zenpageManaging your SMS in Zenpage: balance, packs, counter and queue so reminders always go out
Therapists: manage your Zenpage SMS balance, packs, character counter, sending queue and delivery log so no confirmation or reminder ever fails. Guide.
Managing your SMS in Zenpage means watching your balance, switching on the right notifications and buying packs before you run dry: the built-in sending service delivers booking confirmations, reminders and cancellation messages with no external operator account, with 50 SMS included every month in the Pro plan and top-up packs for the rest.
Sources and method: figures checked on 10 November 2026 in the Zenpage documentation, SMS and Free / Pro subscription sections, and in the pricing section of the home page. Prices quoted are excl. VAT, with 20% VAT on top. Yearly totals mentioned are the author's own calculations from the prices shown on that day, with the assumption stated each time. Anything the publisher does not publish is flagged as such.
Which SMS does Zenpage actually send?
Zenpage sends three kinds of appointment-related SMS: the booking confirmation, the pre-session reminder and the cancellation message. The reminder can be set to the lead time of your choice, 2, 12, 24 or 48 hours before the session, and each notification is switched on separately with editable wording. Everything runs through the built-in sending service: no account with an external operator is required.
Two limits frame this use. SMS only go to mobiles in mainland France, and other numbers receive the email instead. And SMS stay reserved for appointment-related messages: no marketing SMS and no follow-up messages, for those use email through the email automations.
What do SMS cost: what does each plan cover?
The free plan is €0 with no bank card and includes no SMS, but packs remain available. The Pro plan is €29 excl. VAT per month with no commitment, with 50 SMS included every month, topped up on the 1st and not rolled over. As a guide, the author's calculation from the price shown on 10 November 2026: twelve months of Pro come to €348 excl. VAT per year, VAT on top, excluding any packs.
| Plan | Included SMS | Possible top-ups |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan (€0) | None | 50 or 100 SMS packs, paid online via Stripe |
| Pro plan (€29 excl. VAT per month) | 50 SMS per month, topped up on the 1st, no rollover, used first | Same packs on top when the month is a busy one |
| 50 SMS pack (€5.90 excl. VAT) | Not applicable | Never expires, even if you go back to the free plan |
| 100 SMS pack (€9.90 excl. VAT) | Not applicable | Same rule: no expiry, invoice attached to the confirmation email |
In practice, a practice sending 60 reminders and confirmations a month gets by with Pro plus one 50 SMS pack roughly every five months, the author's calculation based on 50 included SMS a month and short messages counted as 1 SMS. The publisher does not publish a usage simulator: this benchmark stays an estimate, to adjust with your own sending log. Packs are paid via Stripe and the invoice arrives with the confirmation email, as with other purchases described in the subscription documentation.
How do I set the sender name, notifications and counter?
Setup takes a few minutes and everything else depends on it: a mistyped sender name or a notification left switched off, and the SMS never goes out while your balance sits full. Work in this order:
- Fill in the sender name before switching on sending: 11 characters maximum, unaccented letters, digits and spaces, for example a short version of your practice name.
- Switch on each notification separately (confirmation, reminder with its lead time, cancellation) and adapt the wording to your tone, keeping messages short to stay at 1 SMS per send.
- Read the counter before confirming: a short message fits in 160 characters, or only 70 if the text contains a special character such as ê, ç or an emoji, and client details (first name, date) can push the message to 2 SMS.
- Test with the send-to-my-phone button: it sends a real SMS and deducts it from your balance, which validates the sender, the content and the billing under real conditions.
- Keep special characters and emojis out of your templates: they halve what one SMS can hold and double your consumption without warning.
Practitioners whose reminders always go out check their balance at the start of each month and schedule a top-up as soon as the counter drops below one week of sending volume. They keep templates short, with no tricky accents and no emoji, and they check the queue after every top-up. This routine costs five minutes a month and removes the most common cause of missed reminders: a balance found empty too late.
What happens when the balance runs out?
Without enough balance, the SMS waits in the queue: nothing goes out automatically, even after a top-up. You go back to the queue and send each waiting message yourself, which keeps you in control of what is still worth sending. If the appointment has passed in the meantime, the SMS is never sent and takes the Missed for lack of credits status in the log.
Two safeguards warn you before the outage: one email tells you when the balance runs low, then a second one when it can no longer cover your messages. That is the moment to buy a pack from the SMS tab with the Add SMS button, as explained in the SMS documentation. If no-shows stay frequent even though reminders go out, the problem lies elsewhere: reread the guide to no-shows and add a day-before email reminder through the automations.
How do I track each SMS in the log?
The log lists every SMS with its date, client, type, text excerpt, SMS consumed and status: queued, sent, delivered, failed, outside France, missed for lack of credits or cancelled. The top bar always shows your balance and flags the queue as soon as it holds messages, which makes it your daily dashboard.
Use it to calibrate your purchases: if your messages regularly go out at 2 SMS, shorten the templates instead of buying packs more often. And if a patient says nothing arrived while the status reads delivered, the problem is their phone or their number, not your setup. To place these SMS within your overall patient communication, the confirmation and reminder SMS guide details what goes out and when.
Where do I start today?
Open the SMS tab, fill in your sender name, switch on the confirmation and a 24-hour reminder, send a test to your phone, then check the log. Zenpage offers a free plan at €0 with no bank card, paid options can be tried for 15 days, then the Pro plan at €29 excl. VAT per month with no commitment includes 50 monthly SMS for your reminders and confirmations. Create your page from the Zenpage signup and follow the SMS documentation step by step: reminders that go out every time mean a schedule that fills itself while you consult.
Frequently asked questions
How many SMS are included in the Zenpage Pro plan?
The Pro plan includes 50 SMS per month, topped up on the 1st of the month with no rollover: unused SMS are lost. SMS bought in packs are used after the included SMS and never expire, even if you go back to the free plan.
How do I buy extra SMS in Zenpage?
In the SMS tab, the Add SMS button offers two packs: 50 SMS for 5.90 € excl. VAT or 100 SMS for 9.90 € excl. VAT, paid online via Stripe with the invoice attached to the confirmation email. The free plan can also buy packs, with no included SMS.
Why does an SMS sit in the queue without going out?
Without enough balance, the SMS waits in the queue and nothing goes out automatically: top up first, then send each queued message yourself. If the appointment has already passed, the SMS is never sent and gets the Missed for lack of credits status.
How can I tell what one SMS will cost before sending it?
A counter shows how many SMS each message will cost: a short text fits in 1 SMS, which is 160 characters, or 70 if the text contains a special character such as ê, ç or an emoji. The client name and date can push the message to 2 SMS, and the test-send button deducts a real SMS from your balance.
