Configure Membership Notifications

Membership notifications provide an effective way to keep your clients informed about the status of their memberships. This article will walk you through the process of setting up automated notifications to ensure your clients receive timely updates regarding their memberships.

Things to know:

• The ability to configure membership notifications is governed by the "Accessing Automated Messages" access control setting.
• There are nine customizable templates available for membership notifications
• Membership notifications can be configured to be received via text and email
• You can set the notification to be sent a specific number of hours, days, weeks, or months before the membership expires. By default, it is set to 1 day before expiration.
• Activating membership automated message templates ensures clients receive notifications about their memberships
• Notification Requirements
  • SMS Notifications: Clients must have a valid phone number on file and be single-opted in to receive transactional SMS.
  • Email Notifications: Clients must have a valid email address on file and be opted in to receive transactional emails.
• SMS Segment Calculation & Billing

  • SMS costs are calculated per segment, not per message. Carriers treat each segment as a separate message for delivery and billing, so every segment is counted and charged individually. This billing method is determined by carriers and is not specific to MyTime.

  • Segments per message are based on length and encoding

  • Encoding Standards 

    • GSM Encoding:

      • GSM-encoded messages (standard letters, numbers, and symbols) allow up to 160 characters per segment. 

      • If the message is longer than 160 characters, it will be split into concatenated segments of 153 characters each.

    • UCS-2 Encoding:

      • UCS-2 messages (special characters, emojis, or non-Latin alphabets) allow up to 70 characters per segment. 

      • If the message is longer than 70 characters, it will be split into concatenated segments of 67 characters each.
        

      • Even a single emoji forces UCS-2 encoding, reducing per-segment capacity and potentially doubling the number of segments.

    • Note: Concatenation headers are hidden data that let the recipient’s phone reassemble multiple segments into a single message.

  • Each recipient receives their own copy, so the number of segments per message is multiplied by the number of recipients to calculate billing. Example: A 2-segment message sent to 50 recipients counts as 100 billable segments. If each segment costs $0.02, the total cost would be 100 × $0.02 = $2.00.

  • Learn more about SMS segments & billing here
• Any staff member with the "Receive operations alerts email" checkbox checked  along with the client will receive membership payment failure notifications 

Contents

• Membership Automated Message Templates
• Configuring Notification for MembershipsNotification sent to clients

Membership Automated Message Templates

Configuring Notification for Memberships

1. Go to Marketing > Automated Messages

2. Navigate to the "Membership" section 

3. Hover over one of the notification statuses to see the options to 'View' or 'Activate' the template

4. Select the 'View' option

From here, you can set your preferences and edit the template:

• Delivery by: You can specify a fallback delivery method (email or SMS) when the primary method is unavailable.
  • Use if available: This is the primary method that will be attempted first
  • Use if other methods not available: This method will be attempted if the primary option is unavailable (because contact information is not on file or the user opted out)
  • Never Use: This method will not be used, even if none of the other options are available
    
  • Delivery methods configured before February 3, 2025 (when fallback delivery methods were introduced) will have the following default selections:
  • For enabled delivery methods, the 'Use if available' option will be selected.
  • For disabled delivery methods, the 'Use if others are not available' option will be selected
• Reply-to-Name: This is the name that appears when clients reply to an automated email. By default, it is pulled from the business name set on the Business Profile page.
• Reply -to-Email: By default, this is set to the location's email address.
  • If no email is configured for the location, the system will use the location owner's email instead.
  • If the hidden setting "Use a specific reply-to email for outbound emails" is enabled, the system will use the email address entered in the "Reply-To Email for Outbound Emails" field.
• Email Subject: The subject line of the email as it will appear in the client’s inbox.
• Add Directions: You can add directions for each of your locations. They will be featured in clients' appointment-related emails 
•  Add Service-specific instructions : You can add instructions for each of your services. They will be featured in clients' appointment-related emails and SMS
• Body of the template: This is the content of the email that will be sent to your clients. You can customize the message, include dynamic fields, and apply styling as needed.

5. Select the "Save" option at the bottom of the screen

Notification sent to clients

Email

Text Message

For more information, contact us at support@mytime.com.         

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