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Messaging credits pay for outbound SMS and coach-written emails in CoachIQ. Both use your organization’s shared credit balance, including the email copies of announcements.
Which credits? These are your business’s messaging credits, also called SMS credits. They are completely separate from the session credits athletes buy and redeem for bookings. See Credit system overview for those.

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What a credit is

A credit is a prepaid unit of usage. At the standard rate, $1 buys 100 credits, and a short plain-text message costs about 1 credit.

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What uses credits

Credits are spent on outbound texts: messages you send from the Inbox, mass SMS to a tag, automation SMS actions, and Zapier SMS actions. Incoming replies do not use credits. Coach-written emails use the same balance at 0.1 credit per email address: Inbox emails, announcement email copies, and automation Send an Email actions, including CC and BCC. Automatic notifications such as booking confirmations and receipts are free. See Email.

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SMS costs

SMS costs are per segment, and one text can be several segments:
Keep texts short and skip emojis. An emoji switches the whole message to a different encoding that cuts each segment to about 70 characters, so one friendly 🎉 can double or triple the cost of a broadcast.

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Email costs

At the default rate, 10 emails use 1 credit. A send to 37 email addresses uses 3.7 credits; fractions carry forward, so each email is not rounded up to a whole credit. CC and BCC addresses count too. On the Credits page, Used this month includes an Email line. The activity log shows each send and its credit use. This helps explain a balance change even when you have not sent any texts.

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How you get credits

  • Monthly allotment — your plan may include a monthly grant of credits. It is added to whatever balance you have left; it does not reset it.
  • Top-ups — buy more at any time, either a preset package (some include bonus credits) or a custom dollar amount. Payment goes through Stripe and the credits are applied automatically.
  • Auto-refill — turn it on and your balance tops itself up when it runs low, to help keep enough credits available for messaging. See below.
Your balance, top-ups, auto-refill, and the credit activity log all live on the Credits page. Open it from Settings → Communication → Credits. It is the same page whether you get there from Settings or from the SMS setup flow in the Inbox, and it appears for every organization that pays for texts with credits.

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Auto-refill

Auto-refill is the set-and-forget option. Once a card is on file, switch it on from the Credits page and CoachIQ buys more credits automatically whenever your balance drops low, charging the card on file and logging the purchase in the activity log like any other top-up.
  • Needs a card on file. The control is unavailable until a payment method is saved, so add one first if you do not see it.
  • Turn it off any time from the same page. Your remaining balance stays.
  • Check the activity log if you are unsure whether a refill ran; each automatic purchase appears there with the credits added.
Turn on auto-refill before a season of automated reminders or a big registration push. Running out mid-broadcast means part of the group gets the text and part does not.

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Texts aren’t sending?

Two independent things must be true for a business text to deliver: your number must be registered with the carriers, and you must have credits. They fail differently.
  1. Check 10DLC registration first. US carriers do not deliver business SMS until your brand and campaign are approved. This is the most common reason texts do not arrive, and it has nothing to do with your balance. See Setting up SMS messaging.
  2. Then check credits. If your balance has run out, top up. Having credits does not make an unregistered number deliver, and being registered does not send texts you cannot pay for.

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Emails or announcement copies did not arrive?

  1. Check the balance in Settings → Communication → Credits. If a send is blocked with Not enough credits to send this email, add credits before trying again. An automation email blocked for this reason sends nothing and records the error in its execution log.
  2. For an Inbox email, open Channels → Email and review the recipient addresses and delivery status. See Find emails you’ve sent.
  3. For an announcement, check the email delivery separately from the in-app post. If insufficient credits block its email copies, the announcement can still appear in the app. See Announcement costs.
SMS carrier registration applies to texts. Email delivery has its own checks; a credit balance alone does not guarantee that a message reaches someone’s inbox.

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Common questions

No. Only messages you send are metered.
No. A broadcast is one segment per recipient. 150 athletes means at least 150 credits.
No. Session credits are what athletes redeem for bookings and are managed on each athlete’s profile. Messaging credits pay for outbound texts and coach-written emails. Different balances, different pages.
It needs a card on file. Add a payment method on the Credits page first, then the auto-refill control becomes available.
Open the Credits page. The activity log lists each send with the credits deducted and the balance after.

Setting up SMS messaging

Get your number and complete 10DLC registration

Using tags for group messages

Mass texts, and how to keep them affordable

Communication settings

Your SMS number and call forwarding

Inbox overview

In-App, SMS, Announcements, and Email compared