Frequently asked questions

It’s simple - you tell us who you want to call or text and when you want the message to go out. You then record or type the message. When the time comes, we deliver the message. Of course, many of our messages are urgent and are sent immediately.

You can create a free trial with us by going here. Your free trial includes 25 free credits, and you have as long as you need to use them.

You can upload all your phone numbers at one time via a file (Excel, CSV, text), manually enter them one at a time, or you can copy and paste them from your clipboard.

You can also add contacts to your account's "Contacts" section. This feature is helpful if you have a group of contacts you will repeatedly be messaging.

It depends. For Credits accounts, you can send a message to as many contacts as you wish. For Monthly accounts, there are limits, but our support team will work with you to determine the best group size. 

If you're not sure which account type you should choose, you can reach out to our support team for assistance.

Yes! The average time between creating your account and sending your message is 5 minutes. Please note that you must choose a plan to send text messages, but you can send voice messages from your free account.

Our system will identify which of your numbers are landlines and which are cell phones. Keep in mind that you must have consent from individuals before contacting them.

We work with several of the largest companies in the country. We take pride in understanding our clients’ needs and ensuring that our service helps lead to success. We may assign a dedicated contact point, build custom solutions, or help design integrations via our API. We want to be a valued partner, not a vendor.

Our calling and text messaging services are only available for recipient phone numbers based in the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico. We only support messaging to International phone numbers for high-volume clients with custom enterprise solutions.

No. We've chosen to focus on our text and voice services.

Text messages are delivered from the unique text-enabled number for your account.

Absolutely! Contacts can respond to any of your text broadcasts. All incoming messages are free. You can use the Inbox section of your account to view and respond to replies. You can also use our native mobile app to manage responses.

No. For Pay-As-You-Go plans, the limit is 1,600 characters, and for monthly, the included limit is 320 characters. Monthly accounts can use up to 960 characters by using Enhanced Text Messaging. Monthly accounts cannot adjust their max character limit but Pay-As-You-Go accounts may want to restrict the length of text messages to save credits by sending shorter messages.

Learn how to restrict the length of your text messages.

Yes, you can set up text message auto-replies permanently or for a set amount of time. The feature is helpful for after-hours, unmonitored inboxes, and while you’re on vacation.

This feature is only for Pay-As-You-Go accounts.

Yes. You can add SMS keywords to your account that trigger a corresponding text message. Users may have unlimited keywords and have the ability to assign multiple text numbers to a specific SMS keyword.

This feature is only for Pay-As-You-Go accounts. 

Yes. Both Pay-As-You-Go and monthly accounts can send MMS messages. To send an MMS message as a monthly account, users will need to accept add-on charges.

No, because recipients need the option to opt out. If a contact is ever responding maliciously, please reach out to our support team, and they will help disable responses for that specific contact. 

No. Each reply will go straight to your Inbox and become a one-on-one conversation.

No. It's best to encourage your contacts to add your organization as a contact, and to always identify yourself in your messages.

Our system is designed to deliver your message to a live person or voicemail. 

If a call goes to voicemail, we wait for the beep and leave a message.

Yes, we call this Live Transfer. The feature is free to enable, and we charge one credit for each minute a call is connected. Our technology will also make sure that we pause outbound calling when you’re busy talking to other people who have transferred in. Live Transfer is only available on the Pay-As-You-Go plan.

We will retry the call between zero and three times based on the settings in your account. We default the number of retries in your account to one as 99% of all calls complete after a single retry. No additional costs are associated with retries.

Your default Caller ID is your number. You cannot change the contact name that appears on your recipient's phone. Call recipients will see your number and hear your voice - they won't see or hear Text-Em-All. 

Alternatively, we have a special "replay" number you can use (at no extra cost) that will replay your message when redialed by a call recipient, allowing people to opt-out of future calls. 

Additionally, you can change your Caller ID at any time. Learn more here.

No. If a live person OR voicemail is available, we will deliver the message.

Messages can be up to two minutes long. After two minutes, most carriers cut off messages on a voicemail. That said, we recommend that you keep your messages as short and sweet as possible. This saves you money (see credit explanation above) and keeps you from bugging the people you’re calling.

No. We do not allow messages that solicit for votes or encourage contacts to vote for a particular policy or candidate. 

Our platform is used to transmit informational messages to those expecting to receive the information. Do not use our service if someone didn’t give their number directly to you or your organization.

Our clients vary widely and include Fortune 500 companies, churches, schools, and more. Our clients send millions of messages each month to their employees, congregations, students, residents, customers, and patients.

Read more about the types of messages we allow in our Responsible Use Policy.

The last thing we want to do is deliver a message to someone who doesn’t want it. So, we have many methods for opting out. Text recipients can reply STOP to any message, call recipients can opt-out at the end of the message, and anyone can enter a phone number on our opt-out page. These methods will immediately block that account from calling/texting that phone number.

As long as you're reaching out to people with the information they want and you have consent to message them - a mass text messaging service can be a very powerful communication tool for delivering reminders, notifications, and alerts.

While mass text messaging is by no means illegal, it is heavily restricted. The U.S. government has a long history of regulation, protecting consumer privacy concerning telemarketing and robocalls, and this also extends to text messaging. The most critical piece of legislation narrowing the scope of acceptable telemarketing practices came with the TCPA of 1991, which amended the original Communications Act of 1934. Read more about the act here.

We offer two pricing plans, Pay As You Go and Monthly. The plan that works best for you depends on how frequently you will use the service and if you will text or call the same or different numbers each time a message is sent.

We have several payment options available. Most of our customers pre-pay with a credit card through their account, but we're happy to offer self-service invoicing options for both pricing plans. We also have a secure online Payment Portal to process invoice payments.

For Texting: Each 160-character outbound text message sent to a phone number is 1 credit. So, sending a 160-character text to 100 people would require 100 credits. Messages that include an image require one additional credit. Sending an image alone costs 2 credits. Inbound text messages do not require credits.

For Calling: One credit is a 30-second message to one phone number. Though you can record up to 120 seconds, each 30-second increment of recorded audio will consume one credit per phone number.

We want our clients to know what a broadcast will cost before it goes out, not after. We feel this keeps it simple. With credits, you have a simple cost per call. With per-minute charges, some voicemail systems take 45 seconds before you can even hear the beep to leave a message.

Additionally, per-minute charges open the door for shady tricks - like rounding up call lengths in 30 or 60-second increments (instead of the industry-standard 6 seconds) or counting ring time as part of the call length (carriers don’t charge for ring time). We prefer to avoid tricks and gimmicks.

No. We never charge additional credits for features like allowing people to opt out, repeat a message, respond to a survey, or have a text number. We prefer to keep it simple and avoid confusing additional fees.

No, purchased credits never expire. 

Absolutely not. We don’t want you paying for a service you aren’t using or don’t want. In fact, our Manifesto even talks about this.

However, we will sign any additional documentation required by your organization.

No. Creating a free trial account with us doesn’t even require a credit card!

Our Pay-As-You-Go plans have no fees other than the credits you purchase.

We have a monthly option that will allow you to call or text your same group as often as you need to for one flat fee per month. Rather than paying per individual message, you pay one price for the entire month based on the size of your overall group.

There are no setup fees, and we do not charge you for your text number.

Our Pay-As-You-Go plans use one credit for a text message (see above for more details on credits). Monthly accounts have no additional fees for texting.

No, all incoming messages are free.

No. You don’t need to pay for or download any software to use Text-Em-All. All you have to do is create an account on our website and log in from there!

Yes, we have a mobile app. You can currently use the mobile app to manage conversations, such as crafting responses on the go, sending messages to individuals, and marking conversations as done.

The mobile app does not support mass messaging, but you can send a broadcast from the mobile website.

We broadcast calls and texts at speeds of up to 2,500 messages per minute.

We have several reports in your account. Some reports are related to billing and credit usage, and other reports provide detailed call results for individual numbers. We are happy to provide custom reports for larger organizations at no charge.

Yes. As an Account Owner, you can add a user to your account as an "Account Owner," "Account Admin," or "Account User." Account admins will be able to purchase credits and pay invoices without accessing all of the account's billing information.

No. We never share or sell any of your information. Check out our super simple privacy policy.

The contact can opt back in by texting UNSTOP to your number.

Yes. You can add a profile picture to your account in your Account Settings.

We strive to delight our clients by being easy to work with - from simple, no-contract pricing to the simple, effective solutions we build. We work hard to get the details right and are driven by a genuine desire to help make things easier for our clients. Yes, we’re experts in our field. More than that, our clients find us to be partners they can depend on. So, expect us to be professional, knowledgeable, and personable, too!

Text-Em-All is entirely self-funded and is still managed by the same people that founded the company back in 2005. Brad Herrmann and Hai Nguyen are in it for the long haul and are dedicated to building a truly great small business. To really get to know us, check out our employee-created Manifesto and our active participation in the Small Giants Community.