📝 Overview
This guide walks you through setting up and managing text marketing, from signing up for the service to creating and sending marketing campaigns. It also covers text reminder notifications, client responses, prompting clients to opt in, and viewing your text usage and billing.
⛔️ Stop-gap: This feature goes through a verification process with our partner, Twilio. Until verification is complete and clients opt in to text messages, you cannot send text marketing messages.
For any questions, chat with our support team or email us at [email protected].
🚀 Get Started
Use these instructions to set up text marketing for your business.
📲 Sign Up for Text Marketing
Sign up and activate the text marketing service from the desktop software.
Click the Messaging & Marketing drop-down menu, then click Send New Text Blast.
When you are prompted to sign up for text marketing, click Set Up Now!
Sign in with your administrator email and password.
A message shows the pricing for the text marketing service and how many text messages are included.
✍️Note: Additional pricing options are available by calling +1(800) 527-7600.
To continue with the displayed package, click Activate Service.
Go back to the desktop software. A prompt confirms that you have successfully signed up for the text marketing service. Click I'm Done Signing Up Online.
You are now all set up to begin sending text marketing campaigns. Before your clients can receive text marketing campaigns, they first need to opt in to receiving these messages.
📣 Add a Text Marketing Campaign
Choose who receives your campaign, pick and edit a template, and decide when the campaign sends.
Click the Messaging & Marketing drop-down menu, then click Send New Text Blast.
Select the filter criteria you want to use to target the clients you want to send the campaign to, then click Next.
The default text message templates appear. To view a template as a starting point, select it and click Preview Selected. When you find a template you want to use, click Next.
Edit the default template as needed, then click Save Text Message.
Enter the campaign's name in the Campaign Name field and the campaign's description in the Detailed Description field.
Choose the date the e-mail blast should be sent using the calendar tool. Optionally, select the Automatically send this e-mail on a recurring basis bubble and set frequency of recurrence using the Starting on calendar tool. You can also select the end date from the Stopping on calendar tool.
Select the frequency of the campaign to send every ___ day(s), week(s), month(s), or year(s).
Click Turn On Campaign to have your message begin sending to your clients.
The software now starts sending your text marketing campaign to your clients throughout the day.
🆕 Create a Marketing Template
Create your own text message template from scratch or from a pre-designed template.
Click the Messaging & Marketing drop-down menu, then click Manage E-mail & Text Message Templates.
Use the Filter Message Templates options at the top to view the Message Format and Message Type templates you want to view or edit.
Click Create New Template on the right.
In the pop-up that appears, choose the type of message from the drop-down, and choose whether to make a new blank text message or use a pre-designed text template.
✍️Note: We recommend using our templates, since they are designed to look great on both mobile phone screens and desktop or laptop computer screens.
Click Continue.
Choose the template that fits your campaign, or get started on a blank template.
Enter a name for your template. Clients who receive the message do not see this name.
Replace the example text with your own custom message.
⚠️Important: Your message must contain the Company Name, Company Phone, and Unsubscribe placeholders in order to be saved successfully.
To add a placeholder:
Click where you want the placeholder inserted into the body of text.
Click the custom placeholder drop-down and select the one you want to use.
Click Insert.
Click Save Text Template.
✏️ Edit a Marketing Template
To edit a template, go to Messaging & Marketing > Manage E-mail & Text Message Templates. Highlight any template name and click Edit Selected, or double-click the template.
⏰ Text Reminder Notifications
Manage which reminders are sent, customize message templates, and set how client replies are received, all from your messaging settings.
⚙️ Set Up Notifications
Choose which appointment notifications the software sends to your clients and employees.
Click the Messaging & Marketing drop-down menu, then click Configure Appointment Reminders and Notifications.
To set which notifications you send, check the appropriate boxes in each tab at the top of the Edit Appointment Notification Settings window.
✍️Note: Some notifications for clients and employees are enabled by default. You can change any of them for text messages.
To stop sending a message type, go back to this screen and uncheck the box for that message type.
💡 Pro tip: The software comes with built-in default templates for all notifications, each configured for its specific notification type. If you customized templates in a previous version, those templates were preserved and carried into the new version. You can also create your own templates or edit any of the existing professional templates for each notification type.
💬 Modify Text Reminder Templates
To make sure your text reminders send as a single message, keep your template under 160 characters. SMS providers may split messages over this limit into multiple segments, which increases your message count and can lead to overage charges. You can manage character limits from the Messaging & Marketing drop-down menu.
Click the Messaging & Marketing drop-down menu, then click Messaging System Settings.
Click Edit Appointment Notifications.
In the Appointment Reminders tab, click Edit Message next to Text Reminders.
Click Edit Current Text. The lower section displays the Estimated # of text messages and the Estimated length of message.
Modify the body of your message so the Estimated # of text messages says 1 and the Estimated length of message is 160 or lower, so only one text message is sent per reminder.
Click Save Text Message.
Check the Client Notifications tab as well. Use the Edit Text Message buttons for each appointment notification type and repeat the same process for each text template so only one text message is sent.
📥 View Text Responses
If a client responds to a text message, the response does not come directly to your software. There are settings you can configure to decide how you receive those responses.
Click the Messaging & Marketing pull-down menu.
Click Messaging System settings.
Click Edit Company Info.
A web browser opens, and you need to log in to your DaySmart account.
Once you are logged in, click the My Info button at the top.
Click the Edit Messaging Info tab.
The Primary E-mail and Primary Phone you enter here are the destinations where you receive responses. The Primary Phone must be a mobile number that can receive text messages, and the Primary E-mail can be any address. Your clients must respond to this number and not the number the message is sent from. Make sure to include a line of text instructing the client to respond to the <Company Phone> insert item.
✅ Prompt Clients to Opt In for Text Marketing
To comply with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), clients must opt in to receive text marketing campaigns. You can prompt clients to opt in one of two ways: by sending an email campaign, or by sending a text message directly through their client profile.
📧 Send an Opt-In Email
Send an email campaign to all clients who have not yet subscribed to text marketing.
🔔 Update: We have improved how email character counts are estimated by using your actual business name length and the full unsubscribe text. This gives you a more accurate view of your message length for better planning.
Click the Messaging & Marketing drop-down menu, then click Send New E-mail Blast.
Enter a Campaign Name and a Detailed Description. Clients do not see either of these items.
In the When to Send section, choose to send this campaign as a one-time email blast or on a recurring basis. With either option, you can choose when to start sending the campaign. If you choose recurring, you can also set an end date for the recurring message.
In the Who to Send to section, select Send to a targeted list of client and click Select Filter Criteria.
Select Find clients based on customized criteria using purchase history, personal information, and visit history.
Click Next.
Click the Client Options section to expand it.
Check the box for Only include clients who have not subscribed to text marketing. You can select other options as well, but select this option at the very least.
Click Next.
A list of clients who have not opted in to text marketing yet appears. Click OK.
In the What to Send section, click Create a New Template.
Select Use a pre-designed e-mail template, then click Continue.
Scroll to the very bottom of the list and select Text Marketing 1 Marketing. Click OK.
The template that prompts your clients to subscribe to text marketing appears. You can change the subject line and content of the email, but we recommend that you do not edit the section about message and data rates. Any default text containing < and > is automatically filled in by the software when the email is sent to the client. Click Save E-mail Template when you are finished.
Click Turn on Campaign in the bottom right.
The software now begins sending your email to your clients, prompting them to subscribe to your text messaging campaigns.
✍️Note: Once a client subscribes to text messaging campaigns, it can take up to 30 minutes for the change to update in the software.
📱 Send an Opt-In Text Message
Send an opt-in request by text message directly from a client's profile.
⚠️ Warning: With this method, you have to send the opt-in text to each client individually, and each text counts against the number of text messages included in your text marketing package.
Click the Clients drop-down menu, then click Edit Clients.
Double-click the client you want to send the text message to.
In the Text Message section of the General tab, click Text Opt-in.
If you are sure you want to text the client an opt-in request, click Yes.
The client now receives a text message asking them to reply SUBSCRIBE to receive messages. The message also lets them know that message and data rates may apply. Once the client replies SUBSCRIBE, it can take up to 30 minutes for the subscription to become active.
📊 Text Usage & Billing
There are two ways to view your text usage and billing information: through the software, or by logging in to Account Management.
🔔 Update: You can now view the total number of segments each message uses directly in the E-mails Text tab. Your usage data also updates instantly, so you always have an accurate, up-to-date view of your message totals.
🖥️ In the Software
View how many messages are included in your plan and how many you have used.
Click the Messaging & Marketing drop-down menu, then click Messaging System Settings.
Under Messaging Service Usage, click View Details. This shows how many messages are included in your plan, how many have been used, and any overage fees that apply if your used messages exceed what is included.
👤 In Account Management
View your billing and usage details in Account Management.
Log in to Account Management here to access your billing and usage details.
Once you are signed in, click Bill Details on the Overview page, or click the Billing tab to view your payment details.
To view text usage, scroll down to the Services section.
Under Text Marketing, click Manage to view the service breakdown.
