SMS Notifications

MakerVera supports SMS as a notification delivery channel alongside email. SMS messages are short, high-visibility alerts sent directly to a member’s phone — ideal for time-sensitive reminders like upcoming events or last-minute schedule changes.

SMS is opt-in only. Members must explicitly provide their phone number and confirm it before they can receive SMS notifications from your makerspace.

For Members — Opting In to SMS

Adding your phone number

1. Go to your Profile (click your name or avatar in the top right)
2. Select the Settings tab
3. Scroll to the SMS Notifications section
4. Enter your phone number in international format (e.g., +1 555 123 4567)
5. Click Send Confirmation Code

You’ll receive a 6-digit code via text message. Enter the code in the confirmation field and click Confirm.

Why confirmation is required

SMS opt-in requires a two-step confirmation (known as “double opt-in”) to comply with TCPA regulations and ensure the phone number belongs to you. This protects you from receiving unwanted messages.

Managing your SMS preferences

Once confirmed, you can:

• Opt out at any time from the same SMS Notifications section in your profile settings
• Change your phone number by entering a new one and going through the confirmation flow again
• Your SMS preference is per makerspace — if you’re a member of multiple makerspaces, each has its own SMS opt-in status

What happens when you opt out

When you opt out of SMS:

• Your phone number is retained but marked as opted out
• No further SMS messages will be sent to you from that makerspace
• You can opt back in at any time without re-confirming your number (unless you change it)
• Opting out of SMS does not affect your email notification preferences

For Admins — Setting Up SMS Notifications

Prerequisites

SMS delivery requires the Manage Notification Settings permission.

Enabling SMS on a notification rule

1. Go to Admin → Communications
2. Click on an existing rule or create a new one
3. In the rule editor, set the Channel to SMS
4. Select or create an SMS template
5. Save the rule

You can have multiple rules for the same trigger — for example, an email rule and an SMS rule for event reminders, so members receive both if they’ve opted in to SMS.

Creating SMS templates

1. Go to Admin → Notifications → Templates
2. Find the template you want to add SMS content to
3. Click Edit and select the SMS tab
4. Write your message body

SMS content guidelines

Constraint	Limit
Single SMS segment (standard characters)	160 characters
Single SMS segment (special characters)	70 characters
Multi-segment SMS (standard)	153 characters per segment (up to 3 segments)
Multi-segment SMS (special)	67 characters per segment (up to 3 segments)

Standard characters include Latin letters, numbers, and common punctuation (GSM-7 encoding). Special characters — including emoji, accented characters, and non-Latin scripts — use a different encoding (UCS-2) that reduces the per-segment limit.

The template editor shows a segment indicator as you type — it displays how many SMS segments your message will use and automatically detects which character encoding applies. Shorter messages are better: they arrive as a single text and cost less to send.

Keep SMS messages short

SMS is best for brief, actionable messages — “Your Woodworking 101 class starts in 1 hour” rather than detailed instructions. Use email for longer content. Watch for emoji and special characters that reduce your available character count. Members who receive overly long or frequent SMS messages are more likely to opt out.

Template variables in SMS

SMS templates support the same template variables as email templates ({{member_name}}, {{event_title}}, etc.). Keep in mind that variable expansion increases the final message length — the segment indicator accounts for this using typical values.

How SMS Delivery Works

Delivery pipeline

SMS messages go through the same notification pipeline as email:

1. A trigger event fires (e.g., event starting soon)
2. The dispatcher finds matching rules with channel set to SMS
3. For each recipient, the system checks:
   • Has the member opted in to SMS for this makerspace?
   • Is the member’s phone number on the phone suppression list?
   • Has a duplicate SMS already been sent within the deduplication window?
4. If all checks pass, the message is sent via the SMS provider

Delivery statuses

SMS delivery statuses appear in your Notification Analytics alongside email statuses:

Status	What it means
Sent	Message accepted by the SMS provider for delivery
Failed	Something went wrong — check the error detail
Suppressed	Blocked — the member hasn’t opted in, or the phone number is on the suppression list
Deduplicated	Same SMS already sent to this person within the deduplication window

Phone suppression

Phone numbers can be suppressed (blocked from receiving SMS) if:

• The number is invalid or undeliverable
• The carrier reports the number as disconnected
• A platform admin manually adds the number to the phone suppression list

Suppressed phone numbers are separate from the email suppression list.

Troubleshooting

A member says they didn’t receive an SMS

1. Check their opt-in status — the member must have completed the double opt-in flow. Ask them to check Profile → Settings → SMS Notifications.
2. Check the delivery log — filter by SMS channel to see if a send was attempted. A suppressed status means the member hasn’t opted in or the number is blocked.
3. Check the phone number format — the system requires E.164 format (e.g., +15551234567). Invalid formats are rejected at opt-in time.

A member isn’t receiving the confirmation code

• Confirm the phone number is correct and includes the country code
• Some carriers block short-code messages — the member may need to contact their carrier
• Confirmation codes expire after 10 minutes and are limited to 5 attempts before a cooldown period

SMS messages are arriving late

Scheduled SMS notifications follow the same 15-minute processing cadence as email. Additionally, carrier delivery times can vary — SMS is not guaranteed to be instantaneous.

Best Practices

1. Use SMS sparingly — SMS is best for urgent, time-sensitive notifications. Over-messaging leads to opt-outs.
2. Keep messages under 160 characters — single-segment messages are cheaper and more reliable.
3. Don’t duplicate email content — SMS should complement email, not repeat it. A short “Your class starts in 1 hour” SMS paired with a detailed email confirmation is a good pattern.
4. Monitor opt-out rates — if members are opting out of SMS frequently, you may be sending too many or the content isn’t valuable enough.
5. Respect quiet hours — SMS messages follow the same quiet hours settings as email. Late-night texts are a fast way to lose member trust.