Hello Everyone,
This week we’re excited to announce that we’re beta testing SMS (Text Message) reminders. This feature is now available in your My Music Staff account, and you can enable it from the Calendar page. Click “Event Setup” at the top of the page, and you can enable this feature on a Category by Category basis.
Additionally, you’re able to send SMS reminders at a different interval than email reminders. For example, you can send email reminders 24 hours in advance, and SMS reminders 2 hours in advance.
Keep in mind, we are in the testing phase of this feature, so don’t bet your entire teaching business on it just yet. There are a number of changes and improvements that are planned for this feature over the next several weeks. For example, you can’t (yet) edit the text of the reminder message, but this capability is coming.
Additionally, SMS reminders are one-way, so they go to the student, but the student can’t reply to you.
We’ve made a few other change to the site:
- We’ve changed email reminders so that they are now configured on an Event Category by Category basis. For example, you can now set Recital email reminders to go out a week before, and Lesson reminders to go out 24 hours before.
- We’ve optimized the way invoices are created so the PDF file sizes should be a bit smaller (and in some cases, a lot smaller). This makes them easier to email and use less data if you’re opening them on a mobile device.
- We’ve improved the Download Library so that you can have many more nested folders (and much longer filenames) than before. A few teachers ran into these limitations and they’re now removed.
- We fixed a problem with the Student Portal that would prevent some students from viewing borrowed items.
- We fixed a very obscure problem that would prevent students using the Facebook browser on iOS from logging into the student portal.
We hope you enjoy this weeks updates.
– The My Music Staff Team
Did you know? My Music Staff is compatible with all of your mobile devices. Do more than ever before whether you’re in the studio or on the go! Read the full FAQ here.
VERY excited! I have been waiting for this feature. =)
My questions:
Is there a cost during the beta phase?
What will be the final cost?
Thank you so much for all your hard work each week.
Hi Keith,
The SMS feature is free during the beta test. We’re still working out what (if any) final pricing will look like. We aren’t crazy about usage fees (which is why we don’t charge based on the number of students), so we’re working hard to minimize the cost. SMS is quite a bit different than email; it requires us to work with 3rd parties to get those messages delivered. Once we have a better idea of how teachers are using this feature we’ll be able to provide final pricing.
By the way, the SMS feature works for every country, not just the US and Canada. So members in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and other regions have access to this feature too!
– The My Music Staff Team
I LOVE the SMS message reminders!!! I’d love to have those reminders come to MY phone! If we could set up a notification 5 minutes before the start of each lesson, it would save me endless hours in setting that up in my phone! I LOVE the 5-minute reminder. It is not intrusive, but gives me a reminder that it’s time to wrap things up & keep my schedule on time. Can those SMS messages be sent to the TEACHER instead of the parent? (or in addition to —- but again, not with “hours” of notice, just 3 or 5 minutes).
Diane, that is a great request! I have considered trying to set up my phone to do that, just using the clock/alarm on my phone, but I haven’t actually gone through yet and set 40 alarms. I’m really bad about running over time in my lessons.
Hi Diane,
Thanks for this suggestion. In the mean time, if you have an iPhone you can get alerts already if you sync your calendar. You just need to enable the feature in your My Music Staff account:
1) Log into My Music Staff.
2) Click your name at the top right hand corner of the screen and select “My Preferences”.
3) Select the “Calendar” tab and turn on the alerts (it’s near the bottom). You can enable/disable them on a per category basis.
Unfortunately Google ignores the alert information that we provide in the calendar feed, so this does not (yet) work with Google Calendar/Android.
Thank you. I don’t have an iphone. I have a Samsung Galaxy Note. I love my phone & since I’m not super tech savvy, I probably won’t be changing things up. (ugh… the new learning curve is a challenge!) I DO have a calendar app that has alarm settings & I set up a 5-minute alert. It has REALLY helped me. So, to Laurel, check into this. Yes, it is TIME CONSUMING to set it all up, but it has saved me so much frustration by the end of a long day that it is worth it! If My Music Staff can implement something to this end, it would be sooooo convenient, time-saving, & efficient! Thank you, My Music Staff, for your continued search to make your service the best. Even when it is already the BEST, you keep striving & improving! You are an inspiration & a great example of what we all should be modeling in our studios too! 🙂
We love MyMusicStaff! Thank you all for you hard work and constant updates. We will be sure to leave any comments or ideas when we have them!
Thank you! My students prefer text reminders over email, so we are looking forward to testing this!
Hi,
Great feature! Was eagerly waiting for this!
Do the students need to put the ISD code with their cell phone numbers in the student information page? Is there any specific format for inputting the cell phone numbers?
Thanks!
Hi Nakul, all you need to do is include the full phone number with area/city code. My Music Staff will automatically add the ISD (Country) code if necessary. If you include the ISD code that’s okay too.
There is currently an issue sending text messages to India; we’re investigating this problem. Get in touch with us directly at support@mymusicstaff.com and you can help us troubleshoot this issue.
Thanks.
What is the possibility of having charges put on people’s account at the beginning of the month either for the number of lessons in the month or a monthly amount that is the same and have the attendance linked to it?
Hi Paul,
I think My Music Staff can already do this. When you create your invoices, just select a forward date range. For example, you could invoice today (July 27th) and include all lessons from August 1 to August 31st. The invoice will automatically include all the lessons and fees that fall within the invoice dates (i.e. August).
If a student is absent sometime in August and you decide not to bill them for that lesson after you’ve already invoiced, My Music Staff will automatically carry the monetary credit forward into September. No special bookkeeping is necessary on your part. Just set the attendance to “Absent, Notice Given”.
If you need more specific help, send us an email and we’ll help you get sorted out.
Great new feature, thank you for all your hard work.
I am having problems getting this to work. I have tried putting in the ISD code, not putting in the ISD code having spaces in the number and no spaces, but nothing seems to work. Your suggestions please.
Hi Helen,
The ISD code shouldn’t matter (My Music Staff will automatically add it if it’s missing). Could you contact us directly at support@mymusicstaff.com and we’ll look into your account logs and send you a few test messages.
Thanks!
Can an SMS reminder be sent to teachers?
Hello Ryan,
Currently SMS reminders can only be sent to students/parents. We are currently Beta testing SMS reminders and will take your suggestion into consideration moving forward.
Keith