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The Send SMS element lets your Avatar or robot send a text message to a predefined phone number at any point in the flow. Use it to notify a staff member when a user submits a request, send a booking confirmation to a customer, or trigger any workflow that benefits from a real-world text message. Sending is powered by Twilio and costs GOs from your Plural account balance.

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Add a Send SMS element

Right-click on an empty area of your canvas and select Send SMS. Click the element to open the configuration sidebar.

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Configure the SMS

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Recipient phone number

Enter the destination phone number in the Phone number field. Include the full international dialling code (for example, +44 7700 900 000 for a UK number). You can also use a flow variable as the recipient by entering #ATTRI/phoneNumber if you previously captured a phone number using a Save User Input element set to the Phone number input type.

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Message text

Enter the message body in the Message field. Standard SMS messages support up to 160 characters per segment. Keep your message concise to stay within one segment and minimise GO consumption. You can personalise the message using #ATTRI/ shortcodes: 
Hi #ATTRI/firstName, your appointment at #ATTRI/appointmentTime is confirmed. See you soon!
Messages longer than 160 characters are split into multiple SMS segments by the carrier. Each segment beyond the first may incur additional GO costs.

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GO consumption

Sending an SMS consumes 75 GOs per message of up to 160 characters.This cost applies to Avatar and GO subscription accounts. It does not apply to robot licences (Pepper, NAO, or Temi).
To estimate costs for bulk messaging workflows, use this formula: 
Total GOs = number of SMS messages × 75
For example, sending 100 SMS confirmations costs 7,500 GOs.

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Connect both outputs

The Send SMS element has two outputs:
  • SMS sent — the message was delivered successfully.
  • SMS not sent — delivery failed (for example, invalid number, network error, or insufficient GOs).
Always connect both the SMS sent and SMS not sent outputs to downstream elements. If you leave the SMS not sent output unconnected and delivery fails, the flow will get stuck with no way to proceed.
A typical pattern is to connect SMS sent to a confirmation slide and SMS not sent to an error slide that offers the user an alternative (for example, a QR code or instructions to contact support directly).

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Example flow

Save User Input (phone number → #ATTRI/userPhone)
        ↓
Send SMS
  SMS sent → Media Designer: "Your message has been sent!"
  SMS not sent → Media Designer: "We couldn't send the SMS. Please contact our team."