SMS Marketing lets your school send promotional text campaigns — enrollment pushes, event invites, deadline nudges, re-engagement messages — directly to contacts who've opted in. It's built on the same engine as your Inbox, which means replies land right in your two-way conversation thread automatically.
This article explains how SMS Marketing works, how it relates to your Inbox and Customer Journey AI, and how to send your first campaign compliantly.
Two kinds of SMS — know the difference
Lumion sends two types of text messages, and the rules are different for each:
Transactional SMS — everyday messages you send back and forth with contacts: application reminders, payment confirmations, account updates. No marketing consent required, no quiet-hours restriction, sends immediately.
Marketing SMS — promotional campaigns sent in bulk to a list of contacts: enrollment deadlines, open-house invites, referral campaigns. Requires explicit marketing opt-in and only sends between 8 AM and 9 PM in the contact's local timezone.
If a contact has opted out of marketing, you can still send them transactional messages. Their ability to receive important account communications is separate from their marketing preference.
How SMS Marketing and the Inbox work together
SMS Marketing and the Inbox are not separate systems — they run on the same engine and share the same conversation history.
When you send a bulk campaign, each message creates a conversation thread. If a contact replies, their reply lands in your Inbox automatically — no setup required. Whoever is monitoring the Inbox can respond directly, and the full history (your campaign message + their reply + any follow-up) stays in one place.
This is the most important thing to know: someone needs to be watching the Inbox after a campaign goes out.
How SMS Marketing and Customer Journey AI relate
Customer Journey AI also sends SMS — transactional messages triggered by enrollment events and journey stages. If your school is running journeys, you may already be sending automated texts through that system.
SMS Marketing is different: it's event-based and one-off, not journey-based. It's the right tool when you want to send a message to a list of contacts right now or on a schedule, without building a full multi-step journey. Both tools use the same SMS engine and respect the same consent rules — they complement each other rather than overlap.
Who can use it
Role | What they can do |
School Admin / Institution Admin | Send bulk campaigns from the Contacts table; manage contact opt preferences |
Communications Administrator | Send bulk SMS campaigns |
Front-desk / enrollment staff | Monitor and reply to conversations in the Inbox |
Step 1: Collect consent
Before a contact can receive marketing SMS, they need to have opted in. Consent is captured in four ways:
Lead Capture form — add the SMS marketing opt-in checkbox to your form
Enrollment form — add the checkbox during the enrollment flow
Inbox contact creation — when creating a new contact from the Inbox, the SMS marketing opt-in checkbox is included
Manual entry by an admin — only when you have documented external consent (a signed form, a recorded verbal yes). Lumion will prompt you to confirm
Every consent change is logged with a timestamp, the source, and the user who made it. The full audit trail is visible on the contact's profile.
Step 2: Send a campaign
Go to Contacts
Filter or select the contacts you want to message. Contacts who have opted out are filtered automatically before sending
Click Send Bulk SMS
Choose Marketing as the message type
Write your message — keep it under 480 characters so it doesn't split into multiple billable segments
Use personalization variables if you want:
{{first_name}},{{last_name}},{{full_name}},{{institution_name}}Any URLs in your message are automatically converted to short tracked links — you'll see a note confirming this
Choose Send Now or Schedule. Marketing messages only send 8 AM–9 PM in the contact's local timezone — anything outside that window is automatically deferred to the next allowed time
Confirm and send
The required "Reply STOP to opt out" footer is appended automatically. It cannot be removed.
Step 3: Monitor and manage
Scheduled campaigns can be viewed and cancelled from the Automations area before they send
Delivery status for each message shows in the conversation thread: Pending, Sent, Delivered, Bounced, Failed
Replies from contacts land in the Inbox automatically — make sure someone is watching it
Opt-outs update in real time on each contact's profile
Campaign templates
Lumion includes pre-built campaign templates to help you get started quickly. Templates are available for common use cases like enrollment deadlines, open house invites, lead re-engagement, and referral campaigns. Select a template when composing your campaign and customize from there.
Opt-out keywords
Contacts can manage their own preferences by texting any of these keywords:
Keyword | Effect |
STOP PROMO | Opts out of marketing only. Still receives transactional. |
START PROMO | Re-opts in to marketing. |
STOP | Carrier-level opt-out from all messages — marketing and transactional. |
START | Re-enables all messages at the carrier level. |
When a contact texts STOP PROMO, the system sends a confirmation reply, updates their consent record, and writes a system note into their conversation thread so you have a visible audit trail.
Important: STOP is handled at the carrier level by Twilio — Lumion cannot override it. If a contact texts STOP, they must text START themselves to re-enable any messages.
What you can't do
Send marketing messages to contacts who haven't opted in
Send marketing messages outside 8 AM–9 PM local time
Remove or modify the "Reply STOP to opt out" footer
Send MMS (picture messages) — SMS Marketing is text-only
Schedule recurring campaigns — each campaign is created individually
FAQ
Can I send marketing messages to contacts who haven't opted in?
No. The system filters opted-out contacts automatically before the send goes out.
What happens if someone texts STOP instead of STOP PROMO?
STOP is handled at the carrier level and opts them out of every message — marketing and transactional. They'd need to text START to re-enable anything. Lumion cannot force-send to a contact who has texted STOP.
Can I send marketing messages at any time?
No. TCPA quiet hours apply: 8 AM–9 PM in the contact's local timezone. If you schedule outside that window, the system defers the send to the next compliant time automatically — it's not a failure, just a delay.
A contact says they opted out but they're still getting messages.
Check whether the messages are transactional (payment reminders, account updates). Those send regardless of marketing opt-out, by design. Only marketing messages are blocked by a STOP PROMO opt-out.
How do contacts opt back in?
They text START PROMO (if they used STOP PROMO) or START (if they used STOP). You can also manually update their consent from the contact profile if you have documented external consent.
Is there a character limit?
Yes — 480 characters. Beyond that the message splits into multiple billable segments, so stay under 480.
What personalization variables are available?
{{first_name}}, {{last_name}}, {{full_name}}, {{institution_name}}.
What happens to links in my message?
Any URLs are automatically converted to short tracked links (lumion.link) before sending. This improves deliverability and lets you see click activity. You'll see a note confirming this in the composer.
Can I customize the "Reply STOP to opt out" footer?
No — it's standardized for compliance and cannot be modified or removed.
Do I need Customer Journey AI to use SMS Marketing?
No. SMS Marketing is a standalone feature. Customer Journey AI also sends SMS as part of journey automations, but SMS Marketing is the right tool for one-off or scheduled bulk sends to a list, without building a journey.
Troubleshooting
Issue | What's happening | Fix |
Message not delivered | Carrier-level block or the contact texted STOP | Check delivery status; contact may need to text START |
Can't schedule for the time I want | Outside 8 AM–9 PM local time | Pick a time inside the quiet-hours window, or the system will defer automatically |
Contact gets transactional but not marketing | They opted out with STOP PROMO | Expected behavior — they text START PROMO to resume |
Consent shows "Not Set" | No opt-in interaction yet | Collect consent via form or update manually with documented external consent |
Replies aren't showing up | Inbox isn't being monitored | Replies to campaigns land in the Inbox — assign someone to watch it |
Related articles
Email Marketing: Getting Started — SMS and Email Marketing share the same consent model and Inbox. You can't fully use one without the other.
Lumion Inbox: Getting Started