Notifications
Choose how Agoo reaches hosts, staff and visitors, by push, SMS, WhatsApp, email and in-app, with fallbacks, quiet hours and scheduled reports.
Agoo is in early access. This page describes the feature as it ships to early-access organisations; screens are illustrative.
Agoo sends messages when something needs someone's attention: a visitor has arrived, a pass is ready, a booking is tomorrow, a parcel is waiting. You decide which channels it uses and in what order, in Console → Settings → Notifications.
Channels
| Channel | Reaches | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Push | Staff with the Workspace app | Free and unlimited on every plan. Fastest, and carries buttons such as Approve. |
| In-app | People signed in to the console or app | Live updates on screen, such as the on-site list and alerts. |
| SMS | Any phone, including feature phones | Sent through Hubtel, with a second provider for failover. Included each month, then from your wallet. |
| Anyone on WhatsApp | Approved message templates with buttons. Included from Growth; from your wallet on Starter. | |
| Anyone with an email address | Sent through SendGrid. Included each month by plan. |
Actions in SMS, such as approving a visitor or confirming you're safe in a roll call, always use a short link, not a reply. Links work on every network.
WhatsApp messages start for your organisation once Agoo's WhatsApp sender and message templates are approved by Meta. Until then, SMS carries those messages.
What people start with
Each person chooses for themselves in Account → Notifications. Until they do, they get your organisation's defaults. In Console → Settings → Notifications, under Alerts to your team, choose for each alert whether people start with SMS, Email or both:
| Alert | Goes to |
|---|---|
| A visitor has arrived | The host |
| A visitor needs an answer | The host |
| Bookings (four alerts) | The host: a booking to answer, new, moved or cancelled |
| A delivery is waiting | The person the package is for |
| A check-in is on hold | The site's security leads (or Owners and Admins if none) |
- A person's own choice always wins. Once someone saves Account → Notifications, changing a default doesn't change theirs.
- WhatsApp is always each person's choice. It's never switched on for them, so it isn't one of the defaults.
- Each alert keeps SMS or email on, so nobody who hasn't chosen misses it.
Fallback chains
A fallback chain is the order Agoo tries channels in, and when it moves to the next one. Set one for each alert under Alerts to your team, and one for passes, approvals and booking messages under Messages to visitors and guests.
- Order: any order of WhatsApp, SMS and email. WhatsApp is only tried for people who chose it, and visitors get only the channels they asked for.
- Move to the next channel: Only if it fails (the default), or when a message isn't delivered within 2, 5, 10, 15, 30 or 60 minutes.
Agoo moves on when a message fails, for example a wrong number or a WhatsApp number that isn't on WhatsApp, or when SMS or WhatsApp hasn't confirmed delivery in time. Email doesn't report delivery, so a chain moves on from email only if it fails. A late message isn't withdrawn, so someone may get both, and each is paid for as usual. Each message shows its delivery status per channel: queued, sent, delivered and, where the channel reports it, read.
If a messaging provider has a problem, Agoo may pause SMS or WhatsApp for a while. Messages then go by the next channel in your chain straight away, life-safety alerts included, and nothing is lost; Settings → Notifications says so while it lasts, and your settings stay as they are.
Push to the Workspace app joins the chains when the apps ship (P5 and P6). Roll call's "Are you safe?" always tries every channel it can, whatever the chains say.
Who gets what
| Message | Goes to |
|---|---|
| Visitor arrived, approval needed | The host |
| Invitation and QR pass | The visitor |
| Booking confirmations and reminders | The person who booked, and the host |
| Delivery waiting | The recipient |
| Watchlist match | Security |
| Roll call | Everyone on site |
| Leave request | The approver |
| Scheduled report | The roles, Owners and Admins you choose (by email only) |
People choose their own in Account → Notifications in the Console (and later in the Workspace app): which of WhatsApp, SMS and email each alert uses, and their own quiet hours. For example, a host can choose WhatsApp instead of SMS. See Your profile and notifications.
Quiet hours
Quiet hours hold alerts until they end, on the clock of the site the alert is about. Set them for your organisation under Quiet hours in Console → Settings → Notifications: they apply to people who haven't set their own. Security holds and roll calls always come through straight away.
When the wallet runs out
When your allowance and wallet can't pay for an SMS or WhatsApp message, Agoo sends it by email instead. Turn off Send by email instead to skip such messages; each skipped message is recorded with the reason. Roll call always falls back.
Scheduled reports
A scheduled report is an email with a day's or a week's visits in numbers: visits, visitors, walk-ins, no-shows, late arrivals, the typical visit and wait, the busiest day, hour and site, and who's on site now. It links to the same period in Reports, where you can see the rest and export it.
Add a report
In Console → Settings → Notifications, under Scheduled reports, select Add a report.
Choose when
Every day covers the day before; Every week covers the 7 days before, on the day you choose. Choose the hour it goes, on your organisation's clock, and one site or every site.
Choose who gets it
Tick whole roles that can see visits, such as Security lead or Receptionist, and Owners and Admins by name. Then select Add the report.
- Each person sees their own numbers. A report counts only what Reports shows that person: their sites, and visits within your plan's history.
- Totals, no names. Reports never list visitors, hosts or companies, and have no attachment.
- Anyone can stop one for themselves, from Account → Notifications or the link at the foot of each email. Owners and Admins see who stopped a report, and can't send it to them anyway.
- Up to 20 reports an organisation. Changes are recorded in the audit trail.
Reports go by email. Reports by WhatsApp would need message templates approved by Meta, and aren't offered.
Allowances and usage
| Included each month | Free | Starter | Growth | Pro | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SMS | 20 (once) | 300 | 1,000 | 3,000 | 10,000 pooled |
| WhatsApp messages | — | Wallet | 300 | 1,000 | 5,000 |
| 500 | 2,000 | 10,000 | 50,000 | Fair use | |
| Push | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Console → Settings → Billing shows what you've used this month by channel against your plan's allowance. When an allowance runs out, messages are paid from your prepaid wallet. See Wallet and credits.
Keep SMS short
An SMS of up to 160 plain characters is one message. Longer messages go as two or more and use more of your allowance. Special characters, such as ₵ or emoji, lower the limit per message, so write "GHS" rather than "GH₵" in anything sent by SMS.