Shared Popups
Message Customers Popup
How to email and text customers from one popup: choosing how they’re sent, using your templates, seeing who gets what, previewing each message and sending.
Message Customers is where you email and text customers. It opens from wherever you’ve chosen who to message, shows who gets what and why anyone won’t be messaged, and lets you read each message filled in for the actual customer before anything is sent.
Opening It
- Jobs and Customers lists: Select the rows, then More actions and Message Customers.
- Worksheets: Message Customers in the worksheet’s actions, for the jobs on it, or the ones you’ve ticked.
- Debts: Select debts and click Message Customers.
- A job or customer: Message customer on its detail screen.
- Communications: New Message, then choose the customers in Who do you want to message?.
- For something in particular: Price rises, payment links, Direct Debit setup links and invoices open it ready to go, on the templates written for them.
Under the title it says what you chose, such as 12 jobs selected. Each job gets its own message, filled in with that job’s details, so a customer with two jobs selected gets two. Each customer chosen gets one.
Choosing How
The popup starts by asking How do you want to send them? Pick one of the four ways, then Continue to write the messages. Each way says who would get what, such as 9 by email · 3 by text · 1 won’t be messaged.
- Email: Everyone with an email address gets an email.
- Text: Everyone with a mobile number gets a text.
- Email, or text: An email if they have an address, otherwise a text.
- Text, or email: A text if they have a mobile number, otherwise an email.
- Customers’ own choices: With Email, or text and Text, or email, a customer’s preferred way comes first. A customer who has asked not to be emailed or texted isn’t, whichever you choose. Both are set on the customer, under how they like to be contacted.
- Send the texts: In the Work Planner app on your phone, a way that sends texts asks how they go: Through Work Planner, using your SMS credits, From your phone or WhatsApp. Texts you send yourself don’t use credits. The app remembers which you chose for next time.
- Not enough SMS credits: If you pick a way whose texts go through Work Planner and need more SMS credits than you have, it turns red and says how many they need, with a link to buy more. Until the text is written, each text is counted as one credit. In the app, choose From your phone or WhatsApp to send them without credits.
- Remembered: The popup starts on the way you used last, unless it was opened for something in particular.
- Changing it later: The way you picked is shown at the top while you write, along with how the texts go in the app. Change takes you back to the four ways, keeping what you’ve written.
- Invoices: An invoice is only ever emailed, so the popup goes straight to the email.
The Email
- Template: Choose one of your email templates, or Write your own. A template fills in the subject and the email, and you can change either for this send; the template itself stays as it is.
- Subject: What the email is about. To add a detail such as the customer’s first name, click in the subject and use Variables in the toolbar.
- The email: Write it with the same formatting as the Simple editor: headings, bold, lists, links, pictures and tables. Variables in the toolbar adds details such as the customer’s name or the job’s due date, filled in for each customer. It adds them to the email or the subject, whichever you were last typing in.
- Attach a document: Adds a PDF, such as a job sheet, made for each customer. Only templates set to be emailed are offered.
- Send me a copy of each email: Sends you a copy of every email as it goes.
The Text
- Template: Choose one of your text messages, or Write your own.
- Message: Write the text, adding details with Insert variable. Under it is how many characters it has and how many texts it takes, before the details are filled in.
What They’ll Get
- Who gets what: How many go by email and by text, and how many won’t be messaged.
- Who won’t be messaged: Open it to see each one and why, such as No email address, Asked not to be texted or Belongs to another business.
- More than one email address: Customers with several saved addresses are listed so you can choose which each is emailed at. With one customer, it’s a Send to choice. To use an address the customer doesn’t have, add it to the customer first.
- The preview: Each message as the customer will get it, one at a time: an email with its subject, or a text as it reads on a phone. Above it is who it’s for, how it’s going, the address an email goes to, and 1 of 12. Use the arrows to step through them.
Sending Texts
- Through Work Planner: Texts go from Work Planner and use your SMS credits. The popup says how many they’ll use, filled in for each customer, and won’t send if you haven’t enough. In the app, Change takes you back to send them from your phone instead.
- From your phone or WhatsApp: In the Work Planner app, you can send the texts yourself instead, chosen under Send the texts when you choose how. After you press send, the popup steps through them one at a time, opening each in your messages app or WhatsApp. No credits are used.
Sending
The send button says what will go, such as Send 9 emails and 2 texts. It stays off until the email has a subject and the text is written, for whichever are being sent. Messages go out in the background and show in Communications, along with any replies.
Links and Invoices
- Payment and Direct Debit links: Sending a payment link or a Direct Debit setup link opens the popup on your Payment link or Direct Debit invite email and text, with the link filled in. In emails the link can be clicked.
- Links made as you send: Use a template with a payment or Direct Debit link anywhere, such as from the Jobs list, and Work Planner makes the link for each customer when you send. A link a customer already has and hasn’t used yet is sent again instead. The preview shows an example link until then.
- Who can’t have a link: Customers who already pay by Direct Debit aren’t sent a setup link, jobs that owe nothing aren’t sent a payment link, and making either needs GoCardless connected and an email address for the customer. Anyone left out is listed under Who won’t be messaged.
- Invoices: Emailing an invoice opens the popup as Email invoice. It only sends email, to the invoice’s customer, on your Invoice email, with the invoice attached as a PDF.
Who Can Use It
Anyone allowed to email or text customers. Each way is only offered if you’re allowed it and your plan includes it. When the jobs you chose all belong to one business, the messages are sent as that business, with its templates.
Related articles
- Email Message Editor: Writing the email templates you choose here.
- Text Message Editor: Writing the text messages you choose here.
- Communications Screen: Where sent messages and replies show.
- Print Documents Popup: Printing documents for the same jobs and customers.
- SMS Settings: How texts are sent from your account.