You can set up a service reminder message to be automatically sent to clients before their services are scheduled to start.
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Check out this video from our Customer Experience team on Enabling Automatic Reminders For Your Facility Services!
Enabling Automatic Service Reminders
Enabling Automatic Service Reminders for your company must be done on a service-by-service basis. This way, you have more control and flexibility over which clients are receiving reminders for their services. For example, if you don't want daily daycare clients to receive reminders for their services but would like your boarding clients to, you only need to enable reminders for your boarding services.
To enable reminders for a service, you first need to navigate to your company's Services List. From here, click Edit on the service you desire clients to receive reminders about:
Note: Automatic Service Reminders can only be enabled for Main Services. They cannot be enabled for Add-On Services.
From the service's Setup tab, under the General heading, locate the Auto Reminder setting. By default, it will be toggled to Disabled. Switch it to Enabled to turn on Automatic Reminders for that service:
Once the setting is enabled, you can use the link included below the setting to navigate to the Settings > Company Settings > Messaging section to configure your messaging for these service reminders. You can customize the exact message that will be sent and set how many days before the service you want the reminder to be sent.
Note: Only one Automatic Service Reminder is sent per invoice, regardless of how many services have the Automated Services Reminder feature enabled.
The message that you can customize in the Messaging section of your Company Settings for these reminders is titled Auto Scheduled Message - Service Reminder:
You can set the number of days before the service that you would like the message to be scheduled at the top of the message:
Once you have set the number of days, you can customize the messaging sent to clients in the provided text box, then click "Save Changes" once you're done making adjustments:
Note: This messaging will apply to all service reminders and cannot be customized on a service-by-service basis.
IMPORTANT: If the client's services are cancelled or deleted, the scheduled message will be deleted automatically as well. However, voiding an invoice does not delete an Automated Service Reminder, and you would need to manually delete those reminders.
How Are Reminders For Uninvoiced Events Handled?
For Uninvoiced Events in Time To Pet Facility, an individual message is scheduled for each event. Instead of showing an invoice number in the message, it will simply display the service name and the date and time that the event is scheduled. The same custom message that is set in the Settings > Company Settings > Messaging section of your company for your Automatic Service Reminders is what will be used for these event-based messages.
When an Uninvoiced Event is added to an invoice, the scheduled reminder for the event is deleted if it hasn't yet been sent. A scheduled message for the invoice is then scheduled (or updated if it already exists) that includes the event, unless it's already past the time that the scheduled message would have been sent.
FAQs
Q: Are Automatic Service Reminders sent by email or push notifications?
They are sent by default as an email notification, but this is a message added to the Client Conversation Feed, so if the client has the Mobile App downloaded and has enabled push notifications, they will get a push notification for that message as well.
Q: Can you edit, reschedule, or cancel an auto-scheduled service reminder?
Yes, they can be edited, rescheduled, or cancelled like a normal scheduled message in the Scheduled tab of the Message Center.
Q: What is the default time these go out?
These messages will be scheduled based on the start time of the service and the number of days set. For example, if you have the reminders to be sent one day prior to services beginning and an event begins at 10AM, the reminder will be sent to the client at 10AM the day before the service is scheduled.
Q: When are Automated Services Reminders sent out? What if multiple services on an invoice all have Automated Service Reminder enabled?
Automatic Service Reminders are sent out based on the first event on an invoice. If that invoice has any services on it with Automatic Services Reminders enabled, a reminder will go out based on the number of days specified above the custom message for the reminder before the first event is scheduled on that invoice. Only one Automatic Service Reminder is sent per invoice, regardless of how many services have the Automatic Service Reminder feature enabled.
Q: Will Automatic Service Reminders be automatically updated or deleted if the service is changed or cancelled?
Yes, when all services on an invoice with Automated Service Reminders enabled are cancelled or deleted, any scheduled service reminder messages for that invoice will automatically be deleted as well. If the first service with reminders enabled is changed or moved to a different invoice, the message will also be updated accordingly. Voiding an invoice will not automatically delete an Automated Service Reminder, and we recommend deleting those manually in such cases.
Q: I just enabled Automatic Service Reminders for a service, but don't see them scheduled for events already on my Scheduler. What's going on?
The Automatic Service Reminder will only be scheduled for services approved or created after reminders are enabled on a service. If you have events on the schedule and would like to ensure Automatic Service Reminders are scheduled for them, you will need to manually schedule messages for those events. Here are some help articles on doing this manually with either an Invoice or Service Confirmation email: How To Email An Invoice & How To Send A Confirmation Email To Your Clients.
Q: I have disabled the Automatic Service Reminder email on a few of my services, but not all of them. Will it still be sent out?
No. The Automatic Service Reminder email is only sent when enabled on a service-by-service basis. A reminder email will need to be sent manually. Here are some help articles on doing this manually with either an Invoice or Service Confirmation email: How To Email An Invoice & How To Send A Confirmation Email To Your Clients.
Q: If an invoice has been paid before an Automatic Service Reminder has been sent out, will a reminder still be sent to the client?
Yes! Whether or not an invoice has been paid in full by the time a reminder is scheduled to be sent, the Automatic Service Reminder will still be sent to the client at the scheduled time to remind them of their upcoming services.