We have expanded our SMS capabilities to now include replies! This will send reminders that are sent to volunteers that have been rostered for an activity and allow them to reply with either Y or N to confirm their attendance. The SMS will be sent to each rostered Volunteer 24-48 hours before the activity begins, letting them know that they are on the roster, with a link for them to check out the particulars in Volaby. Once they reply, this will be shown in the roster so you can see who has replied Yes, No or hasn't responded yet.

So, what does this look like from the perspective of Managers and Admins setting rosters? For each roster created, you will receive a notification within Volaby underneath the date of the activity showing that the rostered volunteers will receive a message:

You will also see an icon next to each volunteer who is on the roster providing an indication of their response. Confirmed will show a green tick, Declined will show a red X, and those that haven't responded will keep a grey question mark. In the event someone has responded that they are going to attend but have since been removed from the roster, we also have a grey tick to let you know that this has happened.

The best use case for the SMS reminders is for those rosters that are created at least a week ahead of time, ensuring that volunteers don't forget their attendance. The SMS will go out 24-48 hours ahead of the activity at 4pm in whichever time zone you happen to be in.

Please note that SMS will go out to Australian and New Zealand mobile numbers only at this stage.

Let's now take a look at the message a volunteer receives:

Volunteers will get the benefit of the reminder, the option to reply as well as a link to go into Volaby to ensure they have the most up to date information about the activity.

If volunteers do not wish to receive SMS reminders for their activities, they can reply 'STOP' to the SMS and will no longer receive SMS notifications.

What do I have to do to enable this?

The answer is nothing at all! Just sit tight and the functionality will appear as part of creating rosters for your activities. No settings to change or additional steps from the perspective of volunteers and managers.

When do volunteers receive emails and SMS about rosters?

As soon as you publish a roster, an email will be triggered and a confirmation sent via email to the volunteer, regardless of how far away the activity is in the future. The SMS text message will be sent 24-48 hours prior to the activity taking place to remind them.