Required Role
Administrator (All Access)
Deliver Configuration allows purchasing and managing credits and configured accounts for texting (SMS), voice/audio, fax, postcards, and letters delivered from Slate.
Accessing Deliver Configuration
- Click Database on the top navigation bar and select Deliver Configuration.
- The following sections appear:
- Balance: A quick reference of Total Credits purchased, Debits (Invoiced), Debits (Pending), and Active Balance.
- Total Credits: Each credit purchase with date and time of purchase and number of credits purchased.
- Debits (invoiced): Each credit debited from an account with the month, number of credits debited, and the type of service (SMS, voice, additional number, etc.)
- Accounts: Service accounts that have already been configured.
- Service Rates: A series of drop-down charts with the current service rates by service.
To enable text messaging, an organization must first purchase SMS credits within Slate. This can be done by clicking Add Funds in Database > Deliver Configuration under the heading Funds. Once you have purchased SMS credits, you can provision a sender number in an area code of your choosing by clicking Add Account in Database > Deliver Configuration under the heading Accounts. This will be the number that appears as the "Caller ID" for all outgoing texts and to which return texts will be sent. The first number is included with each instance, and each additional number costs $1/month.
Tip
Deliver credits do not expire.
Service Rates
Visit Database > Deliver Configuration for a complete listing of all service rates.
A note regarding Slate Voice:
The cost of Slate Voice comes directly from the upstream telecommunications providers that count a partial minute as a full minute. A call for 20 seconds would count as 1 minute, and a call for 1 minute and 20 seconds would count as 2 minutes. All the pricing is pay-as-you-go, so there are no "line charges" where you're spending $50/month for a line regardless of utilization. Compared to the cost of a full year of a $50/month line, Slate Voice provides 500 hours of outbound minutes to destinations in the +1 country code.
Recipient Data Fees
The recipient may incur data and usage fees from their mobile provider for any text messages they receive, especially where they may not have an unlimited text messaging plan. You must capture permission to text message an individual before sending any text messages. This is generally accomplished by creating a custom field that is added to all external forms, such as an inquiry form and event registration forms.
Purchasing Credits
Once a service account has been configured, credits can be purchased in blocks with a minimum of 10,000. The cost reflected is the cost that Slate is charged for these services provided by external providers, and Slate passes these charges onto Partners. To purchase credits, enter the first name, last name, and email address of the purchaser.
Important!
Unused Deliver credits cannot be refunded.
Next, decide how many credits to purchase based on the following chart:
| Current cost for message credits | |
|---|---|
| 10,000 Credits | $100 USD |
| 25,000 Credits | $250 USD |
| 50,000 Credits | $500 USD |
| 100,000 Credits | $1,000 USD |
| 250,000 Credits | $2,500 USD |
| 500,000 Credits | $5,000 USD |
Payment Options
Payment for credits can be made by credit card or by invoice for payment by corporate check. Payments must be made within 30 days of purchase.
| Credit Card | Invoice for Payment by Corporate Check | |
|---|---|---|
| Requires: |
|
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| Availability: | Available within approximately one hour of payment clearing |
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Access purchased credits by returning to the Deliver Configuration page.
Important!
Message credits are used for all incoming and outgoing messages. For example, if you send one domestic SMS text from Slate and receive an SMS reply, your account will be charged one cent for each message.
Can we add Deliver credits to our contract language?
No. Applicable fees charged by third parties for the purchase of communications such as telephony, print products, postage and text messaging fall outside of your license agreement. The fees for these communications are subject to change at any time and cannot be guaranteed for the duration of a license agreement. For this reason, we do not include these fees in our contracts.
Adding Accounts
The following service accounts can be configured:
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- Print: For physical printed materials configured in Slate.
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SMS/Voice: When adding a new account for Text Messaging, Robocalling, Faxing, and Webinar Audio Bridge, a new telephone number can be provisioned by searching for a new number by filtering on Area Code, Contains Digits, and/or Near ZIP Code. For example:
Once the number has been confirmed, the Voice Type should be selected to determine the action that will be taken for incoming calls to the selected number.
- Busy Signal: Caller will receive a busy signal.
- Forward Call: Call will be forwarded to the specified phone number. (Call forwarding will utilize 1 credit/minute for the inbound leg and 2 credits/minute for the outbound leg, a total of 3 credits/minute.)
- Conference Bridge: Number will be used as conference bridge.
- Inbound Fax: Number will be used for incoming fax messages.
Additional SMS/Voice numbers are available at the cost of $1 per month (billed as 100 credits per month) for each additional number.