Text everyone your small organization needs to reach
Staff, members, volunteers, customers. You write the message once, choose who gets it, and send. Replies come back to one inbox your whole team can see.
How do small organizations use texting?
Whether you call it SMS marketing or mass texting, most small businesses and small organizations use it for the same five things: telling everyone something at once, filling open shifts, reminding people about appointments, saying you're closed, and asking a quick question. Text-Em-All is a mass texting service that 16,000+ organizations have sent with. You send one message to your whole list, and replies come back to an inbox your team shares.
Five things small organizations send by text
Pick the one that brought you here. Each card goes to a page on what it looks like in practice.
Announcements
A new schedule, a change of venue, a reminder that dues are due. One message to your whole list instead of an afternoon of phone calls.
Announcements by textOpen shifts
Text the open shift to everyone who could take it. When organizations send shift texts through us, the first reply saying "yes" comes back in 8 minutes at the median.
Filling shifts by textReminders
Remind people the day before an appointment, a class or a pickup, and let them reply if they need to change it.
Reminders by textClosings and delays
Snow, a power cut, a burst pipe. Tell everyone before they get in the car, and send it as a phone call too for the people who don't read texts.
Closing alerts by textSurveys
Ask one question, and people answer by text. Half of first replies to a text broadcast arrive within 18 minutes, so you know by lunch what people think.
Surveys by textMarczyk Fine Foods went from one pie order to 36 in a day and a half
Going into the Fourth of July, before Marczyk Fine Foods sent anything.
36 hours after they texted their customers about the pies.
“We're a smaller organization, and it really helped add a lot of traffic, which was great.”
Before you send your first text
Get consent first
Before you text someone, they need to have agreed to get texts from you, and the rules are stricter for promotions than for everyday notices. Anyone can reply STOP, and on broadcasts to 100 people or more, 84.3% draw no opt-outs at all.
Register with the carriers once
Every organization that sends texts in the US registers with the carriers. We cover the fee and walk you through the form. The carriers approve most registrations in 1 to 2 business days, so if you're planning to start sending around a certain date, leave room.
For more on what the carriers ask for and what counts as consent, visit our texting compliance page.
Read next
What a year of texting would cost you
What you pay for, what drives the bill up, and what a year actually costs for three list sizes.
What mass texting costsToday's prices for credits and monthly plans
We offer two plans: credits from 9¢ and monthly from $19. Use our pricing calculator to see what texting would cost for you.
See the pricesTexting platforms compared, for a small shop
If you're choosing between vendors, this guide lines them up side by side.
The platform comparisonEverything else texting can do
Our overview: sending to a list, two-way replies, voice calls, and where to start.
The texting overviewWhat do small organizations ask before they start?
Is this the same thing as SMS marketing?
It's the same technology. What changes is what you send. Most small organizations text about schedules, shifts, reminders and closings far more than they text about sales, and a mass texting service handles both.
Can I send sales and promotions?
Yes, to people who've agreed to hear from you. Expect more opt-outs than on other messages: on sends to 100 people or more, 54% of sales and discount texts draw no opt-outs, against 97% of texts asking someone to take a shift. We sort messages into kinds by reading them, not by anything the sender picked.
How much does it cost?
Credits start at 9¢, and monthly plans start at $19. One credit sends one text of up to 160 characters, or one 30-second voice message, to one person. What mass texting costs works out a year for three list sizes.
How soon can I send my first text?
Setting up the account takes about two minutes. Texts go out once the carriers approve your registration, and they approve most in 1 to 2 business days. Voice calls don't need registration, so you can send those the day you sign up.
Can people text back?
Yes. Replies come to a shared inbox, and everyone on your account sees both sides of every conversation, so anyone can follow up and nobody texts the same person twice.
Will my texts get through?
The carriers accept 95% or more of the texts we send. That's the measure the whole industry uses, because no texting service can confirm that someone opened a message on their phone.
Can I send a phone call instead of a text?
Yes, or both on the same send. A recorded message of up to 30 seconds uses one credit, the same as a text, and it reaches the people who never read their texts.
Is there a contract?
No. You buy credits when you want them, and you can leave a monthly plan. Nothing needs a year's commitment or a sales call to get out of.
Send the messages that matter
No contract and no sales call. Set up a free account, add your staff, members or customers, and send your first announcement, reminder or closing notice.
Nearly half the organizations sending with us have been here five years or more.