Credits are the usage currency attached to a customer custom plan for campaign sending. They are not a separate vendor wallet. They are limits that the agency, acting as the platform owner, defines for each customer.
Most confusion happens when agencies understand providers but do not understand plan limits. A failed invite is usually not a mystery. It usually means the assigned customer plan has run out of the credit type needed for that message.
What credits are
Credits are used for campaign sending, not for general system activity. They apply to review request emails, SMS messages, and their reminders based on the customer custom plan configuration.
Transactional messages such as password resets, review alerts, invitations, and system notifications are separate and do not consume campaign credits.
- Email credits are used for email review request campaigns
- SMS credits are used for SMS review request campaigns
- Transactional email does not consume campaign credits
Where credits are configured
Credits are configured on the `General` tab of a custom plan under the usage limits area. The two important fields are `Monthly Email Credits` and `Monthly SMS Credits`.
| Field | What it controls |
|---|---|
| Monthly Email Credits | How many email campaign messages the customer can send each month |
| Monthly SMS Credits | How many SMS campaign messages the customer can send each month |
For credits, 0 means no credits, not unlimited. That is different from some other usage fields such as max locations or max team members where 0 can mean unlimited.
How email credits work
Email campaign messages are flat-rate from a credit perspective. Each email invite or email reminder costs 1 email credit.
The platform checks the balance at send time. If the balance reaches zero, the remaining email sends fail with a not-enough-credits style failure.
- Email review request campaigns cost 1 credit per email
- Email reminders cost 1 additional credit per reminder email
- Password resets, review alerts, team invitations, and similar transactional email do not consume campaign credits
The customer-owned email exception matters here. If the customer is sending through their own connected Gmail or Outlook account, those sends do not consume the normal customer plan email credits.
How SMS credits work
SMS credits are not flat-rate. They are segment-based. Standard 160-character SMS messages use one segment, but longer messages split into multiple segments and each segment costs a credit.
If the content uses UTF-16 characters, the segment length drops, which can make a message more expensive than it looks at first glance.
- Fancy punctuation and non-standard characters can reduce the segment size
- The system sanitises some common punctuation styles to avoid unnecessary encoding inflation
- SMS credit checks happen before each individual message is sent
| Example | Credit cost |
|---|---|
| 140-character standard SMS | 1 credit |
| 200-character standard SMS | 2 credits |
| 400-character standard SMS | 3 credits |
| MMS with attached image | Text segment cost plus 1 extra credit |
If a customer uses their own SMS provider, such as Twilio or Vonage connected on their side, those SMS sends do not consume the agency-side SMS credits.
How credits renew
Credits renew monthly. Old subscription credits expire and a fresh allocation is granted. They do not roll over automatically from month to month.
If Stripe billing is connected, the renewal timing follows the billing cycle timing. If Stripe is not connected, the platform still renews credits on the internal monthly schedule tied to the customer subscription state.
- Subscription credits expire when the new cycle begins
- Fresh credits are granted based on the customer's current plan limits
- Cancelled customers in grace period do not receive a new renewal allocation
What happens when you change credit limits
When you edit a customer custom plan and change the email or SMS credit limits, the system updates the balance immediately. Old subscription credits are expired and the new allocation is granted right away.
That means the customer does not keep leftover subscription credits from the previous plan state.
The no credits during trial option
Under the advanced campaign options area there is a toggle for `No Credits During Trial`. This controls whether trial customers receive campaign credits before they become paying subscribers.
- Enabled: trial customers get no campaign credits until they become paying customers
- Disabled: trial customers receive their normal plan credits during trial
Manually adding or removing credits
You can manually adjust credits from the customer manager by opening the credit adjustment flow, choosing email or SMS, setting a positive or negative amount, optionally adding an expiry date, and leaving notes.
These manual adjustments are tracked separately from subscription credits so they remain visible in the transaction history.
- Positive amounts add credits
- Negative amounts remove credits
- Manual adjustments can have their own expiry date
- Old subscription credits can also be expired manually when needed
Credits only work with feature access enabled
Credits alone are not enough. The corresponding campaign channels also need to be enabled on the plan. Otherwise the credits can exist but the feature still stays hidden or unavailable.
| Feature | Where it is configured | What it controls |
|---|---|---|
| Email Campaigns | Campaigns tab | Whether the customer can use email campaigns at all |
| SMS Campaigns | Campaigns tab | Whether the customer can use SMS campaigns at all |
| Monthly Email Credits | General tab | How many email campaign messages they can send |
| Monthly SMS Credits | General tab | How many SMS campaign messages they can send |
If Email Campaigns is enabled but email credits are 0, the feature may be visible but sending will still fail. If credits exist but the feature is hidden, the customer cannot use them.
What the agency and customer see
From the agency side, customer balances are visible in the customer manager. From the customer side, the credit transactions area shows summary cards and a transaction history by type, credit type, and date.
- Subscription renewals, adjustments, usage, and product purchases appear as separate transaction types
- Expired entries are visibly flagged
- Customers can also buy extra credits if credit products are configured
Credit spending order
Credit consumption follows a first-in, first-out style approach. Older active credits are used before newer ones, and expiring credits are prioritised sensibly so they do not linger past usefulness.
Recommended starting amounts by plan tier
- A 100-contact email campaign with one reminder can consume 200 email credits
- A 100-contact SMS campaign can consume 100 to 200 SMS credits depending on message length
- MMS can increase SMS credit cost significantly
| Plan tier | Email credits | SMS credits | Typical use case |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | 100 to 250 | 50 to 100 | Small business with occasional campaigns |
| Growth | 500 to 1,000 | 200 to 500 | Growing business with regular campaign use |
| Pro or Agency | 2,000 to 5,000 | 1,000 to 2,000 | Higher-volume and multi-location use |