Templates

Templates

Templates are saved SMS message bodies you can reuse across campaigns and conversations — write the message once, insert it anywhere. Navigate to Flare SMS → Templates.

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Why Use Templates

• Consistency — every staff member sends the same appointment reminder, order notice, or promo copy.
• Speed — insert and send instead of retyping.
• Compliance — bake opt-out language into marketing templates so it’s never forgotten.
• Personalization — variables are replaced with each contact’s data at send time.

Creating a Template

1. Click New Template.
2. Enter a Name (internal only — e.g. “Appointment Reminder — 24hr”).
3. Pick a Category.
4. Write the Message body. The live footer shows character count, segment count, and every variable the editor detects.
5. Click Create template.

Categories

Category	When to use
Marketing	Promotions, offers, sales.
Transactional	Confirmations, receipts, status updates.
Reminder	Appointments, follow-ups, due dates.
Onboarding	Welcome series and first-touch messages.
Announcement	Hours changes, service notices, one-off broadcasts.
Engagement	Review requests, re-engagement nudges.
Custom	Anything else.

The category drives the filter on this page; it doesn’t change how messages send.

Personalization Variables

Variables use double-brace syntax — {{variableName}} — and are substituted with the recipient’s contact data when a message sends. Campaigns auto-fill these (camelCase and snake_case are equivalent):

Variable	Replaced with
{{firstName}} / {{first_name}}	Contact’s first name
{{lastName}} / {{last_name}}	Contact’s last name
{{fullName}} / {{full_name}}	First + last name
{{email}}	Contact’s email
{{phone}}	Contact’s phone number
{{company}} / {{business}}	Contact’s business name

Example:

Hi {{firstName}}, your appointment at Acme is confirmed for tomorrow at 2:00 PM.
Reply C to confirm or R to reschedule. Reply STOP to opt out.

Sent to Sarah Johnson, this becomes “Hi Sarah, your appointment at Acme is confirmed…”.

Note

Any other variable name (e.g. {{orderNumber}}, {{date}}) is not auto-filled by campaigns — it ships as literal text unless you replace it manually after inserting the template. The campaign wizard warns you when an inserted template contains variables it can’t fill. Custom variables like these are fine for conversation replies where you fill them in by hand before sending.

Tip

If a contact’s field is empty, the variable renders blank — no fallback text. Either keep contact data complete or write greetings that survive a missing name (“Hi there” instead of Hi {{firstName}}).

Using Templates

• In a campaign — on the wizard’s Message step, choose Insert a saved template…. The body is inserted into the message editor (replacing it when empty, at the cursor otherwise). See Creating & Editing Campaigns.
• In a conversation — type / in the Conversations compose box to open the template picker, filter by name, and insert.

Templates provide the message body only — they don’t set the from-number, audience, or schedule. The body is copied at insert time: later edits to the template never change campaigns or messages that already used it.

Managing Templates

• Edit — click a row (or row menu → Edit) to open the editor dialog. Changes apply to future use only.
• Duplicate — row menu → Duplicate creates a copy named ”… (Copy)” — rename it in the editor.
• Favorite — click the star to pin a template to the top of the list and the pickers.
• Delete — row menu → Delete, then type the template name to confirm. Campaigns and past messages that used the template are unaffected.
• Usage — the Usage column shows how many times each template has been used and when it was last used.

Length and Segments

SMS bills per segment:

Encoding	Segment size
GSM-7 (standard English text)	160 characters; 153 per segment when multi-segment
Unicode (emoji, many accented characters)	70 characters; 67 per segment when multi-segment

The Length column and the editor footer show characters and segments so you can keep marketing copy to a single segment.

Note

Segment counts are estimated from the placeholder text — a long contact name substituted for {{firstName}} can push a borderline message into a second segment. Test with representative data before a large send.

Best Practices

• Name templates so the right one is obvious at a glance (“Appointment Reminder — 24hr” vs ”— 1hr”).
• Identify your business in every marketing template — carriers and regulators require sender identification.
• Always include opt-out language in marketing templates (“Reply STOP to unsubscribe.”) — or rely on the campaign wizard’s Include opt-out instructions toggle, which appends it automatically.
• Stay under 160 characters where possible to avoid multi-segment billing.