Before you start
You need to be an admin who can manage the Event.
Your Event needs a start date and time.
Messages go to the person who bought the tickets. Someone who books for a group gets one message.
To send by SMS, your Organisation needs Two-way SMS (available in Australia and the United Kingdom) and enough SMS credit.
This feature is only available on paid plans.
Open the Communications tab
Click Events in the menu.
Click the Event you want to message about.
Click the Communications tab.
You'll see a list of this Event's messages, with the Event's dates at the top.
Schedule an email for a set date and time
Use this for reminders before the Event or thank-yous afterwards.
On the Communications tab, click Add message.
Under Send, choose At a set date and time.
Click Date and pick the day you want the message to go out.
Click Time and pick the time. Times are in your Organisation's time zone.
Check the note under the time. It tells you how the send time relates to your Event, for example "2 days before the event starts".
Under Channel, click Email. (If you don't see Channel, your Organisation doesn't have Two-way SMS, so all messages are sent by email.)
Click the Send to dropdown and choose who gets it:
All buyers: everyone who has bought tickets.
Checked in: buyers whose tickets were scanned at the door.
Not checked in: buyers whose tickets weren't scanned.
Or choose a ticket under By ticket type to send only to buyers of that ticket.
In Subject, type the email's subject line.
In Message, write your email.
(Optional) Choose a Signature to add to the end of the email.
Click Preview to see what buyers will receive. Close the preview when you're done.
Make sure the Enabled toggle is on.
Click Save.
You'll see "Message saved." and the message appears in the list with its send time and how many people it will go to.
Good to know: we work out who gets the message at the moment it sends, so anyone who buys tickets after you save it is still included.
Add details to the order confirmation email
Use this for information every buyer needs straight away, like parking, what to bring or the dress code.
On the Communications tab, click Add message.
Under Send, choose Add to order confirmation.
Click the Send to dropdown and choose:
Each buyer to include it in every order confirmation, or
a ticket under By ticket type to include it only when that ticket is bought.
In Message, write the extra details. There's no subject line, because your message goes inside the existing order confirmation email.
Click Preview to see it inside the order confirmation email.
Make sure the Enabled toggle is on.
Click Save.
From now on, your message is included in the order confirmation email for each new purchase.
Good to know: you can have one order confirmation message for every buyer, plus one for each ticket type. Order confirmation emails also include the Event's calendar details, so buyers can add it to their calendar.
Schedule an SMS
On the Communications tab, click Add message.
Under Send, choose At a set date and time, then pick the Date and Time.
Under Channel, click SMS. You'll only see Channel if your Organisation has Two-way SMS.
Click the Send to dropdown and choose who gets it.
In Message, type your text.
Check the counter under the message. It shows how many segments your message uses.
Check Estimated cost to see the total cost and your current balance. If you need more, click Add credit.
If some buyers have no mobile number, tick Email them the same message instead so they get it by email.
Make sure Enabled is on.
Click Save.
Good to know:
TidyHQ adds "Reply STOP to opt out" to every SMS. The first time you text someone, it also adds a line saying who's messaging them. Both count towards the length.
Curly quotes and dashes are changed to plain ones automatically. If you see a warning about other characters (like emoji), they'll make each segment shorter and the message more expensive.
Replies come to your SMS inbox.
If your balance is too low when the message is due, no SMS is sent and your admins get an alert. If you ticked Email them the same message instead, everyone gets the message by email instead.
Personalise an email with merge tags
Open a message, or click Add message and choose Email.
Look under the Message box for the list of Merge tags you can use.
Type a merge tag, including its double curly brackets, into the Subject or Message. For example:
Hi {{first_name}}, see you at {{event_name}}!Click Preview to check how it fills in.
Click Save.
Some useful tags:
{{first_name}}: the buyer's first name.{{event_name}},{{event_start_date}},{{event_start_time}}: the Event's name, start date and start time.{{event_location}}: the Event's full address.{{event_url}}: a link to the Event's public page.{{event_attendees}}: the names of everyone in the buyer's booking.{{ticket_name}}and{{ticket_attendees}}: the ticket's name and the names on that ticket. These only work when Send to is set to a ticket type.
Good to know: merge tags work in emails only, not SMS. To use a custom field as a merge tag, click Custom Field settings under the Message box to find its tag.
Insert a saved email snippet
Open an email message, or click Add message and choose Email.
Click where you want the snippet to go in Message.
Click the Insert snippet dropdown and choose a snippet.
Click Save.
The snippet is added at your cursor. If Subject is empty, the snippet's subject is filled in too.
Good to know: Insert snippet only appears if your Organisation has saved email snippets and you have access to Communicate. To create a snippet, go to Communicate.
Add an image to an email
You can usually paste an image straight into the message. It's saved to your storage automatically.
If that doesn't seem to work, or if you want to re-use an existing image:
Open an email message.
Click the image button in the Message toolbar.
In the Image Properties window, either:
click the Upload tab, choose a file, then click Send it to the Server, or
click Browse Server to reuse an image already in your Organisation's storage.
Click OK to add the image to your message.
Click Save.
Edit, duplicate or delete a message
On the Communications tab, click the message in the list.
Then:
To edit it, make your changes and click Save.
To reuse it, click Duplicate, change what you need (like the date), and click Save.
To pause it, turn off Enabled and click Save. It won't send until you turn it back on.
To delete it, click Delete, then click Delete message to confirm. This can't be undone.
Good to know: messages that have already been sent can't be edited or deleted.
See what was sent
On the Communications tab, click a message marked Sent.
Click View in Communicate to see the message alongside your other Organisation communications.
Each message in the list shows its status:
Sent: the message went out.
Skipped: nobody matched Send to when it was due.
Not sent: the message couldn't be delivered, for example because nobody had an email address or mobile number.
Try a Skipped or Not sent message again
Fix what stopped it (for example, top up your SMS credit or check your buyers' contact details).
Click the message in the list.
Change the Date or Time.
Click Save.
Troubleshooting
The Communications tab asks me to finish setting up the Event
Add a start date and time to the Event, then go back to the Communications tab.
I can't see the Channel option, so I can't send an SMS
Channel only appears when your Organisation has Two-way SMS with an active sending number. Without it, every message is sent by email. Two-way SMS is currently available in Australia and the United Kingdom.
"Add to order confirmation" isn't in the Send list
You've already added an order confirmation message for every buyer and for every ticket type. Click an existing one in the list to edit it instead.
The composer says "This time is in the past, so this message won't send"
Pick a Date and Time in the future, then click Save.
I get an error about a merge tag when I save
{{ticket_name}} and {{ticket_attendees}} only work when Send to is set to a ticket type. Choose a ticket under By ticket type, or remove those tags.
My message was marked Skipped
Nobody matched Send to at the send time. For example, Checked in is empty if no tickets were scanned at the door.
My SMS costs more than I expected
Emoji and some accented characters, including in your Organisation's name, shrink each SMS segment from 160 to 70 characters. Remove them to bring the cost down.