SMS
A short card-update text on Unpaid sequences, sent from your own Bird account.
What SMS does
On an Unpaid sequence, a Message block can be a text instead of an email. The customer gets a short SMS with the link to update their card.
The SMS leaves from your own Bird account, with the sender you choose. Bird bills each SMS on your Bird balance. churnhook does not charge for SMS.
SMS is a Premium feature. During the trial you can add SMS steps to a sequence, but they are skipped until you subscribe — see Billing.
Connect Bird
Settings → Messages → SMS. Only the workspace owner can connect.
- Click Connect. The dialog walks you through the key.
- In Bird, open Platform tools → API keys and create a key with these two scopes:
| Scope | Level | Used for |
|---|---|---|
sms | Write | Sending the SMS |
sms_management | Read | Listing your senders and their countries |
- Leave the expiry empty: an expired key stops sending. Bird shows the key only once. It starts with
bk_eu1_orbk_us1_. - Paste the key, set the monthly cap, then Continue.
- Pick a Sender — a name or a number from your Bird account. Its open countries show underneath.
The key is stored encrypted and never shown again. To change it, click Replace. A new key on the same Bird account keeps your sender.
Monthly cap
The cap is how many SMS can leave per month, from 0 to 100,000. At 0, nothing is sent. The card shows this month's usage next to the cap.
Once the cap is reached, the next SMS steps are skipped until the month turns over. Raising the cap does not resend skipped steps.
SMS in a sequence
Click a Message block on an Unpaid sequence and set its type to SMS, then pick an SMS template. SMS is not available on Leaving or Win-back sequences.
A customer path can hold up to 2 SMS. They do not count toward the 5 emails. A path can also be SMS only.
Write SMS templates under Automations → Templates → New → SMS. The text is plain, up to 4 SMS segments. The counter already counts the link at its real length.
| Variable | Becomes |
|---|---|
{{portal_url}} | The card-update link. Required. |
{{customer_name}} | The name on the Stripe customer, or nothing if there is none |
{{amount}} | The amount due on the failed invoice, like 49.90 EUR |
{{plan}} | The plan name |
When an SMS is skipped
A skipped SMS never stops the run: the next steps, emails included, go on. The run detail says why:
| Reason | What to do |
|---|---|
| No usable phone number | Add a phone on the Stripe customer |
| Monthly cap is 0, or reached | Raise the cap on the SMS card |
| Not on Premium | Subscribe |
| No sender ready | Connect Bird and pick a sender |
| The sender cannot reach this country | Open that country for the sender in Bird |
| Bird refused the send (with the HTTP code) | Check your Bird balance and open countries |
The phone comes from the Stripe customer. International numbers work as they are. A local number, like 06 12 34 56 78, is read with the customer's billing country, or your Stripe account's country when there is none.