Open Forum

Does anyone have a provider they use to send SMS reminders in the lead up to an event in CVENT? We've explored a few options, but wondering if any integrations are already built with outside vendors.

#Miscellaneous

------------------------------
Evan Ring
Marketing Manager
Dow Jones & Co., Inc
------------------------------

Wonder if CrowdCompass would suit your needs?

We don't use CrowdCompass so I created a workaround.
It is a little extra work.

On our registration we ask for mobile number and cellphone carrier.
We have an explanation that providing your carrier we will send a few texts.

I use 2 additional contact fields.
1) Carrier (text)
2) SMS (hidden) (email)

I export all attendees to excel.
For the SMS field I create a calculation in excel.

cellphone & "@vtext.com"  (Verizon)
Takes some cleaning up.
Then import back into my contact records.

The SMS field becomes a Cc:.
Two downsides though, but I feel the upside outweighs the downside.

1) This only works with invitees. Not guests.
2) They will get 2 emails. So they need to be short and sweet.

Overall it has gone over very positively,
My attendees have told me they are not checking email, but they do look at texts.

I've been very careful not to overuse it.






------------------------------
Steven Schlossman
Jack of all trades. Master of none.
BMW Car Club of America
------------------------------

Thanks for the response @Steven Schlossman!

I'm following until the point of you actually sending the text message. If you arrange the contact field to read - 5555555555@vtext.com and then send an email via CVENT to that address it will arrive on that cell phone as a text message?
​

------------------------------
Evan Ring
Marketing Manager
Dow Jones & Co., Inc
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 06-26-2019 17:22
From: Steven Schlossman
Subject: SMS Reminders

Wonder if CrowdCompass would suit your needs?

We don't use CrowdCompass so I created a workaround.
It is a little extra work.

On our registration we ask for mobile number and cellphone carrier.
We have an explanation that providing your carrier we will send a few texts.

I use 2 additional contact fields.
1) Carrier (text)
2) SMS (hidden) (email)

I export all attendees to excel.
For the SMS field I create a calculation in excel.

cellphone & "@vtext.com"  (Verizon)
Takes some cleaning up.
Then import back into my contact records.

The SMS field becomes a Cc:.
Two downsides though, but I feel the upside outweighs the downside.

1) This only works with invitees. Not guests.
2) They will get 2 emails. So they need to be short and sweet.

Overall it has gone over very positively,
My attendees have told me they are not checking email, but they do look at texts.

I've been very careful not to overuse it.






------------------------------
Steven Schlossman
Jack of all trades. Master of none.
BMW Car Club of America
------------------------------

>I'm following until the point of you actually sending the text message. If you arrange the contact field to read - 5555555555@vtext.com and then send an email via CVENT to that address it will arrive on that cell phone as a text message?<

Exactly. The attendee will get 2 emails. The primary email address and Cc: being the SMS email address.
It's not the most elegant way of doing it, but it works. Not easy to keep it down to 160 characters including subject,

I'm not that concerned that I am not sending the text to guests since guests are usually family members who are together anyway.

The best solution would be CrowdCompass. CrowdCompass has been a hard sell for me to make to our organization since we already have an event app. Albeit, not very good. We can't push out notifications.

------------------------------
Steven Schlossman
Jack of all trades. Master of none.
BMW Car Club of America
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 06-27-2019 14:34
From: Evan Ring
Subject: SMS Reminders

Thanks for the response @Steven Schlossman!

I'm following until the point of you actually sending the text message. If you arrange the contact field to read - 5555555555@vtext.com and then send an email via CVENT to that address it will arrive on that cell phone as a text message?
​

------------------------------
Evan Ring
Marketing Manager
Dow Jones & Co., Inc
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 06-26-2019 17:22
From: Steven Schlossman
Subject: SMS Reminders

Wonder if CrowdCompass would suit your needs?

We don't use CrowdCompass so I created a workaround.
It is a little extra work.

On our registration we ask for mobile number and cellphone carrier.
We have an explanation that providing your carrier we will send a few texts.

I use 2 additional contact fields.
1) Carrier (text)
2) SMS (hidden) (email)

I export all attendees to excel.
For the SMS field I create a calculation in excel.

cellphone & "@vtext.com"  (Verizon)
Takes some cleaning up.
Then import back into my contact records.

The SMS field becomes a Cc:.
Two downsides though, but I feel the upside outweighs the downside.

1) This only works with invitees. Not guests.
2) They will get 2 emails. So they need to be short and sweet.

Overall it has gone over very positively,
My attendees have told me they are not checking email, but they do look at texts.

I've been very careful not to overuse it.






------------------------------
Steven Schlossman
Jack of all trades. Master of none.
BMW Car Club of America

Hi Steven,
Does this work for international attendees with international phone numbers? Where do you find all of the different carriers email address for texting? Have you tried it for guests who are added to the address book? Or is it you can't copy other email addresses for guest emails?

Thanks.

------------------------------
Jill Campbell
Cvent Specialist
Chubb INA Holdings IncUnited States
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 06-26-2019 17:22
From: Steven Schlossman
Subject: SMS Reminders

Wonder if CrowdCompass would suit your needs?

We don't use CrowdCompass so I created a workaround.
It is a little extra work.

On our registration we ask for mobile number and cellphone carrier.
We have an explanation that providing your carrier we will send a few texts.

I use 2 additional contact fields.
1) Carrier (text)
2) SMS (hidden) (email)

I export all attendees to excel.
For the SMS field I create a calculation in excel.

cellphone & "@vtext.com"  (Verizon)
Takes some cleaning up.
Then import back into my contact records.

The SMS field becomes a Cc:.
Two downsides though, but I feel the upside outweighs the downside.

1) This only works with invitees. Not guests.
2) They will get 2 emails. So they need to be short and sweet.

Overall it has gone over very positively,
My attendees have told me they are not checking email, but they do look at texts.

I've been very careful not to overuse it.






------------------------------
Steven Schlossman
Jack of all trades. Master of none.
BMW Car Club of America
------------------------------

Jill, I don't know if it works with international. I would think it would as long as you are using using the country code.

Guest emails don't include a Cc: email field.

You can google  Send text messages using email
Here is one list.
https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/how-to-send-a-text-from-your-email-account/

------------------------------
Steven Schlossman
Jack of all trades. Master of none.
BMW Car Club of America
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 06-27-2022 10:38
From: Jill Campbell
Subject: SMS Reminders

Hi Steven,
Does this work for international attendees with international phone numbers? Where do you find all of the different carriers email address for texting? Have you tried it for guests who are added to the address book? Or is it you can't copy other email addresses for guest emails?

Thanks.

------------------------------
Jill Campbell
Cvent Specialist
Chubb INA Holdings IncUnited States
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 06-26-2019 17:22
From: Steven Schlossman
Subject: SMS Reminders

Wonder if CrowdCompass would suit your needs?

We don't use CrowdCompass so I created a workaround.
It is a little extra work.

On our registration we ask for mobile number and cellphone carrier.
We have an explanation that providing your carrier we will send a few texts.

I use 2 additional contact fields.
1) Carrier (text)
2) SMS (hidden) (email)

I export all attendees to excel.
For the SMS field I create a calculation in excel.

cellphone & "@vtext.com"  (Verizon)
Takes some cleaning up.
Then import back into my contact records.

The SMS field becomes a Cc:.
Two downsides though, but I feel the upside outweighs the downside.

1) This only works with invitees. Not guests.
2) They will get 2 emails. So they need to be short and sweet.

Overall it has gone over very positively,
My attendees have told me they are not checking email, but they do look at texts.

I've been very careful not to overuse it.






------------------------------
Steven Schlossman
Jack of all trades. Master of none.
BMW Car Club of America

Hi Jill,

Another option you could look into is the integration that Cvent has available with EVENText by GivBee. Please visit this page for more information https://marketplace.cvent.com/en-US/apps/366336/eventext-by-givbee.

------------------------------
Megan Clark
Assistant Team Lead, Online Community Marketing
Cvent
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 06-27-2022 10:38
From: Jill Campbell
Subject: SMS Reminders

Hi Steven,
Does this work for international attendees with international phone numbers? Where do you find all of the different carriers email address for texting? Have you tried it for guests who are added to the address book? Or is it you can't copy other email addresses for guest emails?

Thanks.

------------------------------
Jill Campbell
Cvent Specialist
Chubb INA Holdings IncUnited States
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 06-26-2019 17:22
From: Steven Schlossman
Subject: SMS Reminders

Wonder if CrowdCompass would suit your needs?

We don't use CrowdCompass so I created a workaround.
It is a little extra work.

On our registration we ask for mobile number and cellphone carrier.
We have an explanation that providing your carrier we will send a few texts.

I use 2 additional contact fields.
1) Carrier (text)
2) SMS (hidden) (email)

I export all attendees to excel.
For the SMS field I create a calculation in excel.

cellphone & "@vtext.com"  (Verizon)
Takes some cleaning up.
Then import back into my contact records.

The SMS field becomes a Cc:.
Two downsides though, but I feel the upside outweighs the downside.

1) This only works with invitees. Not guests.
2) They will get 2 emails. So they need to be short and sweet.

Overall it has gone over very positively,
My attendees have told me they are not checking email, but they do look at texts.

I've been very careful not to overuse it.






------------------------------
Steven Schlossman
Jack of all trades. Master of none.
BMW Car Club of America

I would recommend Crowd Compass as well, since you can send push notifications that appear on attendees' screens - not an SMS, but a pop-up notification nonetheless. Using this would require attendees to be registered and have the event app downloaded in order to receive the notifications.

If that isn't what you are looking for, then a chatbot platform would work. We use MobileCoach (Mobile Coach | Enterprise Chatbot Authoring Platform) for SMS messaging.

------------------------------
Bouran Qaddumi
Training & Development
Cajun Operating Company d/b/a Church's Chicken
------------------------------

If you're looking for SMS reminders before an event in Cvent, it's worth checking whether your SMS provider offers API-based integration or supports middleware platforms like Zapier or Make if a native integration isn't available. Many organizations automate reminder messages by connecting event registration data with their messaging platform.

When evaluating an SMS Gateway Solution, I'd focus on features like reliable message delivery, scheduling, API integration, delivery reports, and support for high-volume messaging. Those capabilities make it much easier to send timely event reminders and reduce no-shows.

I'd also be interested to hear if anyone has implemented a direct Cvent integration with their SMS provider and how well it has worked in production.

------------------------------
Jayeeta Bhadra
SalesforceGenericAccountUnited States
------------------------------