Because parents actually read texts, CampusESP lets you reach the right families fast to boost deposits, fill events, and solve issues in minutes instead of days. Learn to navigate the Text Messages area, identify an audience, and send a text message.
Text messaging in CampusESP requires the Text Messaging module. If your institution has not purchased this module, you will not have access to the text messaging feature.
Visit your Text Messages page
From the admin area, navigate to the Text Messages page by clicking into the Content area. Click Text Messages in the left sub-menu. You can also navigate directly to the Text Messages page by visiting https://[your-portal-url].campusesp.com/admin/text-messages.
The Text Messages page will display the following information:
Your total credits
Your remaining balance
The percentage of your remaining balance
The total number of opt-ins
All of your currently scheduled text messages
Create a new text message
From the Text Messages page, click the New Text Message button in the upper-right corner to create a new text message.
You'll be brought to the Create a New Text Message page, where you'll enter details about your text message, choose its audience, and write your message.
Enter your text message details
Before you can write your text message, you’ll need to enter important information about your text, such as its name, type, and scheduled send time.
Here's a breakdown of the information you need to enter:
Field | Description | Required? |
Text Message Name | Give your text message a name that will help you and your team recognize it later. This name is internal only; no parent/family users will see it. | ✅ |
Text Message Type | Choose whether you want your text message to be sent as a one-time text message (sent once, on a specific date, at a specific time), or as a drip text message (sent to users a certain number of days after joining a community). | ✅ |
Scheduled Date and Time or Set Up Drip Text Message |
| ✅ |
Subscriber List | Select a subscriber list, which is a list of admins who will receive notifications about new incoming messages from users. Click the Manage link to manage any subscriber lists. | ❌ |
Choose your audience
Select which users your message is targeted to. You can specify the criteria (such as community, activity date, or profile field value) for who you would like to receive the text message. Your text message will only be delivered to users who match your chosen criteria, AND who have opted-in to receiving text messages from your platform.
By default, you'll see the option to select a community. If you're just getting started, we recommend targeting by community first. It's the most straightforward way to send to a defined group.
For one-time text messages, you’ll see an Estimated recipients count below the Targeting Criteria area, as well as in the right column, as you select your targeting criteria. This number updates in real time as you change the targeting criteria. Drip text messages won't show an estimated number of recipients because they are only sent as users join a community.
Advanced user targeting options
Sometimes you’ll want to send a text message to all users; sometimes you’ll only want to communicate with a special segment of users. CampusESP’s Text Messaging tool allows you to do both! Visit our Guide to Dynamic User Targeting to see every option for user targeting and learn how you can segment and personalize your text messages further.
NOTE: Dynamic User Targeting is only available for one-time text messages; drip text messages can only use community as a targeting criteria.
Write your text message
Enter the copy of your text message in the Text Message content box. This editor gives you access to tools such as Mail Merge, Emoji, and AI-Powered Content!
As you write your text message, you'll see your Estimated Credit Spend on the right increase with longer message length.
We recommend keeping your message short, to limit the number of text message credits deducted from your balance.
Send yourself a preview
Use the Send Yourself a Test Message link below the Text Message content box to receive a preview of your text message right to your phone!
NOTE: Sending yourself previews will use some of your text message credits, so use those sparingly!
Add an optional auto-responder
Add an optional auto-responder
If you aren't planning to monitor responses to your message or want to temper families' expectations around your response time, you can set a message to be sent automatically to any replies. Use the "Automatically respond to replies with an auto-response message" checkbox to open another content box for your auto-response message.
Schedule your text message
Once you’re ready to go, click the Schedule Text Message button, and you're all set! Your text message is now scheduled to be sent.
Editing text messages after scheduling
If you need to make any updates to your schedules texts, no worries! CampusESP allows you to edit scheduled text messages up until their send time. From the Text Messages page, click the name of a scheduled text to open an overview of your existing text to review its details and content.
Click the text message's name again to open the Exit Text Message page to edit any of its details or content.
NOTE: Only scheduled text messages that have not yet been sent can be edited. If you're unable to access the Edit Text Message page, your text message has already been sent and can no longer be edited.