Sending Notifications

Overview

The Notifications page lets you send messages to your attendees across three channels — push notifications, SMS/RCS, and email — from a single compose interface. You can schedule messages in advance, target specific groups, or send an emergency broadcast immediately.

Finding the Notifications Page

From your event dashboard, go to Communicate › Notifications. The page shows three sections: a coverage stats bar, your scheduled notification queue, and your sent history.

Coverage Stats

The stats bar at the top shows:

• SMS-reachable — confirmed attendees with a phone number who have not opted out
• Email (all) — all confirmed attendees (everyone has an email)
• SMS opted-out — attendees who replied STOP to a previous SMS

Scheduling a Notification

1. Click Schedule Notification.
2. Enter an internal label (only visible to you) and your message. Keep it under 160 characters — the SMS limit.
3. Select one or more channels: Push, SMS/RCS, or Email. Each attendee receives the message on their best available channel — not all three.
4. Choose your recipients: all confirmed attendees, by ticket tier, by session, by check-in status, by registration status, or by role (volunteers or speakers).
5. Set a send time. Choose Scheduled for a fixed date and time, or Event-relative to set a number of days and hours before your event starts (e.g. “1 day 2 hours before event start”).
6. The Est. reach row shows how many attendees will receive each channel before you send.
7. Click Schedule. The notification appears in your queue.

Channel Priority

When multiple channels are selected, each attendee receives the message on their best available channel only:

1. Push — sent if the attendee has the CompleteEvent app installed
2. SMS/RCS — sent if the attendee has a phone number on file and has not opted out
3. Email — sent to all remaining attendees

Selecting all three channels maximizes reach without sending duplicate messages.

Emergency Send

Click Emergency Send to send a notification immediately without scheduling it. Emergency sends bypass the 3 SMS/day limit with a warning showing how many attendees are already at the cap. Use this for time-sensitive updates only — schedule planned communications in advance.

Cancelling a Scheduled Notification

In the Scheduled queue, click Cancel next to any notification to remove it. Cancelled notifications appear in the Sent history with a Cancelled status.

SMS and RCS Setup

SMS and RCS require a Twilio account and a Pro plan. CompleteEvent sends via the Twilio Messaging Service, which automatically upgrades messages to RCS on supported Android devices and carriers, and falls back to SMS for everyone else.

To enable SMS, you need the following environment variables configured by your administrator:

• TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID
• TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN
• TWILIO_MESSAGING_SERVICE_SID (preferred — enables RCS) or TWILIO_FROM_NUMBER (SMS only)

SMS Rate Limits

To comply with carrier regulations, CompleteEvent sends at most 3 SMS messages per attendee per calendar day. Emergency sends bypass this limit with a warning. The daily count resets at midnight UTC.

SMS Opt-Out

Attendees can reply STOP to any SMS to opt out of future messages. CompleteEvent automatically records the opt-out and excludes that attendee from future SMS sends. Opted-out attendees still receive push and email notifications if those channels are selected.

Collecting Phone Numbers

Phone numbers are collected at registration only if the phone field is enabled for your event. Go to Registration › Form Fields to enable it. We recommend marking it as optional — requiring a phone number may reduce registrations.

SMS Costs

CompleteEvent does not charge separately for SMS. You pay Twilio directly at their standard outbound SMS rates. Approximate costs per message:

Always verify current rates in the Twilio pricing calculator before sending to a new region.