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Client SMS Notifications
Client SMS Notifications

How to set up your client SMS notifications for bookings, appointment reminders and thank you messages

Caro Syson avatar
Written by Caro Syson
Updated over 2 years ago

In your User Profile settings there's a Notification area where you can customise your SMS notifications.

All SMS messages sent are required to be purchased in bundles Click here for more details

All SMS messages are sent centrally from POCKET PA so your clients will not be able to send any response.

If you want them to reply to you, mention this in the SMS message you are sending and provide a number for them to reach you on.

  • To customise your SMS Notifications to clients, go to your Client Notification Area under your User Profile

NEW: VERIFYING YOUR ACCOUNT

Due to recent malicious attempts from a small minority trying to misuse Pocket PA, we are now verifying all user accounts before any messages can be sent out. This additional step has enhanced the security of Pocket PA for all users.
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Please click on the Green button to send a request for verification

- this will usually happen very quickly but within 24 hours at the latest.

  • To switch SMS notifications to ON (ONCE YOUR ACCOUNT IS VERIFIED), click the ON/OFF switch at the very top.

NOTE: Until your account is verified for the first time, this button will remain greyed out and inactive

  • SMS reminders are now activated to send ONLY once you have chosen which category of SMS messages you want to go out and once you have bought SMS credits.

    NOTE: ONLY clients with phone numbers recorded in their client details will get these SMS notifications.

  • There are 3 categories of SMS messages that can be sent to your clients:

    1. Booking Confirmation

    2. Appointment Reminder

    3. Thank you Message

  • Each category of message can be switched ON or OFF independently and each category of message can be customised and bespoke.

Booking Confirmation

If this category is switched ON, then this message will be sent out to your client AT THE TIME of adding the appointment to your calendar

  • The SMS template shows what text will be showing in their SMS message. You can use Tags to include appointment details inside each message.

PROTIP ON TAGS: these are clever ways that individual information is pulled into the SMS message relating to an appointment or client. You set the TAG by copying from the list on the right and it will change automatically each time

Example: APPOINTMENT_DATE_T|IME e.g. Appointment date and time and Pocket PA will pull that information in each time correctly for the specific appointment it relates to

ALWAYS be sure to carefully copy the exact TAG to the SMS template for it to work

Remember to ALWAYS SAVE CHANGES after any updates for your templates or switching between the ON/OFF settings for each category.

Appointment Reminder SMS

Set up as above for the SMS message

  • The SMS template shows what text will be showing in their SMS message. You can use tags to include appointment details inside messages.

  • Whilst confirmation messages are sent AT the time of booking, with appointment reminder messages, you can specify from the drop down how far in advance of the appointment you want the reminder to be sent.

  • Select your time BEFORE the start of your appointment in

    • Hours

    • Days

    • Weeks

Example: Set at 1 Day if you want your message to reach your client 24 hours before the time of their appointment.

PROTIP: Sending too far in advance e.g. 1 week, might mean they forget, but also sending too close to the appointment time e.g. 1 hour, might mean they don't have enough time to get to you. You will know what works best for your clients!

Remember to ALWAYS SAVE CHANGES after any updates for your templates or switching between the ON/OFF settings for each category.

Thank you message

Set up as above for the SMS message

  • The SMS template shows what text will be showing in their SMS message. You can use tags to include appointment details inside messages.

  • For appointment Thank you messages, you can specify from the drop down how long after the end of the appointment you want the reminder to be sent.

  • Select your time AFTER of your appointment ends in

    • Hours

    • Days

    • Weeks

Example: Set at 1 Day after if you want your message to reach your client 24 hours after their appointment finishes.

PROTIP 1: If a service you deliver might take a few days for them to feel its great effects, you may want to wait a bit longer to send the Thank you message to ensure they are feeling the full benefits!

PROTIP 2: Thank you messages are also a great place to ask for a review to build up your reputation so why not pop in a link to where your clients can leave a review

e.g. Google reviews are simple to set up and will help you get found more easily and allow new clients to hear about your work.

Remember to ALWAYS SAVE CHANGES after any updates for your templates or switching between the ON/OFF settings for each category.

History

  • This tab will allow you to check your message history to ensure its been delivered to your client as proof that you notified them. (Handy if they might say they didn't get reminded and you want to charge a missed appointment fee!)

  • The delivery status of the message shows in Red, please double check the clients phone number as the message was not able to be delivered.

  • The number of credits used per message sent will also be shown here so it helps you to manage your SMS credit balance and bundles needed.

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