We have added the capability for races to do text messaging with their participants. This can be useful for emergency situations such as delaying the race due to lightning. This feature is not meant to be used for marketing purposes!
This option is available under the Notifications section, and must be authorized by RunSignup. One of the reasons this is important and we do not want to have this used for marketing is all races will be using the RunSignUp Short Code mechanism. And if a person decides to unsubscribe, then they are unsubscribing from all races who may wish to communicate results and important messages.
STEP 1: Email Info@RunSignup.com. Because of the potential to abuse the text messaging capabilities, all races looking to enable this feature must email our support team at info@runsignup.com.
STEP 2: Collect Cell Phone Numbers. To support text messaging, you will of course need to collect cell phone numbers. We have added Cell Number as a Standard Question that you will need to set up. You can access this standard question setup either from Race >> Registration >> Questions, or from Race >> Notifications >> Text Messaging (this option will appear once text messaging is enabled).
All you need to do is click the option highlighted on the screen shot below and you will see the question automatically appear as shown. You MUST use the Standard Question so we know what cell phone number to use from the database – DO NOT set up your own custom question for this.
STEP 3: Sending TXT Messages. This is relatively simple. When it’s time to send your notification, just return to Race >> Notifications >> Text Messaging. There, you can type up to 160 characters, pick the group of people you want to send to and click send. It may take a few minutes for all messages to send depending on your list size (we can send about 25 per second). Here is the user interface:
