Example message flows

These are sample conversations between Headcount Buddy and a player or an organizer (a team captain, coach, club manager, or scrimmage organizer — whoever runs the group). Anything you receive from us will look like one of these patterns. We never send proactive messages to a player who has not first texted START.

This page is split in two sections, both listed below: basic flows cover opt-in, opt-out, and account management — these are implemented today and govern every interaction with Headcount Buddy. Functional flows show what the service will do once a player is enrolled — these describe the design and are not yet implemented.

In the examples below we use “Mike” as the organizer (in his case, a USTA tennis captain) and “Bob” as a player. The same flows apply whether Mike is a formal team captain, a softball coach, or someone who organizes Saturday pickup tennis.

In the transcripts below:

Player / Organizer → is a message from a person to Headcount Buddy.
Headcount Buddy → is our reply.

Basic flows — opt-in and account management

These flows are implemented and govern every interaction with the service.

Player joins the service

Bob’s captain Mike has told Bob to text the team’s Headcount Buddy number to opt in.

Bob → hello

Headcount Buddy → Hi! I’m Headcount Buddy, an agent for sports groups. Reply START to opt in — after that, I’ll text you about your group’s games, scrimmages and other events. Reply HELP for help, STOP to opt out. Msg & data rates may apply.

Bob → START

Headcount Buddy → You’re in! Headcount Buddy will text you about games, scrimmages and other events. You’re a player on Lake Tigers. Msg frequency varies, msg & data rates may apply. Reply HELP for help, STOP to opt out.

After Bob replies START, we record his consent. No message is sent to him until that point.

The opt-in confirmation names the team(s) the organizer has already enrolled Bob on. A player who texts START before any organizer has rostered them sees a generic version that ends …once your organizer adds you to a group. instead. Captains see You're an organizer of {team}., and a captain who’s also rostered on someone else’s team sees a second sentence: You also play on {team}.. Users on multiple teams see the most-active one named plus and N other(s), e.g. You're a player on Lake Tigers and 2 others. — the same shape on both the organizer and player sides.

Organizer enrolls a player who hasn’t opted in yet

This is the captain’s experience. Mike opens his dashboard and adds Bob to the Lake Tigers roster by entering Bob’s name and phone number.

Mike fills in the form and saves.
No SMS is sent to Bob. Bob is in the roster but has no opt-in on record.
The dashboard shows Bob as “pending — waiting for opt-in.”
Mike tells Bob in person or in their group chat: “Hey Bob, text START to +1 (425) 552-8339 to get on the team’s RSVP system.”
Bob does so (see the previous flow).

Player opts out

Any player can opt out at any time from any state.

Bob → STOP

Headcount Buddy → You’re opted out of Headcount Buddy. Reply START to resubscribe.

After this, no proactive messages go to Bob unless he texts START. The organizer sees his status change in the dashboard.

STOPALL, QUIT, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END, OPTOUT, and REVOKE all do the same thing as STOP.

Note: your mobile carrier may also block messages on top of our own opt-out, and may keep them blocked until you reply START. Because of that, the confirmation you actually see for STOP (or START) may be sent by your carrier rather than by us, and may differ from the wording above. Carrier behavior varies and we don’t control it.

INFO / HELP

INFO or HELP returns a brief summary, the START/STOP keywords, links to Terms/Privacy, and the support email. The same reply ships regardless of your opt-in state — opted in, opted out, or never engaged:

Bob → HELP

Headcount Buddy → Headcount Buddy helps sports groups coordinate games, scrimmages and other events. Reply START to opt in, STOP to opt out. Problem or feedback? Just text or email help@headcountbuddy.com. Msg & data rates may apply. /legal/terms /legal/privacy

Once opted in, HELP is also where users learn about the feedback channel — anything you text after that is automatically captured. You can email support at any time instead.

Sending feedback

Once opted in, you can text feedback in plain words — no special keyword required. It goes to the team that builds Headcount Buddy, not to your organizer.

Bob → the reminders come way too late to be useful, would love them the night before

Headcount Buddy → Thanks Bob — I’ve passed that along to our team. Appreciate you flagging it.

While Headcount Buddy is in early development, organizers interested in running a test group can sign up for our alpha tester list. ALPHA is processed only after you’ve opted in — if you text ALPHA before opting in, we’ll send you the same welcome message as any other unknown reply (asking you to text START first). Opt in via START, then reply ALPHA:

Jane → START

Headcount Buddy → You’re in! Headcount Buddy will text you about games, scrimmages and other events once your organizer adds you to a group. Msg frequency varies, msg & data rates may apply. Reply HELP for help, STOP to opt out.

Jane → ALPHA

Headcount Buddy → You’re on the Headcount Buddy alpha-tester list — we’ll text you when we open up. Reply HELP for help, STOP to opt out.

If you text ALPHA again while already on the list, that’s fine — we’ll just confirm you’re on it. To leave the list, message us in plain words:

Jane → Take me off the alpha list please

Headcount Buddy → Done — you’ve been removed from the alpha-tester list. Reply HELP for help, STOP to opt out.

Brief outage fallback

If our primary system is briefly unreachable (say, during a deploy or an unexpected error), you may receive a short pre-canned message letting you know we’re temporarily offline and pointing you at help@headcountbuddy.com. Your inbound is not lost — once we’re back up, the agent picks up where you left off and will confirm or re-do whatever you asked for. You don’t need to resend.

Quick reference

Reply	What happens
`START` / `UNSTOP`	Opt in to receive messages (or re-opt-in after a previous opt-out).
`ALPHA`	Add yourself to the alpha-tester list (you must be opted in first via `START`). To leave the list, message us in plain words — e.g. “take me off the alpha list.”
`STOP`, `STOPALL`, `QUIT`, `UNSUBSCRIBE`, `CANCEL`, `END`, `OPTOUT`, `REVOKE`	Opt out. We will not text you again until you reply `START`.
`INFO`, `HELP`	Receive a summary + links to this site.
Anything else	We reply based on what we know about you. If you’re not yet opted in, we’ll prompt you to.

Functional flows — what the service does once enrolled (in active development; below is what your experience will look like once we open up the full service)

These describe the operational work the service will handle for enrolled, opted-in players. They are part of the product design and not yet running.

RSVP request and response

This is what we expect a typical RSVP exchange to look like once the assistant ships.

Headcount Buddy → Bob: Hi Bob! Lake Tigers practice this Sat 10/12 at 9am, City Park courts. Reply YES, NO, or MAYBE. Or tell me anything else — happy to relay to Mike.

Bob → yes

Headcount Buddy → Got it, you’re in for Saturday. See you there.

A more nuanced reply also works:

Headcount Buddy → Bob: Hi Bob! Lake Tigers practice this Sat 10/12 at 9am, City Park courts. Reply YES, NO, or MAYBE.

Bob → yes, but I can skip if you’ve got enough people

Headcount Buddy → Got it — you’re a yes, willing to skip if we have plenty. I’ll let Mike know if it gets tight.

Headcount management

The captain is informed about state and can give instructions.

Headcount Buddy → Mike: Just got one more RSVP — Saturday’s practice is on with 5 players for 2 courts.

Mike → Let’s do one court only.

Headcount Buddy → On it. Bob is a yes but said he’d skip if needed — asking him now.

(A minute later)

Headcount Buddy → Mike: Done. Bob is skipping. We have 4 for one court.

More flows

We’re working on additional coordination flows beyond core RSVP and headcount. We’ll add them here as they ship.

⚠️ Early development. Headcount Buddy is in active development and not yet generally available. The service may be intermittent (responses delayed or unavailable) and may contain bugs.