SMS credits and your sender name
Buy SMS credits, switch on welcome texts, and get your church's own sender name.
Buy credits
- 1Go to Communications and choose the credits · Buy button at the top (or Buy more credits when you run low).
- 2Under Buy SMS credits, pick a bundle (GH₵50, 100, 200, 500, 1,000 or 2,500), or use Buy any amount: type the credits you want, or the money you want to spend, and the other box fills in. The standard price is GH₵100 for 1,500 credits (for example 750 credits for GH₵50), and every credit costs the same, so any amount is simply credits times the price. The smallest purchase is 100 credits.
- 3Pay securely with Mobile Money or card through Paystack. Credits are added straight away and never expire.
Your SMS credit balance is shown at the top. You'll be warned when it runs low. The Credit history below lists every top-up (with what you paid), gift and sending, 12 at a time, and you can filter it by Top-ups, Gifts or Messages sent.
Automatic welcome texts
- Welcome SMS on registration: texts a warm welcome to members who register through your join link.
- Welcome SMS to visitors: texts visitors who fill in your visitor form.
Switch these on or off on the same credits page. Each uses 1 credit per message. A number gets the welcome text once a month at most, so the same person filling in a form twice isn't texted twice.
How many credits a text uses
- A text of up to 160 characters uses 1 credit per person. Longer texts use 1 credit for every 153 characters.
- An emoji or a letter outside the standard SMS alphabet switches the whole text to a mode that fits only 70 characters (67 per part when longer), so it uses more credits. Curly quotes and long dashes from phone keyboards are changed to plain ones for you, so they don't count.
- Credits are set aside before a send starts and anything that couldn't be delivered goes straight back to your balance. Two sends at the same time can never take you below zero.
Your church's sender name (sender ID)
By default, texts come from WorshipHQ's sender name with your church's name at the top. To have texts arrive from your own name instead:
- 1Go to Settings, then SMS Settings.
- 2Type your Sender ID: 3 to 11 letters and numbers with no spaces or symbols, e.g. GraceTemple.
- 3Choose Submit request. The status shows pending until it's approved, and you'll get an SMS when it is.
Only the Main Admin or an Admin can request a sender ID, and it needs the Max plan. On other plans, SMS Settings shows an upgrade prompt instead, and your texts go out with the name line you chose in Communications at the start. Every network has to approve a sender name, which can take a few weeks.
Long messages use more than one credit. Keep texts short to save credits.