What you do, start to finish
Pick a plan based on how many people you need to reach. Name your event, which is what appears at the front of the text, so keep it short. Choose the date. Write the message or press the button and let the AI draft one. Pay by card.
That is the whole setup and it genuinely takes about a minute. There is no account, no password and no card kept on file.
What you get back is a link that looks like zestytext.com/join/ZT-ABCD-1234, and a QR code of the same thing. That link is the only thing standing between you and a full list.
How people actually get on your list
You cannot upload anyone. That is deliberate, and it is the part first-time senders find strangest.
Instead you share the link. People tap it, see your event name, enter their own phone number, and they are on the list. Nobody is added without doing that themselves.
It means your list is built from people who chose to be there, which is what keeps the whole thing legal and is also why the messages actually get delivered. The rules behind consent covers why it works this way.
The step that takes real time
Setting it up takes a minute. Filling the list takes days. That gap is where almost every first send goes wrong.
People sign up when they next happen to see your link, not the moment you send it. Someone who gets the link on Tuesday might scan it on Thursday. Someone who sees a printed code signs up when they next walk past it.
So share the link the day you get it, put it somewhere people stand still, and give it at least a few days before your send date. Where to put a QR code so people scan it is the practical version of this.
What the text looks like when it arrives
It arrives as an ordinary text from a normal number, not a group thread. The format is fixed: ZestyText, then your event name in capitals, then your message, then a line telling them how to stop.
So a message reads: ZestyText: SARAH'S WEDDING: Ceremony moved indoors, same time, same address. Reply STOP to end.
The whole thing has to fit in 160 characters, including your event name and the stop line. A short event name leaves you more room to write.
What to expect afterwards
Each person gets their own private message. Nobody sees anyone else's number and nobody can reply to the group. If somebody does reply, it comes back to you alone.
You can see who signed up, read what is queued to go out, and stop a scheduled text any time up to an hour before it fires.
If you want to text the same group again later, you can, and it is a separate payment at the same plan price. How the cost works out over a year covers the maths if you expect to send regularly.