Which SMS your agency should send clients, and how not to waste the balance
An agency should send an SMS when the client is waiting for something short and specific: confirmation that an enquiry arrived when there is no email, who called them, when the viewing is and with which agent, a signing link or code. In OptiEstate each of these SMS is switched on separately, opens with the agency’s name, goes out in the client’s language and is paid from the agency’s own SMSAPI account. In Latin script one SMS holds 160 characters and in Cyrillic 70, so the same Bulgarian message often splits into two SMS in Cyrillic. The balance is protected by a daily cap, limits per number and per IP address, and a “domestic numbers only” rule that stops bots typing expensive foreign numbers into public forms (SMS pumping).
Why SMS when there is email
Not every enquiry comes with an email address. In a Facebook ad form, in the website chat or on a phone call, clients often leave just a name and a number. Then an SMS is the only written channel you have: something that stays on their phone and can be read again in the car outside the building.
Email and SMS do different jobs. An email carries details, photos and documents. An SMS is for something short and specific: a time, a name, a phone number, a link, a code. That gives the simplest rule, and the most useful one: send an SMS when it carries something the client will use soon, or when there is no other way to reach them in writing.
Every SMS costs money, so the question isn’t whether to text clients but which messages to send. In OptiEstate they go out through SMSAPI, and the account and the balance belong to the agency. It pays SMSAPI for its messages at SMSAPI’s rates. OptiEstate does not resell SMS.
- Each one is switched on separately. By default they are all off. An SMS that is off doesn’t go out, and emails and notifications stay as they are.
- It opens with the agency’s name, so the client knows who it’s from even when it comes from the account’s shared sender. SMSAPI approves the agency name as a sender; until then, messages go out from the account’s default sender.
- It is in the client’s language: Bulgarian, English, German, Greek, Romanian, Russian, Turkish or Ukrainian.
The enquiry and the missed call
The enquiry received SMS goes out right after an enquiry from the website, the AI chat, or the Meta, LinkedIn and Google lead forms. By default it is sent only when the client left no email, so you don’t pay for an SMS when there is another way to reach them. If you want every client to get it, choose “Always”. It doesn’t go out for old leads you import into the system. Someone who wrote six months ago shouldn’t be told today that their enquiry has just arrived.
“We tried to call you” is for when the agent calls and nobody picks up. An unknown number in the missed calls is easy to ignore, because the client doesn’t know it’s the agency they wrote to. When the enquiry moves to “No answer”, the system texts the client with the agent’s phone number. Once per enquiry, however many times you change the status afterwards.
The missed call SMS works the other way round: the client called you and nobody answered. If the agency uses UniTalk telephony and the number belongs to a contact in the CRM, a “we saw you called us” SMS goes out. At most once a day per number, and never between 21:00 and 8:00.
None of these three replaces the call. They only tell the client they’ve been heard while the agent is busy. How an enquiry reaches an agent and how quickly it gets answered is on the enquiries page.
The viewing: confirmation and reminder
A viewing nobody turns up to costs the agent an hour or two: the drive, the wait, an awkward conversation with the owner. Often the reason is simply a forgotten appointment. This is where an SMS earns its cost.
When a client asks for a viewing with “Request a viewing” and suggests a day and time, the agent decides. If the agent confirms, the client gets an SMS with the time and the agent’s name and phone number. If the time doesn’t work, the SMS says the viewing can’t go ahead and that you will agree on another time. Either way, the decision doesn’t stay in the agent’s calendar alone.
The reminder goes out before every viewing scheduled in the calendar, once per viewing. The agency chooses when: 2, 3 or 24 hours before. Nothing is sent between 21:00 and 8:00.
- 24 hours before if clients tend to cancel at the last minute. They have time to cancel properly, and you have time to give the slot to someone else.
- 2 or 3 hours before if they more often just forget. The reminder arrives on the day, while there is still time to set off.
Both the confirmation and the reminder carry the agent’s number, so a client who gets lost or runs late calls the right person. How viewings get into the calendar and how agents get their own reminders is on the calendar and viewings page.
After the viewing: feedback, signature, thanks
“How was the viewing?” goes out when the agent asks the client for feedback. The SMS carries a link to a short questionnaire. An answer typed later, at home, is usually clearer than a “we’ll think about it” on the stairs, and the agent learns whether to offer a second viewing, another property, or to stop.
The contract brings two SMS. When you send a document for signing, the “SMS” button sends the link from the system, in the agency’s name, not from the agent’s personal phone. The client sees who it’s from, and the log records when it went out and to which number.
A client without an email confirms the signature with a 6-digit code by SMS, valid for 10 minutes. This is a simple electronic signature with the parties’ explicit consent under Art. 13(4) of Bulgaria’s Electronic Document and Trust Services Act. In the log the code is masked with dots, so nobody on the staff can read it there and sign in the client’s place. There is more on contracts on the contracts and e-signature page.
The thank-you after the deal goes to the seller and the buyer. If the agency has a Google review link, it’s in the SMS. A review is easiest to ask for while the client still remembers how it went.
Manual SMS and templates
Not every SMS has a trigger in the system. In the enquiry, and next to every number in a contact’s file, there is an “SMS” button. The agent writes the text or picks a template. Templates are shared across the agency: one person writes them, everyone uses them, and clients hear the same voice whichever agent is texting.
- {{name}} — the client’s first name.
- {{agent}} and {{agent_phone}} — the agent and their phone number.
- {{agency}} — the agency’s name.
Templates save time on what agents type every day: how to find the office and where to park, the notary’s address and the appointment time, what to bring to the signing. As you type, a counter shows the characters and how many parts the text will split into, and if the agency sends in Latin script you also see how the message will go out. Anything longer than 6 parts is not sent.
Who may send and who sees the spending are two separate permissions. Only people with the “SMS” permission see the “SMS” button. The balance and the limits need a separate permission for the SMS balance and limits, and appear in three tiles:
- “Balance” — roughly how many SMS the balance will cover;
- “Today” — how many SMS have gone out against the daily cap;
- “This month” — how many have gone out this month.
Click any tile to see the SMS behind the number. Both permissions are granted under “Groups and permissions”. That way an agent can send without seeing the balance, and a manager can keep an eye on spending without texting clients.
Latin or Cyrillic
For Bulgarian-speaking clients, this is where you decide how many SMS the same message turns into. In Latin script one SMS holds 160 characters, in Cyrillic 70. A longer text is split into parts of 153 characters in Latin and 67 in Cyrillic, and each part is a separate SMS.
The choice is the agency’s. In Latin, the system transliterates the text itself, letter by letter, so agents and templates stay in Cyrillic. Here is a viewing confirmation as a Bulgarian client would receive it in Latin script:
“Agentsiya Iztok: Ogledat na Tristaen, Lozenets e potvarden za 31.10.2026, 11:00. Broker: Ivan Kolev.”
That is 100 characters and one SMS. The same text in Cyrillic is 97 characters and two SMS.
| SMS in Bulgarian | Cyrillic | Latin |
|---|---|---|
| Enquiry received | 80 characters, 2 SMS | 87 characters, 1 SMS |
| “We tried to call you” with the agent’s number | 129 characters, 2 SMS | 133 characters, 1 SMS |
| Viewing confirmed | 97 characters, 2 SMS | 100 characters, 1 SMS |
| Viewing reminder | 97 characters, 2 SMS | 101 characters, 1 SMS |
| “We saw you called us” | 85 characters, 2 SMS | 92 characters, 1 SMS |
| Signing code | 73 characters, 2 SMS | 75 characters, 1 SMS |
The examples use a made-up agency, Agentsiya Iztok, a client called Maria and an agent called Ivan Kolev. In every one of them the message is two SMS in Cyrillic and one in Latin. Cyrillic reads more naturally; Latin halves the number of SMS. With plenty of viewings and enquiries, the difference adds up quickly.
The agency name opens every SMS, and it counts too. “Agentsiya Iztok: ” takes 17 characters before the message has said anything. The shorter the site name, the more room is left for the message itself.
How not to waste the balance
The balance can also drain through SMS that nobody at the agency sent. The public forms on your website are open to anyone, bots included. The scam is called SMS pumping: a bot types expensive foreign numbers into your forms so that your balance pays for SMS to them. That is why, by default, SMS only go to domestic numbers. Switch this off only if you really have clients with foreign numbers.
- A daily cap for the whole site, 200 SMS by default. Above it, nothing goes out until the next day.
- Up to 5 automatic SMS per number in 24 hours.
- Up to 3 per IP address in 24 hours for SMS triggered by a website visitor.
- No repeats. The same automatic SMS to the same number won’t go out again within 10 minutes, so a form submitted twice doesn’t mean two SMS.
- The name from the form goes into the SMS only if it looks like a name: letters, apostrophes and hyphens only, up to 20 characters. Otherwise a bot types a link where the name should be, and your SMS spreads its ad. In that case the SMS goes out without a name.
Before you switch on the real thing, there is a test mode: SMSAPI checks everything without sending or charging. The account still needs a balance above zero. After that, delivery reports (delivered or not delivered) arrive on their own, with no setup in SMSAPI, and every SMS shows in the log under Integrations › SMSAPI. When a client says they got nothing, the answer is there.
- An account at smsapi.bg. Registration is free, but with no balance nothing goes out, not even a test.
- An OAuth token with the SMS, Profile and Sender names permissions. The system tries it before saving it.
- Sender, alphabet, daily cap, “domestic numbers only” and test mode.
- Which SMS go out, each with its own switch.
- A test SMS to a number of your choice, so you see exactly what the client sees.
SMS are part of every OptiEstate plan, Starter included. The messages themselves are paid separately, from the agency’s SMSAPI account.
Frequently asked questions
Who pays for the SMS that OptiEstate sends?
The agency, from its own account and balance at SMSAPI (smsapi.bg), at SMSAPI’s rates. OptiEstate does not resell SMS. Registering with SMSAPI is free, and the integration is part of every OptiEstate plan, Starter included.
Which SMS can the system send by itself?
Only the ones the agency switches on, because by default they are all off: enquiry received, “We tried to call you”, viewing confirmed or declined, the viewing reminder, “How was the viewing?”, the thank-you after the deal, a missed call through UniTalk, and the signing link and code. There is also a manual SMS with templates from the “SMS” button.
Latin or Cyrillic: which should we choose?
In Latin script one SMS holds 160 characters, in Cyrillic 70. The usual messages from the system, such as a viewing confirmation or reminder in Bulgarian, run between 70 and 160 characters with a short agency name, so they are one SMS in Latin and two in Cyrillic. In Latin the system transliterates the text itself, so agents keep writing in Cyrillic.
How do we stop bots from spending our SMS balance?
Keep “domestic numbers only” switched on: an SMS to an expensive foreign number that a bot typed into a public form then never goes out (SMS pumping). On top of that there is a daily cap, 200 SMS by default, up to 5 automatic SMS per number and up to 3 per IP address in 24 hours from visitors, and the name from the form goes into the SMS only if it looks like a name.
The OptiEstate teamWe build the software Bulgarian agencies use every day. We write about what we see there.
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