Best Practices for Outbound Notifications

Civify's notification feature — SMS, email, and automated voice calls — is built for outbound communication to residents. It isn't a monitored inbox, so replies to a notification aren't read or acted on by staff. A few habits make these notifications more effective and more respectful of residents' time.

Timing and tone

• Send notifications during normal daytime hours out of respect for residents. (Your organization can also enforce this automatically with the quiet-hours setting — see Notification Consent & Compliance.)
• Keep content short and simple, especially for text and voice — residents are more likely to read and retain a brief, direct message than a long one. If there's more to share, point them to the resident portal rather than trying to fit it all into the notification.
• Always introduce yourself at the start of a message, so residents know who's contacting them and why.

The "not monitored" note

Civify automatically appends "This inbox is not monitored. Please do not reply." to outbound notifications — you don't need to add it yourself. This matters because these notifications come from a generic number, not a staffed line. Worth knowing: if a resident does call that outbound number back, it plays a message letting them know the number is not monitored and provides the main phone number for the organization.

Text messages also automatically include a "Reply STOP to unsubscribe" footer, separate from the not-monitored note. The system recognizes STOP, START, and HELP as keywords on any inbound text. An inbound message will send back a text one time per day letting them know the number is not monitored and provide the organization's main phone number. The exception to this is our "Keywords" feature. 

Formatting numbers for automated calls

Automated voice messages read digits literally, not as you'd expect — for example, "311" is read aloud as "three hundred eleven" rather than "three-one-one." When a message includes a phone number, extension, or similar reference for a voice notification, spell it out digit by digit (e.g., "three one one") so it's read correctly.

Robocall structure

Automated voice notifications follow a fixed structure:

1. Generic intro: "This is a notification you have subscribed to from '[City Name]' via Civify. For more details, check the app."
2. Your message
3. The generic intro again
4. Your message again
5. "Press 1 to unsubscribe"
6. Call ends

You can see this structure in action in this sample robocall.

Prohibited content

SMS is subject to carrier content rules, and Civify's SMS compliance safeguards (see Notification Consent & Compliance) will warn on or block messages containing:

• Sexual or pornographic material
• Abusive or harassing language
• Firearms (including fireworks)
• Alcohol
• Tobacco
• Illegal drugs
• High-risk financial content (loans or loan forgiveness offers, credit repair, debt collection, tax-related pitches, cryptocurrency)
• Gambling
• Investment opportunities
• Real estate inquiries or pitches
• Multi-level marketing
• Shortened links (e.g., bit.ly and similar)

This follows Telnyx's Acceptable Use Policy for Messaging, which governs SMS delivery on Civify's platform.

Example

A text notification from the City of New Haven might read:

"This is James from the City of New Haven! Work will begin in your area tomorrow. Please have vehicles removed from your driveway by 8am. Access disruptions are expected to last 2 weeks. For more information, visit the Activate New Haven app. This inbox is not monitored, do not reply."

This hits the key marks: it introduces the sender, states the point plainly, gives residents a clear action (move vehicles by 8am), sets a timeline, and points them to the app for more detail.