Customers & Automation
SMS and Email Allocation and Limits
OpenChair Pro includes 50 SMS segments and 1,000 emails per billable bookable team member, scaling to the applicable venue pricing cap each billing period.
Last updated 18 August 2026
OpenChair Pro includes monthly SMS and email allocations that scale with the number of billable bookable team members on your plan, so your messaging capacity grows with your bookable capacity.
Where to find it. Web: Settings → Communications, then expand SMS. Mobile: More → Automations → tap the settings icon in the header.
TL;DR
- SMS allocations are 50 segments per billable bookable team member, scaling to the regional venue pricing cap: 500 in Australia and 450 in the UK. Australia and UK only.
- Email allocations are 1,000 per billable bookable team member, capped at 10,000 per venue per billing period. Available in all markets.
- Transactional and campaign messages share the same pool, booking confirmations count against the same limit as campaigns.
- OpenChair warns at 80%, explains the per-segment rate at 100%, and sends a high-priority alert when the Wallet reaches its configured low-balance threshold.
- Included SMS continues even when the Wallet is empty. After the allowance is used, non-essential SMS needs enough Wallet balance to fund the complete message.
Overview
SMS and email allocations are monthly messaging pools that scale with your billable bookable team count and are shared across all transactional and campaign messages:
- Send transactional messages (booking confirmations, reminders) and campaign messages (marketing, automations) from a shared monthly pool
- Scale messaging capacity automatically as you add bookable team members
- Monitor usage and overage charges in the Communication usage card under Communications → SMS
Note
All communications features require an OpenChair Pro subscription. SMS is available in Australia and the United Kingdom only. New Zealand venues have email allocations but no SMS.
Market availability
SMS is available in Australia and the United Kingdom only; email is available in all supported markets.
| Feature | Australia | United Kingdom | New Zealand |
|---|---|---|---|
| SMS allocation | Yes | Yes | Not available |
| Email allocation | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Dedicated phone number | Required for SMS | Required for SMS | Not available |
Included allocations
Allocations are calculated based on the number of billable bookable team members on your Pro plan. Transactional and campaign messages share a single pool per channel, there is no separate campaign limit.
SMS allocation (AU and GB only)
| Billable bookable team | AU SMS per period | GB SMS per period |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 50 | 50 |
| 2 | 100 | 100 |
| 3 | 150 | 150 |
| 5 | 250 | 250 |
| 9 | 450 | 450 (price cap) |
| 10 | 500 (price cap) | 450 |
| 11+ | 500 | 450 |
Formula: 50 SMS segments per billable bookable team member, capped when the venue subscription price caps (10 members / 500 segments in AU; 9 members / 450 segments in GB).
Email allocation (all markets)
| Billable bookable team | Emails per period | Formula |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,000 | 1,000 x 1 |
| 2 | 2,000 | 1,000 x 2 |
| 5 | 5,000 | 1,000 x 5 |
| 10 | 10,000 | Capped at maximum |
| 11+ | 10,000 | Maximum |
Formula: 1,000 per billable bookable team member, capped at 10,000 per venue per billing period.
Tip
Adding a billable bookable team member to your plan automatically increases both SMS and email allocations for the venue they are allocated to. Non-bookable access users do not increase allocations, and shared bookable team members are allocated once across a multi-venue account. Check Settings → Communications → SMS to see your current limits.
Shared pools
Transactional messages (booking confirmations, reminders, cancellation notices) and campaign messages (marketing sends, automations) draw from the same pool. There is no separate transactional or campaign limit.
For example, a 3-bookable-member AU venue has 150 SMS segments per period. If 120 are used for booking confirmations, 30 remain for campaigns and automations.
Usage and Wallet warnings
At 80% of the included SMS allowance, OpenChair creates one informational Activity item for the billing period and shows the remaining segment count. At 100%, a separate warning explains that the next SMS is paid from the Wallet and shows the venue's current per-segment rate.
Each allowance threshold is generated once per channel and billing period. When the shared Wallet reaches its configured low-balance threshold (A$5 by default), the owner receives a high-priority top-up alert. At A$0, a persistent banner explains which SMS is paused and how many critical safety segments remain. A low-Wallet alert re-arms only after the balance rises above the configured threshold.
Overage charges
When usage exceeds the included allocation, OpenChair checks and reserves the complete cost before sending. The excess is charged to the shared Wallet at the regional per-segment overage rate. A long SMS can use more than one segment.
SMS overage rates
Overage rates vary by plan tier:
| Market | FREE plan | PRO plan |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | A$0.10 | A$0.08 |
| United Kingdom | £0.07 | £0.05 |
Email overage rates
| Market | Rate per email |
|---|---|
| Australia | A$0.002 |
| United Kingdom | £0.001 |
| New Zealand | NZ$0.003 |
Overage charges accumulate in fractional cents and are debited from the wallet when the total crosses a whole-cent boundary. For example, at A$0.002 per email, every 5th overage email triggers a 1-cent wallet debit.
If the Wallet cannot fund the complete message, campaigns, waitlist outreach, review requests, reminders, receipts, direct replies, and marketing automations are not sent. The action shows the funding reason and preserves the operator's draft or selection.
Critical booking-status, payment-action, and login-code SMS can use a free safety reserve of 10 segments per venue and billing period after inclusions and usable Wallet funds are exhausted. The reserve never creates debt, is not replenished by a top-up, and resets with the next billing period. A multi-segment message is sent in full or not at all.
To add funds on the web, open Settings → Billing, find Wallet, choose a top-up amount, and complete payment. Mobile shows Wallet usage but top-ups are managed on the web.
Viewing your usage
The Communication usage card under Communications → SMS shows one SMS meter and one campaign email meter:
| Row | What it tracks | Overage shown |
|---|---|---|
| SMS | All transactional, campaign, and automation SMS sends | Yes |
| Campaign Emails | Marketing and automation email sends | Yes |
The SMS meter includes a subordinate breakdown for transactional SMS and campaigns and automations. These figures explain where usage came from; they do not represent separate allowances. Each meter displays the current count against the limit (e.g., "440 / 500") with a progress bar. Overage charges appear once below the shared SMS meter when the allocation is exceeded (e.g., "A$2.20 overage incurred").
The card footer shows the period reset date (e.g., "Resets 9 Apr 2026"). Allocations reset at the start of each 30-day billing period.
Dedicated number states
SMS allocations require a provisioned dedicated phone number. The dedicated number can be in one of these states:
| State | What it means | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | Venue is not on Pro | Upgrade to Pro |
| No number | Pro is active, but no number provisioned | Click Provision Number |
| Active | Dedicated number is live and receiving messages | Manage usage |
| Grace period | Number is pending release at end of billing period | Review subscription |
| Released | Number was previously released | Click Provision Number |
| NZ email-only | SMS is not available in New Zealand | Use email campaigns |
Trial venues with a dedicated number also receive lifecycle warnings after the Pro trial ends. See Dedicated SMS Number Lifecycle Warnings for grace-period timing and release rules.
STOP / START opt-out compliance
When a customer texts your dedicated number with an opt-out keyword (whole-body exact match, case-insensitive, trailing . and ! stripped), they're opted out of all venue SMS:
Tell customers to use STOP to opt out and START to opt back in. When Twilio supplies Advanced Opt-Out metadata, OpenChair follows the provider's classification. Without that metadata, OpenChair recognises these exact fallback keywords:
| Opt out | Opt in |
|---|---|
STOP |
START |
STOPALL |
UNSTOP |
UNSUBSCRIBE |
|
CANCEL |
|
END |
|
QUIT |
|
REVOKE |
|
OPTOUT |
|
OPT-OUT |
|
OPT OUT |
YES clears an existing OpenChair opt-out record when the provider metadata is unavailable. If there is no recorded opt-out, YES remains a normal conversation or waitlist reply.
Caution
CANCEL opts the customer out of SMS - it doesn't cancel a booking. The reminder reply-action for cancelling a booking is C (single letter), not CANCEL spelled out. If your customer texts back "CANCEL" expecting to cancel their booking, they'll be opted out of all your SMS instead. Reminder SMSes include the prompt "Reply Y to confirm, C to cancel, R to reschedule" - coach customers to use the single letters.
Per-venue scope
Opt-out is per (venue, phone) - opting out of one venue doesn't silence others. A customer can be opted in at Salon A and opted out at Salon B simultaneously.
Confirmation replies
Twilio sends the carrier confirmation for recognised STOP and START replies. OpenChair mirrors that state locally and does not send a second confirmation. While the local opt-out is active, OpenChair suppresses every SMS class, including booking messages, receipts, and magic links; an eligible workflow can use email instead.
Compliance posture
This keyword set satisfies:
- US TCPA carrier requirements
- AU Spam Act 2003
- NZ Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act (though NZ doesn't have SMS in OpenChair - email only)
- UK PECR
Phone numbers are E.164-normalised before lookup so format variations don't bypass the opt-out.
URL shortening (opnchr.com)
Long URLs in outbound SMS (campaign, reminder, win-back, receipt, manage-booking links) are automatically shortened to opnchr.com/{6char} codes when:
- The target host is an allowed OpenChair domain (security guard against open redirects)
- The feature is enabled (default on; can be paused at the platform level)
Benefits:
- Shorter SMS - a 90-char manage URL becomes ~25 chars, often dropping a 2-segment SMS back to 1 segment and saving money
- Click tracking - every shortened URL is a 302 redirect through our server, so the click is logged. Useful for understanding which campaigns drive engagement.
- Stable codes - 6-char codes from a 58-char alphabet (excludes visually ambiguous
0/O/1/l/I) - ~38 billion combinations
No operator action needed; shortening fires automatically as part of the send pipeline.
Troubleshooting
The following covers common issues with SMS and email allocations.
| Issue | Solution |
|---|---|
| Usage card not visible under Communications → SMS | The Communication usage card only appears for venues with active communications access (Pro subscription). Upgrade to Pro to see usage tracking. |
| SMS allocation shows 0 | SMS is only available in Australia and the United Kingdom. New Zealand venues have email allocations only. |
| Overage charges appearing on wallet | Usage has exceeded the included allocation. Review campaign send frequency, or add a billable bookable team member to increase the allocation (up to the venue cap). |
| Warning says "80% used" but I haven't sent many campaigns | Transactional and campaign messages share the same pool. High transactional volume (e.g., booking confirmations during a busy week) reduces the remaining allocation for campaigns. |
| Allocation didn't increase after adding a team member | The allocation recalculates at the start of each billing period based on billable bookable team count. Mid-period bookable team changes take effect at the next period reset. |
FAQ
Why does the SMS allocation show 0?
SMS is only available in Australia and the United Kingdom. New Zealand venues have email allocations only, the SMS allocation row shows 0 because no SMS is available in NZ.
Why are overage charges appearing on my wallet?
Usage has exceeded the included monthly allocation. Review campaign send frequency or add a billable bookable team member to increase the allocation (up to 500 SMS segments in AU or 450 in GB, and 10,000 emails). Overage is charged at the regional per-segment rate.
Why does the warning say "80% used" when I haven't sent many campaigns?
Transactional and campaign messages share the same pool. High transactional volume, for example, booking confirmations during a busy week, reduces the remaining allocation for marketing campaigns and automations.
Why didn't the allocation increase after I added a team member?
The allocation recalculates at the start of each billing period based on the current billable bookable team count. Mid-period bookable team changes take effect at the next period reset, not immediately.