Overview
You can reach your students and their families by email, push notification, and text message (SMS) from one place: Communications → Messages. Write your message once, turn on the channels you want, and send it now, at a set time, or on a repeating schedule.
This article walks you through sending a message, using templates, and keeping track of SMS credits.
Before you start: choosing a channel
You can turn on one channel or all three for the same message. Each one reaches families a little differently.
Channel | Best for | Who receives it | Good to know |
Newsletters, event details, anything longer or with links | Members with an email address on their account | Your school name appears at the top; your school's phone number and address appear at the bottom. Emails come from [email protected] until you verify your own sender email | |
Push notification | Short reminders and quick alerts | Members who use the NextKick student app with notifications turned on | Keep it short — it shows on the phone's lock screen |
Text message (SMS) | Urgent, time-sensitive notices, like a class cancellation | Members with a mobile number on their account | Uses SMS credits; texts are one-way and end with "Do not reply" |
How to send a message
Step 1: Choose your channels
In the left menu, go to Communications → Messages.
Click Send Message in the top-right corner.
Under Delivery Method, turn on the channels you want: Email, Push Notification, and/or Text message (SMS). Your remaining SMS credits show under the SMS toggle.
Step 2: Write your message
Let AI write a first draft, write it yourself, or start with AI and edit.
Write it with AI: In Write Message with AI, type a short idea (up to 500 characters), such as "Notify students about next week's schedule change," and click Write. NextKick drafts an email, a text, and a push notification version for you. Need inspiration? Pick a topic under Need Ideas?, such as Welcome New Students or Summer/Winter Camp Promotions.
Write it yourself: Scroll down to the message boxes. There's one for each channel you turned on.
Message box | What to fill in | Character limit |
Subject and Content. Use the toolbar to add bold text, lists, colors, links, and images. | 5,000 | |
Push Notification | A short message | 200 |
Text message (SMS) | Your text | 480 |
Personalize your message: Click Recipient Full Name, Recipient First Name, or Recipient Last Name above any message box, or type @ in the box. Each recipient sees their own name.
Attach files to your email: Under File attachment support in emails, click to upload or drag and drop your files. You can attach up to 5 files, 10 MB each. Attachments go out with the email only.
Before you move on, read every version and double-check dates, times, and prices, especially in AI-written drafts. The Preview on the right shows how your email will look.
Step 3: Choose when to send
Under Delivery Timeline, pick one:
Send now: goes out as soon as you click Send Message.
Send later: pick a date and time.
Recurring send: goes out on a repeating schedule, such as a monthly tuition reminder.
Then click Continue.
Step 4: Choose recipients and send
On the Select Recipients screen, narrow the member list with the Group, Tag, Rank, and Status filters, or search by member name. Total shows how many members match.
Check the box next to each member you want to reach. To select everyone in the list, check the box in the header row. To review only the members you've checked, switch the ALL dropdown to Selected.
Turn on Notify to Parents to also send the message to each selected member's parents. Turn on Notify to Staff to also send it to all staff, including the Owner account.
Click Send Message.
Not ready to send? Click Save Draft on either screen to save your work. Next time you click Send Message, a Draft Found pop-up asks if you want to load it. Click Restore to pick up where you left off, or Discard to start fresh.
Using message templates
Save messages you send often — tuition reminders, belt testing reminders, class schedule changes — as templates so you don't have to rewrite them each time.
Find your templates: Go to Communications → Messages and open the Template tab. They're listed under Custom Templates.
Create a template: Click Create New Template, give it a name, and write a version for each channel you want to use.
Send from a template: Click a template card to preview it, then click Use Template to start a new message with its content filled in. Replace anything in square brackets, like [Month] or [Amount], with your own details before sending. [FirstName] fills in each recipient's first name automatically. To change the template itself, click Edit instead.
See which channels a template covers: The three icons at the bottom of each card stand for email, push notification, and text. A dark icon means the template includes that version; a faded icon means it doesn't.
Delete a template: Click the red trash icon in the card's top-right corner.
SMS credits and limits
Every text uses SMS credits from your school's balance, shown under the Text message (SMS) toggle on the Send Message screen.
1 credit = 1 SMS per recipient. Sending one text to 50 members uses 50 credits.
Up to 160 characters per SMS. If your message includes special characters — emoji, accented letters, or non-English text such as Korean — the limit drops to 70 characters.
Longer messages use more credits. A text can be up to 480 characters. Anything over the per-SMS limit is split into parts, and each part uses a credit.
Texts are one-way. Every text ends with "Do not reply," and families can't text back. If you'd like two-way texting, see How to Set Up Two-Way SMS in NextKick.
Tip: To make your credits go further, keep texts short, skip emoji, and put longer details in the email version.
Checking messages you've sent
Open the Message History tab on the Messages page to review messages your school has already sent.
Scheduled messages appear here too, so you can see what's waiting to go out.
Column | What it shows |
Created | When the message was created (click to sort) |
Title | The message's subject |
Recipients | How many members it went to |
Delivery Method | The channels used; dark icons were turned on |
Status | Delivered or Scheduled |
Click a message to open Message Details and see its recipients, channels, schedule, and content. To change a scheduled message before it goes out, open it and click Edit.
Frequently asked questions
A family says they didn't get my message. What should I check?
Email: Make sure the email address on their account is correct, and ask them to check their spam or junk folder.
Push notification: They need the NextKick student app installed, must be signed in, and must allow notifications for the app on their phone.
Text message: Make sure the mobile number on their account is correct and that your school has enough SMS credits.
Can I send a message automatically, without doing it by hand each time?
Yes. Use Recurring send for a message that goes out on a regular schedule. For messages that go out automatically based on what happens at your school, use Marketing Tools → Workflows.
Can I send messages in Korean or Spanish?
Yes. Email and push notifications work in any language. For texts, non-English characters lower the limit to 70 characters per SMS, so a text in Korean or Spanish may use more credits.
Where do I find a draft I saved?
Drafts don't appear in Message History. Click Send Message, and a Draft Found pop-up asks if you want to load your saved draft. Click Restore to continue where you left off.
Still need help? Contact the NextKick support team and we'll walk you through it.