New Message

Start Sending Now

Before sending a message, you may wish to do the following.

  • Create contacts (message recipients). See the Contacts section of this user guide
  • Create groups to organise your contacts. See the Groups section below
  • Set up a template for your message content. See the Templates section

New Message can be found under ‘EziMessage’ in the side menu.

colourful screenshot of the ezitxt menu under EziMessage

Add or Remove Recipients

You can send a message to up to 10,000 recipients.

colourful screenshot showing where to add recipients when sending a New Message under EziMessage


To add recipients:

Click the ‘Add recipients’ button, and a modal will open:

From here, you can add:

  • Contacts you have already set up
  • Groups of contacts
  • Unsaved mobile phone numbers

colourful screenshot showing options to add recipients when sending a New Message under EziMessage

To select multiple contacts or groups; hold down SHIFT on the keyboard while clicking.

Click the ‘Add Selected Recipients’ button, or if adding an unsaved mobile number, click ‘Add Mobile’


To remove recipients:

To remove one or more recipients;

  1. Click to make a selection from the current list of recipients
  2. Hold SHIFT to select more than 1 recipient
  3. Click the red ‘Remove’ button
infoIf you accidentally enter the same recipient twice - for example, by adding them as a contact and also as an ad hoc mobile phone number - Web2SMS will remove the duplicate contact(s) for you.


Compose a Message

Using Templates (Optional)

  1. Select a template from the list to use its pre-populated content
  2. Edit the template content as needed
  3. For template creation guidance, see the Templates section below

Message Composition

Write your message in the text field, and Web2SMS will display:

  • Current character count
  • Whether your message exceeds one SMS unit
  • Number of SMS units required (if more than one)
  • Message encoding type (see encoding section below for details)

colourful screenshot showing options to add recipients when sending a New Message under EziMessage

Message Encoding

By default, messages will use GSM encoding. GSM encoding includes the basic character set, including the standard English alphabet, numbers and standard special characters such as punctuation. When using GSM encoding, you are permitted 160 characters per SMS message unit.

If you add a non-GSM character, such as a letter with an accent, and emoji, or a letter in a non-English alphabet, the encoding of the message will switch to UCS-2. Messages encoded in UCS-2 take up more space than GSM characters, so you will be limited to 70 characters in order for your message to fit within a single SMS message unit.

warningIf your message exceeds the character limit, your organisation will be charged an additional fee to cover the cost of the extra SMS message units sent.

Coloured screeshot of web2sms message composer with an emoji, showing UCS-2 encoding warning


Send Your Message

Basic Steps

  1. Enter a forwarding email address (optional)

    • Replies will be sent to this address

  2. Select a Sender ID from the “Sender ID” dropdown (if Source Masks configured)

  3. Schedule your message (optional)

    • Set future date and time
    • Select relevant timezone

  4. Review all your message details

    • Check number of recipients
    • Confirm message units per recipient

  5. Click ‘Schedule’ or ‘Send’


Important Notes: Sender IDs

  • Sender ID (also called Source Masks) display custom ‘From’ details to a recipient, instead of an originating number
  • Replies are not possible with messages masked by a Sender ID
  • NZ availability: International messaging only (carrier dependent)
  • Contact your account manager to request Sender ID

Important Notes: Email Forwarding

  • Replies are forwarded to nominated email address
  • Direct email replies are not supported - use the Web2SMS application to send replies back to SMS
  • Single forwarding address only (use distribution list for multiple recipients)