Got a new feature to tell you about. SendRecurring now has a Dead Man’s Switch.

If you’ve never heard of one: it’s a check-in system. You set it up, we email you on a schedule to confirm you’re okay, and if you don’t click the link, we send a message you wrote ahead of time to people you chose. Quiet in the background until it’s needed.

How it works

1. You write a private message (the payload), pick one or more failsafe email addresses, and choose monthly or yearly checks.
2. On that schedule, we email you a “confirm you’re okay” link.
3. Click it and you’re good until the next check. No login required for the click itself.
4. If you don’t confirm, we send a few reminders over about two weeks. Still nothing? Your payload goes out to the failsafe contacts and the switch is marked as triggered.

That’s it. Pretty straightforward.

Encrypted payloads

Your message is encrypted at rest in our database. We only decrypt it when you view or edit the switch, or when it’s actually delivered to your failsafe contacts.

Why bother?

Most of what SendRecurring does is reminders for life’s regular stuff: bills, invoices, meetings, “hey remember to do the thing.” A dead man’s switch is for the other category – stuff you want someone to know if something happens to you. Passwords, instructions, wishes, “here’s where the important folder is,” whatever you wouldn’t want left unsaid.

Plans

• Basic — 1 dead man’s switch
• Pro — up to 3
• Free — not included (you’ll see the button; upgrading unlocks it)

These check-ins, reminders, and failsafe emails do not count against your regular monthly email quota.

Where to find it

Log in, go to Manage, and you’ll see a Dead Man’s Switch button next to New Email / Poll / Text. There’s also a writeup here if you want more detail: https://www.sendrecurring.com/dead-mans-switch

If something’s confusing, broken, or you have ideas for how this should work, please email me.

Happy Sending!

conrad@sendrecurring.com

Due to rising SMS costs, suspected spam, and a proliferation of free accounts, we have reduced the text quota on the Free plan from 5 texts per month to 1 text per month.

We believe that 1 text per month is sufficient for a Free account to validate that the feature works.

Sorry for any inconvenience this has caused.

SendRecurring is more than just a reminder service – it’s a useful tool that can increase your productivity both at work and in your daily life. Here are eight ways some of SR’s users have used recurring emails and texts to make their lives easier.

1. Payroll Submission RequestsWhether payday is every friday, every 1st and 15th of the month, or in other increments, sending a reminder to yourself (or your employees) is a great way to make sure everyone submits their hours on time. SendRecurring has custom scheduling options that allow you to send emails whenever you want. 
2. Rent Reminders to Yourself (or Your Tenants)
   Sometimes the months fly by, and before you know it you’re a day late on rent. Avoid late fees and frustration by sending a monthly reminder a day or two before you need to turn in your rent check. This is also a great tool for landlords who want to send a friendly reminder to tenants. 
3. Weekly or Monthly Meetings
   Remind your co-workers, classmates, church quorums, PTA, or other groups of weekly or monthly meetings. Include any special instructions so they remember to bring important papers, think of questions in advance and do some brainstorming before the event. 
4. Notes to Self for Daily, Weekly, Monthly Tasks
   If you’ve got a client or class whose assignments you turn in on a recurring basis, send yourself repeating reminders. This works great for any daily, weekly, or monthly tasks you need to stay on top of. 
5. Yearly Birthday and Anniversary Messages
   Keep track of friends’ and family members’ birthdays, anniversaries, and other special dates with a yearly reminder. Simply set the email up to send once a year, and you’ll never forget to buy a card again! 
6. Remind Clients to Pay Invoices
   Sometimes clients get busy and forget to pay for services rendered. Send a professional reminder to clients of unpaid invoices. 
7. Self-Help like Fitness Reminders, Inspiring Messages
   Stay inspired by reminding yourself to do your daily workout, make healthy meal choices, call a loved one, or keep a happy demeanor. Pick a mantra and send it to yourself every morning or once a week to feel the positive vibes.
8. Receive More Votes
   Social media contests are all the rage, but it can be annoying to both you and your friends to keep sharing the same link over and over. Instead, set up a recurring email reminding them to vote daily, and include your link in the body of the email.

Take advantage of all the ways recurring emails can help make your life easier! Whether you’re sending reminders to your contacts or to yourself, you can see an increase in productivity.

Start sending reminders with a free SendRecurring account here.

If you’ve got a success story from using SendRecurring, email us to be featured on the blog!

Many of you have contacted me regarding a bug when attempting to save an edited email. This was an error following some recent updates that were implemented in the past week and has been resolved. You can again edit your scheduled messages. My apologies for any inconvenience.

Other updates:

• Timezones can now be manually selected. SendRecurring will still auto-select it’s “best guess” as to what timezone you are in (based on your browser’s system time) but you can override that with the dropdown now
• Daily recurring emails can no be scheduled to send on a 1 through 40 day cycle. Previously you could only select between 1 and 5 days for a cycle. This adds extra functionality and flexibility to the system
• Various tooltip and position changes

That’s all for now. Let me know if you have any comments or suggestions.

SendRecurring has sent over 100,000 emails now. Unbeleivable!

Happy Sending

Conrad F.