A year-round text plan for groups that send often

A light yearly plan has six kinds of texts: welcome, thank-you, event reminder, update, renewal and check-in. Spread across four quarters, that is enough to stay in touch without crowding anyone's phone.

This plan names no holidays or regions, so you can fit it to your own calendar. Move each message to the week that suits your group.

What should you send in each quarter?

Think of the year as four quarters, each with one main job. Here is a starting point.

• First quarter (new year): welcome new contacts and send a thank-you for last year's support.
• Second quarter: send event reminders and one update on what your group is working on.
• Third quarter (start of term, for schools and clubs): send a welcome back and a short update.
• Fourth quarter (year-end): send a renewal notice, a thank-you and a check-in.

Treat this as a draft. If your group has no events, swap the reminder for another update.

What does a welcome text look like?

Send a welcome as soon as someone agrees to hear from you. Say who you are, what to expect and how to stop. Furcata gives every account a hosted sign-up page that collects name, phone and email, so new contacts can join there.

Furcata adds your account name at the start and a short unsubscribe line at the end of every bulk message, and both count toward the length. With them, the examples below use 1 to 2 segments each. In the US and Canada, one segment uses one credit, and every message also carries one flat messaging fee.

Hi {first_name}, welcome to [organization]. We'll text you news and reminders about once a month.

How do you say thank you by text?

A thank-you works well when it asks for nothing. Keep it short and name the thing you are thanking them for.

Thank you, {first_name}, for being part of [organization] this year. We're grateful for your support.

What should an event reminder include?

Give the event name, the day, the time and the place. One clear detail is more useful than three vague ones. If plans change, send a correction as soon as plans change.

Reminder from [organization]: [event name] is on [date] at [time], [place].

How do you send an update people will read?

Share one piece of news per text. If you need more room, link to a page. Furcata accounts include a public micro-site with a landing page and posts, which can hold the longer version.

update: [one-sentence news]. Details: [link].

When should you send a renewal notice?

Send it with enough notice for the person to act, and say what renewing involves. Add the date and a way to reach you with questions.

Hi {first_name}, your [organization] membership renews on [date]. Questions? Call [phone].

What is a check-in text for?

A check-in asks how things are going and invites a reply. Replies arrive in your inbox, so someone on your team should be ready to read them. Incoming texts are billed at the same rate as outgoing ones.

Hi {first_name}, this is [organization]. How is everything going? Reply anytime with questions or ideas.

How often should you send?

A rule of thumb: plan for no more than one or two texts a month for each contact, and say that in your welcome text. Send more only when something is time-bound, such as an event reminder.

Segmenting helps you stay under that limit. Furcata contacts support three custom fields, quick filters and area-code segmentation, so a reminder can go only to the people it applies to. Our guide to messaging good habits covers content, timing and volume in more detail.

How are these texts counted and billed?

Furcata adds your account name at the start and an unsubscribe line at the end of every bulk message. Your message text is all you write, because Furcata adds the unsubscribe line for you. Both count toward its length, so a short English message usually uses 2 segments. In the US and Canada, one segment uses one credit. One accented letter, such as á, moves the whole message to Unicode, which fits fewer characters in each segment.

Each message also carries one flat messaging fee, whatever its length or type. Credits you buy do not expire. You pay only for what you send, so a quiet quarter costs less than a busy one. Current prices are on the pricing page, and the billing guide explains what is included.

Where can you go next?

If you want to write each message once and reuse it every year, the templates guide shows how to write, test and reuse the messages a service sends.