SMS Overview
The SMS add-on lets your store send text messages to customers: "Your order is ready", "Your table is booked for 7 PM", "Don't forget your appointment tomorrow". Texts reach customers who are not looking at email, so they are good for time-sensitive updates.
What this covers
How it works. (1) Turn on the SMS add-on. (2) Keep credit in your Wallet. (3) When something happens, Fuze sends the matching text. (4) Each text spends points.
You pay only for messages that go out. If a text cannot be sent, for example the customer opted out, you are not charged. There is no monthly bundle: it is pure pay-as-you-go.
What sending costs. One point per segment, and one point costs ₱1. A 160-character text with the basic alphabet is 1 segment, and a longer one is split (153 characters per part). Any other character, such as an emoji, switches to 70 characters (67 per part when split). The points are held before the text is sent and charged at the provider's own count, so a text can end up costing a point more than estimated.
What you can send. Orders (created, pending, on hold, processing, ready, shipped, completed, closed), events (scheduled, rescheduled, checked in, in progress, completed, cancelled, and reminders), refunds (completed), and the waiting list (joined, called). Each store also has a free-form Test send.
Settings and test send. Open Configurations → SMS → Settings.
- Turn on Enable SMS dispatch. When this master switch is off, no SMS goes out, even with the add-on and points.
- Optionally set a Sender ID of up to 16 characters. Blank uses the platform default, FuzeStore.
- Save.
- Under Send a test SMS, enter your number and a message of up to 480 characters and send. It costs points, and you can send five a minute. With no points it is refused before sending.
The SMS hub holds the pieces:
| Section | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Settings | Turn SMS on, set your sender name, and send a test. |
| Message templates | The exact wording of each message. See Message Templates. |
| Automation | Which messages send automatically, and reminder timing. See Automation. |
| Suppression list | Numbers that will not be texted. See Suppression List. |
| Message history | Every text and its status. See Message History. |
Top-ups and receipts live on the separate Wallet screen, and the hub links there.
Default texts sign off with your store name, for example "Your order #1042 is ready for pickup. – Acme Cafe".
If a text does not arrive
- The wallet is empty. A send needs at least one point. Top up. See Topping Up.
- The number opted out. It is skipped and you are not charged.
- The message was not set to auto-send. Check Automation.
- The customer has no mobile number on file. Add one to their record.
- The number is not a valid mobile number. Landlines and malformed numbers are rejected before sending.
Common errors: an empty Wallet, an invalid phone, an opted-out number, or the master switch off.
Works with
| Add-on or plan | What changes |
|---|---|
| SMS Notifications add-on | Required. Free, and included in the free trial. |
| Wallet | Texts spend points. See Wallet Overview. |
| Waiting List add-on | The "you're in the queue" and "your table is ready" texts. The join text is controlled by Auto-send SMS on join on the Order tab of Preferences, not here. |
| Organization add-on | A branch sends from the organization's shared wallet. See Organization Wallet & SMS. |
| Events (Starter and up) | Booking confirmations and reminders. |
Guides in this section
Related guides
Edge cases
- Sending never stops your work. A text that cannot go out never stops the order, booking, or queue change that caused it.
- Early release. While payments are paused, points, top-ups, history, and reconciliation are hidden and your balance is zero. You can still set up settings, templates, automation, and the opt-out list.
- Automatic texts need three things. The add-on is on, sending is on, and the update is ticked in Automation. By default no text goes out on its own. Staff can still send by hand with Notify or Send SMS.
- The same update to the same number is sent once. Sending it again does nothing and says nothing.
- An order created already completed sends only the order-created text, never the completed one.
- Opted out numbers. A number on the suppression list is refused, with no record kept.
- A failed text is not refunded once the provider accepted it, but points are held back if the provider refuses it.
- The low-balance email settings on this screen are read only for old store-level wallets. Current stores use the default level of 100 points, and the threshold is in points though the field says pesos.
- Reminders. Default reminder times are never used. Reminders go out only once reminder times are picked in Automation.