Request Text Message (Coming Soon)

Texting

Text Request Process (Coming Soon)

  1. Navigate to https://www.usu.edu/advancement/report-request
  2. Fill in personal info, and select “Communications List” under “Request Type”
  3. Select what type of communication you are planning (text)
  4. Select your text send date, referencing the calendar to ensure your send date doesn't conflict with another message. Text requests are a first come, first served basis. If you select a date that conflicts with a previous message, yours will be bumped.
  5. Purpose – What is the text you are sending: “Freshman Welcome Event Text Invite” or “Hunstman Networking Night Reminder Text” etc.
  6. Report Criteria: Who is the target audience of the message? For example, alumni living within 200 miles of Los Angeles, or people who have donated to the Piano program, etc.) Try to specify what types of individuals you want to receive the text (i.e. alumni, attenders, staff, parents, friends, donors, etc.)
  7. Indicate whether you are sending through our system or on your own
    1. Those sending on their own will need approval from the AVP of Advancement Services before sending.
  8. Indicate if the communication is a solicitation
    1. If so, enter the date range of the solicitation campaign
  9. Indicate if the communication is for an event
    1. If so, fill out the event information fields
  10. Indicate whether the report needs to automatically refresh (such as with a regular newsletter)
    1. This means that once the text gets sent and gets marked as completed in our queue, a duplicate task is made and scheduled for the equivalent date of the next period. For example: If a monthly recurring text is scheduled to be sent on the 15thof this month, once that message is completed, it is automatically duplicated in our queue and that new message is scheduled for the 15th of the next month (based off of the date the message was completed and sent). This continues each time the message is completed, scheduling the next iteration for the same day of the next month (or quarter, based on your request).
  11. Lastly, attach any relevant files such as partial lists or other relevant information.
    1. THIS IS NOT THE PLACE TO SUBMIT MESSAGE CONTENT LIKE GRAPHICS OR TEXT.
      1. Please see “Text Creation Process” for information about submitting message graphics, links, and text.
  12. After hitting submit, you should receive a confirmation email detailing your submission.

Text Creation Process

  1. After submitting your email request, you should receive 2 emails.
    1. Request Confirmation email from requests@usu.edu
    2. An email from Box inviting you to the content creation folder
      1. The link to this folder will also be in the Request Confirmation Email
  2. Finalize your message content
    1. Please finalize and get all message content approved by the necessary parties before submitting. Submitting partial or incomplete content will result in delayed messages. This is the part of the process where you should be getting approval from your department head or others to ensure that the text is delivered on time.
  3. To submit your final content, please upload it to the box folder associated with your request.
    1. Content includes body text, any graphics used, Outlines, links, etc.
    2. Please submit all images as separate high-quality image files.
    3. Each individual request gets a new box folder, even recurring texts.
  4. The deadline to submit content for your text is 2 business days before your chosen send date.
    1. You will receive a content reminder email from requests@usu.edu the day before your content is due (3 days before send date)
    2. If your content is not submitted on time, we cannot guarantee that your text will be sent on your requested date. It will be moved to the next available send date, which is not necessarily the next day, depending on the schedule
  5. Once the text has been built, you will receive a test message for your review. The Email & SMS Specialist will work with you should you have any changes that need to be made.
  6. Please try to respond in a timely manner to the test messages. The Email & SMS Specialist will NEVER send a message before getting your approval, so if you do not respond in time, your text will be delayed. We will always wait until you have approved the send.
  7. Once we have received your approval, we will match the text content up with the requested list and push the text to those recipients.
    1. The sending process sometimes is spread out over the course of several hours, depending on the size of the list.