM. This document is protected by copyright and you may not redistribute or translate it into another language, in part or in whole. You may only redistribute this document internally within your organization (for example, on your intranet) provided that you continue to check with Synrevoice for updates, and update your version of the documentation. You may not make it available to your organization over the Internet. SchoolConnects is a trademark of Synrevoice Technologies Inc. Microsoft is either a registered trademark or a trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Other products or services mentioned in this document are identified by the trademarks or service marks of their respective owners. Updated January 10, 2013 2
Table of Contents Key Points about Text Messaging... 4 Preparing for SMS... 4 Collect SMS-capable phone numbers... 4 Import SMS phone numbers into the SchoolConnects Address Book... 4 Tell parents about caller identification on a mobile phone... 5 Before you can send text messages: Regulations... 5 Introduce SMS to the school community... 6 Sample phone message... 6 Sample email... 6 Sending SMS Messages... 7 If a parent does not want to receive text messages... 7 Multiple Languages... 8 Using Variables: Name, Grade, Dollar Amount, etc... 8 Known Issues... 9 3
Key Points about Text Messaging Only phone numbers that have opted in by texting join to the Synrevoice Alerts short code 56360 will be able to receive texts via SchoolConnects. You cannot opt people in; they must opt themselves in from their own mobile phone. The phone number they opt in from must already exist in the SchoolConnects system, either in the Address Book or in a Contact List. If it isn t they will receive a message telling them to contact the school to get their phone number added. Messages from SchoolConnects all come from the same short code of 56360. Subscribers should add this short code to their phone s contact list with the school district name. Preparing for SMS Before you can start sending text messages to the school community, you must do the following: Collect SMS-capable phone numbers Import SMS-capable phone numbers into the SchoolConnects Address Book Tell parents/staff how to opt in to receive text messages. Introduce SMS to the school community Collect SMS-capable phone numbers To be able send text messages, schools must collect mobile phone numbers so that they can be imported into the SchoolConnects Address Book. It is recommended that you load these into your student information system and maintain them with your other contact information. You can also include STAFF mobile phones either in a Staff contact list or Staff Address Book and staff can also opt in for text messaging. Import SMS phone numbers into the SchoolConnects Address Book Be sure to update whatever method you are using to export contact information from your student information system to include mobile phone numbers for parents, and staff if applicable. Work with your Synrevoice Technical Support representative to ensure that the mobile phone numbers are then imported into the Address Book. It is recommended that you import these numbers into the mobile phone field if possible, to prevent confusion. 4
Tell parents about caller identification on a mobile phone SMS (text) messages are limited to 140 characters plus a few characters to identify the sender. The sender is identified by the short code (phone number), similar to a caller ID. SchoolConnects has one short code for all messages to all customers: 56360. That means that no district-specific identification can be displayed when sending text messages. You need to notify your school community that messages coming from the short code 56360 are from your school district. Recipients can then enter the short code and a name in their contacts on their mobile phone so the caller ID displays something meaningful to them. Before you can send text messages - regulations Regulations require that text messages can only be sent to recipients who have subscribed to receive these messages. Therefore, SchoolConnects will not send an SMS message to any phone that is not in the list of subscribed phone numbers. Subscribing requires the recipient to send a text message containing specific text to the SchoolConnects short code, 56360. Before you can send text messages, the following must happen: 1. The school or district must announce to the community how to subscribe to receive text messages from the school. This can be done by sending a letter, posting instructions on a web site, sending a telephone or email announcement, and so on. Some sample call texts and emails follow later in this document. 2. The school must collect mobile phone numbers in the student information system, or in a file or spreadsheet. 3. The mobile phone numbers must be imported into the SchoolConnects Address Book or Contact lists. 4. Parents who want to receive text messages from the school must text the word Join to the number 56360 from the SMS-capable phone they want to receive messages on. 5. If the subscribing phone number is in the SchoolConnects Address Book, the following happens: a. SchoolConnects sends a confirmation text to the phone. Limited to 140 characters, the wording of this message is governed by legislation and carrier requirements. The message reads: Synrevoice alerts: Thanks for joining school txt alerts. 15msgs/mth. Msg/Data rates may apply. Reply STOP to cancel. b. SchoolConnects adds the phone number to the list of subscribed SMS phone numbers. (You can view this list of numbers by clicking Manage Contacts.) c. SchoolConnects updates the Address Book, checking the SMS check box for every occurrence of the phone number in the Address Book and adding the words Opted In beside the phone number. It doesn t matter if the phone number is in the SchoolConnects Mobile Phone field or a different phone number field. If the subscribing number is not in the SchoolConnects Address Book, SchoolConnects sends a message that the request has not been processed, and the user must contact 5
the school to have the telephone number added to the student information system and subsequently to the SchoolConnects Address Book. The user does not need to subscribe again. 6. At the end of every month, SchoolConnects sends out a reminder message to each subscriber, telling them how to cancel their subscription. If the user does nothing, they continue to receive text messages when sent by the school or district. If the person leaves the district their mobile phone number will be removed from the system and they will no longer receive text messages even if they don t opt out. Introduce SMS to the school community It is up to you to decide how to introduce text messaging to your school community. A sample phone message and a sample email message follow, to help you create the message. Remember that you must include instructions to your community for subscribing. (Unsubscribed numbers cannot receive text messages.) Both samples below include the instructions. Sample phone message <School Name> is pleased to announce that we can now send announcements via SMS text messaging to your mobile phones. If you would like to receive text messages from the school or district, please ensure the school has your mobile phone number on file. Then text the word Join to the number 56360. You should receive a confirmation message from our messaging system. At any time, you can unsubscribe by texting the word Stop to 56360. Remember to create a contact on your phone with the name of the school and the phone number 56360. Thank you. Sample email Dear Parents and Guardians: <District Name> School Board is pleased to announce that we are now able to send announcements via SMS text messaging to your mobile phones. If you would like to receive these announcements as text messages, please do the following: 1. Ensure your school has your cell phone number on file. If the school did not have your cell phone number on file and added it, wait at least 24 hours before proceeding to the next step. 2. From your cell phone, text the word Join to the number 56360. If our messaging system finds a match for your number in its database, you receive a confirmation message thanking you for joining school alerts. At any time, you can unsubscribe by texting Stop to 56360. 3. Create a contact on your phone with the name of your school or school district (if you have children in multiple schools in the district), or another meaningful name, and the phone number 56360. Then when you receive a text from this number, you know who is sending it. Thank you. 6
Sending SMS Messages Message length Text messages can only be 140 characters in length, so it is important to keep your messages short and to the point. If you want to use abbreviations in your text, it is recommended that you only use common abbreviations. Remember that you are sending these messages to parents! SMS-only messages Avoid sending SMS-only messages until you know a high percentage of parents have subscribed for text messages. Until the majority of parents are subscribed, any text messages you send will miss a large component of their target audience. You can get a sense of how many have subscribed by looking at the list of subscribed phone numbers, under Manage Contacts. Do not abuse text messaging! Always remember that many parents pay their phone provider a standard fee for every text message they receive. If they receive too many messages from the school and school district, some parents will complain. This could result in a loss of text messaging capabilities. Between the school and school district messages, no parent should ever receive more than 15 text messages a month, which is still a very high number. A recommendation is to limit text messaging to no more than 1 per week. Note: if you use text messaging for attendance, it s possible the parents will get a higher volume of texts. They can prevent receiving attendance texts by making sure the attendance is reported to the school as early as possible. Best time to send SMS text messages Because many people leave their cell phones on throughout the entire day and night, it is recommended that you not send text messages after 9 p.m. Also, because not everyone keeps their cell phone at hand throughout the evening, it is recommended that you not send time-sensitive text messages into the evening hours. A good practice is to send normal text messages from 3 p.m. to 7 or 8 PM. If a parent does not want to receive text messages If a parent wants to stop receiving text messages, they must text Stop to 56360. (In Canada, they can also text Arret.) If they do this, you see Opted Out next to the phone number in the Address Book and in the list of subscribed SMS phone numbers. If a parent does not want to receive texts regarding a particular student, but wants to continue receiving texts for their other children, they can call the school and ask to stop receiving texts for that student. You must locate the student in the SchoolConnects Address Book and uncheck the SMS check box next to the phone number, and save the changes. Note: Checking the SMS check box next to a phone number does not add it to the list of subscribed numbers. The parent must subscribe directly from the phone by texting Join to 56360. 7
Multiple Languages Currently SMS messages, like emails, can be sent with English text only. In the near future other scripts will be supported as well. Using Variables: Name, Grade, Dollar Amount, etc Like email messages, text messages can be set up with variables such as Name, Absence Date, School Name, School Phone Number, etc. However be careful when creating an SMS message with variables. The resulting text, AFTER the variables are inserted, cannot be more than 140 characters; if it is it will be cut off. A sample SMS attendance template could look like the example below. This gets the basic information across and leaves 54 characters that can be used to expand the student name and school name. <Student Name> was marked absent <Absent Date>. Call <School Name> at <School Phone>. 8
Known Issues Gets message over and over again The AT&T PanTech phone is known to have issues with text messages. In a handful of cases (11 individuals to date over the course of 13 months), AT&T PanTech phone users have reported opting in to Synrevoice alerts and then getting the welcome message over and over again. Opting out doesn t help: they then get the Opt-out acknowledgement over and over again. The texts are NOT coming from SchoolConnects, they are apparently generated by the phone itself. The end user should call AT&T Customer Care at 1-800-331-0500 for further troubleshooting. If you are aware of someone experiencing this issue, please contact Synrevoice at 1-800-450-5450 x 1 and let us know. If possible please provide us with the phone number in question. We are collecting records of this issue to pass on to AT&T. Short Message Transfer Rejected Sometimes when people try to text JOIN to 56360, they may get a response from their carrier such as Short Message Transfer Rejected. Some of the smaller providers have a limited network and do not support Short Codes at all or may support only Facebook and Twitter. Petrocan and CHATR are two examples. If the user has one of these providers they will not be able to opt in. Other possible solutions (to be tried if their carrier and their phone plan supports short codes) remove the phone s battery for 5 minutes then put it back in and try again. go into the text messaging settings on the phone, and look for where they can configure the input mode/creation mode/sms mode; choose MMS if this option is available, or Automatic. (Every phone has different menus and options so we cannot provide detailed instructions). They may need to bring their phone into their local store to get this resolved. Premium Messaging to this Phone Has Been Blocked Specific to Verizon phones: when trying to opt in to 56360, if the subscriber gets the message "Premium messaging to this mobile has been blocked, they need to do the following to unblock: 1. Sign on to Verizon web page. 2. Select My Services/Spam Controls 3. Select Service Blocks, then Usage Controls 4. Select or deselect the action you prefer. 9