Apart from email invitations, many of our hosts also use text invites for their events. It's a really handy way to invite guests who like to communicate through text messages!

We make it easy for you as a host to send special digital invitations for your events using text messages (SMS).

When you use PartyLabz to text message invitations, your guests will get an SMS with the invite message and a personal link to your event website. By clicking the RSVP link, guests will go to your RSVP website where they can see more info about your event, RSVP online, join polls, sign up for lists, and more. If they prefer, guests can also reply to the text invite, following the instructions in the default text. However, using text to RSVP doesn't support custom questions, polls, and other special features.

Here is an example of what an event website could look like:

How event website looks

This is how the text invitation will show up on the recipient's phone:

How Received Text Invitation Look

Keep in mind that the preview may or may not be shown on recipient's smartphone, depending on settings or the type of phone they have.

This is how it looks when the guest responds to the text message to RSVP:

How RVSP via Text Invitation Look1

To send text invitations with PartyLabz, just follow these easy steps:

  1. Create an event website from the home page or "My Events" page.
  2. From the "Dashboard" go to the "Guest List" page.
  3. Add guests individually or in bulk from Google Contacts or a CSV file.
  4. Go to the "Messaging Center" page.
  5. Click on the "Invite" button and select "via text message". A popup dialog will open with an invitation template that you can optionally change. Use variables like %Name% for personalized messages. See below for more information.
    Send Email Invitation Dialog: Invitation Text
  6. Optionally, choose a page guests will see when they follow the RSVP link.
  7. When your message looks good, click the "Next" button.
  8. Select recipients of your invitation. You can select guests in bulk by RSVP status, and other parameters or select recipients manually
    Send Email Invitation Dialog: Selecting Recipients
  9. When you are done with recipients selection click the "Next" button. At this time the system will save the message as a draft and if everything is ok, you will see a preview screen. Here you can select a recipient and look how the invitation looks for the guest.
    Send Email Invitation Dialog: Preview
  10. Now you can click the "Send" button to send invitation or "Close" button to close the dialog and keep your message as a draft. You can come back later to change or send the draft message.

If you're inviting people in batches, just follow the same steps and choose "Not Invited" each time. This way, you'll make sure you're sending text invites only to the guests you've added recently.

Variables

PartyLabz gives you different variables to personalize your online invites. These variables get replaced with specific details when your guests get the invitation. Here are some of the supported ones:

  • %Name%: Guest name
  • %Guest_Email%: Guest email
  • %Guest_Phone%: Guest phone
  • %Guest_Code%: Guest code (used in QR-code)
  • %Guest_Address%: Guest address
  • %Guest_Company%: Guest company
  • %Guest_Job_Title%: Guest job title
  • %Title%: Replaced by your event title.
  • %Starts_On%: Replaced by your event date and time.
  • %Starts_On_Date%: Replaced by your event date.
  • %Starts_On_Time%: Replaced by your event time.
  • %Ends_On%: Replaced by event end date and time.
  • %Ends_On_Date%: Replaced by event end date.
  • %Ends_On_Time%: Replaced by event end time.
  • %Guest_Link%: Replaced by a personalized RSVP link with a guest's unique ID.
  • %Host_Name%: Replaced by the name of the event host.
  • %Address%: Replaced by the full address of your event.
  • %Place_Name%: Replaced by the venue name.
  • %Link_To_Map%: Replaced by the link to the map.
  • %Place_Website%: Replaced by the venue website.
  • %RSVP_By%: Replaced by the date by which guests must RSVP.
  • %Event_Public_URL%: Replaced by your event website's public URL.

PartyLabz is continuously working on adding more variables to enhance your customization options. These variables allow you to create invitations that feel personal and tailored to each guest.

Reminders

At the moment, PartyLabz doesn't send reminders through text messages to guests with only phone numbers for RSVP or upcoming events, as reminders are currently only available through email.

Custom Messages

You can personalize the RSVP confirmation that our system sends to guests via text messages. To do this, go to the "Custom Messages" page, locate the blocks that start with "SMS RSVP Confirmation when..." and click "Edit" for the confirmations you want to customize.

Text Messages Addons

To send text messages, you have two options: upgrade your event to the PRO plan, which includes a limited number of messages, or purchase a text-message add-on. Each add-on allows you to send 100 messages, with each message having a length of up to 280 characters. You can choose add-ons for text messages to the United States and Canada, the United Kingdom, or Australia.

To buy an add-on, go to the "Upgrade Event" page, and choose the type and quantity of add-ons you want to purchase:

Event Upgrade: Text messages Addon Purchase

You can always check the number of messages you've sent and the countries available for sending on the "Dashboard page" page by clicking on the "view addons & usage" in the "Event Details" block:

Dashboard: View Addons Usage

To see a list of phone numbers that can be used to receive responses through text messages or phone calls please click on the "Share Event For Collecting RSVP" (for open events) or "Invitation For a Private Event" button. These numbers are also used to send text messages, and recipients will see one of them based on their country.

Remember, if you have fewer available messages than the number of recipients, no text messages will be sent. In that case, you'll need to buy another text message add-on.

As you can see, PartyLabz makes inviting people easier and more flexible. It's not just convenient but also lets you customize things. Whether you're having a small get-together or a big event, PartyLabz gives you the tools to make your invites special and keeps your guests involved from the first invite to the final RSVP.

Do you find content on this page helpful?