SMS Reminders

Overview

SMS reminders send text messages to attendees who provided a phone number at registration. Scheduled reminders go out 3 days before, 1 day before, and the morning of the event. You can also send a custom SMS blast at any time. Requires a Twilio account and is available on Pro plans.

Setting Up Twilio

CompleteEvent sends SMS via the Twilio REST API. You'll need a Twilio account with a phone number that can send SMS.

1. Create a Twilio account at twilio.com and purchase an SMS-capable phone number.
2. From your Twilio console, copy your Account SID and Auth Token.
3. Set these environment variables in your CompleteEvent deployment:
   • TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID
   • TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN
   • TWILIO_FROM_NUMBER — your Twilio phone number in E.164 format (e.g., +15551234567)
4. Once set, the SMS page in your event dashboard will show Twilio as configured.

Sending Scheduled Reminders

1. Open your event and go to Promote → SMS.
2. The page shows how many confirmed attendees have phone numbers on file and how many don't.
3. Under Scheduled Reminders, click Send now next to any reminder type (3-day, 1-day, or morning-of) to send it immediately to all attendees with phone numbers who haven't already received that reminder.

Each reminder type is sent at most once per attendee per event — re-clicking Send now will not send duplicates.

Sending a Custom SMS Blast

1. In the Custom SMS section, type your message. The character counter shows remaining characters (160-character standard SMS limit).
2. The preview shows exactly how the message will appear on recipients' phones.
3. Click Send to N attendees. The message is sent to all confirmed attendees with phone numbers.

Custom blasts are not deduplicated — sending the same message twice will send it twice. Use the SMS history table to track what has been sent.

SMS History

The bottom of the SMS page shows a history of all messages sent for this event, grouped by type and send time. Columns include: message type, sent at, recipient count, and delivery status.

Phone Number Collection

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 — making it required may reduce registrations.

SMS Costs — What You Pay Twilio

CompleteEvent does not charge separately for SMS. You pay Twilio directly, billed to your Twilio account, at Twilio’s standard outbound SMS rates. Rates vary by destination country. Approximate costs for common regions (outbound, per message):

These figures are approximations based on Twilio’s published pricing. Always verify current rates in the Twilio pricing calculator before sending to a new region.

Example: Sending a 1-day reminder to 200 US attendees costs roughly $1.60 in Twilio charges. The same blast to 200 UK attendees costs roughly $8.00.

Geographic Availability

Twilio SMS is available in most countries, including the US, Canada, UK, most of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Latin America. Coverage is limited or unavailable in parts of Asia and some African countries. Delivery to numbers in unsupported regions will fail silently — Twilio will log an error but no retry is attempted.

If your event has significant international attendance, check Twilio’s country availability guide before enabling SMS reminders. You can also run a small test blast to a sample list before sending to your full attendee list.

Carrier and Delivery Limits

Delivery rates vary by carrier and country. Twilio handles carrier routing but cannot guarantee delivery to all numbers. Messages over 160 characters are split into multiple segments and billed per segment — keep your messages short to control costs.