Communications Booster is an add-on for Business Pro, Flex and Max plans. Without it, reminder and notification texts still go out one way on your plan. With it, you get a dedicated +61 mobile number that customers can save and text back, an inbox with one conversation per pet owner, delivery status on every message you send, and extra message credits each month. An Enterprise plan includes 2-way messaging, with a number for each location.
The number is not assigned the moment you activate. Australian telecommunications rules require your business to be verified before a mobile number can be issued, so the number goes live after the verification is approved.
The contact card customers save
Once the number is active, Petboost asks each customer in the pet owner app to save your business as a contact. The prompt shows on the booking confirmation, each appointment, their home screen, a membership confirmation and after they send a form. Saving the number is what lets your texts through, instead of the phone filtering an unknown number.
The contact card they download carries your logo, the number texts come from, your other phone number, your email, your website, your Instagram and Facebook, your address, your usual hours, your booking page and a booking link for each of their pets by name.
The customer can tap Done to close the prompt for now, or Don't show again. After they download the card, the prompt does not come back. They can save it again any time from Profile, under communication preferences.
To see whether a customer saved your card, open the customer, then Pet & Owner Details, Preferences. Saved your contact card shows the date they downloaded it, or that they chose not to save it.
The prompt shows only while the number is active. There is nothing to switch on.
Activate Communications Booster
Activate it when you want customers to be able to text you back.
Open Settings, then SMS.
On the card that reads Communications Booster is off, select Activate Communications Booster.
Select Turn on Booster.
Fill in the verification form that opens, as in the next section, or select Set up later to finish it from SMS another time.
On Trial or Calendar Lite, the card reads Communications Booster needs a Pro, Flex or Max plan and its button is See plans. One-way reminder and notification texts still send on those plans.
Your inbox is Messages in the sidebar, or Messages & Calls once you activate Call Catcher. Until the number is live, Messages shows where the verification is up to, with a button back to SMS. Once the Booster is on, a messages button with your unread count also sits at the top of every screen.
Verify your business
Verification is what gets you the number. You need your legal business name, your ABN or ACN, your street address and one business registration document.
Open Settings, then SMS.
If the form is not already open, select Get your number under Your Dedicated Number on the Communications Booster card.
Under Business Details, enter the Legal Business Name exactly as it appears on your business registration.
Enter the ABN / ACN.
Enter the Street Address shown on your registration document.
Optional: enter Address Line 2 (optional).
Enter City / Suburb and Postcode, then choose the State. Country is locked to Australia.
Under Business Registration Document, select Choose document and attach the document. Once a file is attached, the button reads Replace document.
Tick the declaration that the information matches your official business records.
Tick I acknowledge and agree.
Select Submit for Verification.
The form's heading reads Verify your business to get your number on a first submit, Verification needs attention when the last review was not approved, and Request your dedicated number when your business is already verified. After a rejection the button reads Re-submit Verification. When your business is already verified, the document section is gone and the button reads Request Number: confirm your details and submit, with no document to upload.
As you type the ABN, the form checks it against the ABR and shows the registered name under the field. A cancelled ABN cannot be verified.
Your entity | The document to attach |
A company | An ASIC company extract from ASIC Connect |
Anything else | Your ABN Lookup record, printed to PDF, from ABN Lookup |
Trap: The document must be a PDF, JPEG or PNG up to 5MB, dated within the last 12 months, and must not use a PO box. The legal name and address on the form must match the document character for character.
Reviews are usually approved within 1-3 business days, and the number activates automatically once approved. Petboost emails the business email on your profile when the review is decided, or when the number is ready after a Request Number submit. If your business has no email yet, the form reads Add a business email in Settings before you can send this. and the submit button stays off.
Super Admin only: the dedicated number card also has Super Admin: Manual Assignment, with Phone Number (E.164) and Assign Number.
Verification and number status
The Communications Booster card on SMS shows where the verification and the number are up to. The page checks for updates on its own, so you can leave and come back.
The card shows | What it means | What to do |
Your business is being verified | The application is in review. Reviews are usually approved within 1-3 business days | Nothing. The number activates automatically once approved |
Your number is being set up | Verification is approved and Petboost is issuing the number. This usually takes under 30 minutes | Nothing. If the last attempt did not complete, Petboost retries every 30 minutes and the team is notified |
Verification needs attention | The application was not approved. The card shows the reason | Update the details so they match your document, then select Re-submit Verification |
Number setup failed | The number request did not complete | Select Try again if it is shown, or Message us |
When the number is live, the card shows it with a copy button and the word Live. The number can send and receive messages.
If the card says your account is on the older text provider, select Message us. The team moves the account first, and then Get your number appears on the card.
Re-submit a verification that needs attention
When a review is not approved, the card reads Verification needs attention and shows the reason.
Open Settings, then SMS.
On Verification needs attention, select Re-submit Verification.
Change the fields the reason names so they match your document.
Select Re-submit Verification.
Bring your number from your old software
If your old booking software gave you an Australian mobile number starting with 04, you can ask to bring it across instead of getting a new one. It depends on your old provider releasing it, so it is not guaranteed.
Keep your old software active until Petboost says your number is live. If the number is cancelled first, it can be gone for good.
These numbers cannot move, and you get a new number instead:
A number with a SIM in a phone, including a Telstra, Optus or Vodafone mobile. Moving it would stop the SIM working
A landline, 1300 or 1800 number, because they cannot send texts
A number starting with +1
A word sender such as your business name, or a number your old software keeps hidden
After you activate Communications Booster, select Bring my number from my old software. On SMS it sits beside Get your number.
Choose the software that gave you the number, enter the number and answer the two questions.
Tick the box to keep your old software active, then select Bring my number.
Verify your business, as in the section above. Every Australian number needs it, new or moved.
On SMS, copy the email shown, or select Open in my email app, and send it to your old provider from the email address on that account. Then select I've sent it.
When your old provider replies, paste their whole reply into the box and select Send their reply.
The card on SMS then shows each step with its date: the email sent, the reply, the details sent to move the number, the move date and the number going live. Petboost adds a note when there is something for you to do, and notifies you as each step happens. The move usually takes 1 to 4 weeks, mostly waiting on the old provider.
On the move date, text your number from your own mobile. When it lands in Messages, your number is live and you can cancel your old software. Until then, reminder texts keep going out one way, and customers who text your number still reach your old software.
To stop and take a new number instead, select Get a new number instead on the card, then Get a new number.
Find a conversation
Messages lists every SMS conversation on your dedicated number, one per pet owner, with the most recent activity first.
Open Messages.
To search, type a name, a phone number or words from the last message in the search box.
To narrow the list, choose a filter.
Filter | Shows |
All | Conversations that are not archived |
Unread | Conversations with unread messages |
Unanswered | Conversations where the last message is from the pet owner |
Starred | Conversations you have starred |
Archived | Conversations you have archived |
On All and Archived, switch on Hide automated to hide conversations that hold only automated messages. Unread, Unanswered and Starred leave those out already.
Star, archive or mark a conversation unread
Open Messages.
To star a conversation, select the star on it. It then shows under Starred.
To mark it unread or archive it, open the menu beside the star and choose Mark as unread or Archive.
An open conversation has the same star and menu in its header. The Messages tab on an appointment, a customer or a pet has the star too, beside Open in Messages, and starring there puts the conversation under Starred the same way. Archiving removes the conversation from All. To bring it back, open Archived, open the conversation's menu and choose Unarchive. A conversation marked unread stays in Unread until you open it again.
Send a message
Open Messages and select the conversation.
Type in the compose field.
Press Enter, or select the send arrow beside the field. The arrow has no text label. Shift and Enter starts a new line.
Start a conversation with a new customer
Start one when the pet owner does not have a thread yet.
Open Messages and select New.
Under To, search by name, phone or email, and choose the customer.
Type the text under Message.
Select Send Message.
Trap: If the panel shows This customer replied STOP, they opted out of announcements and marketing. Replying about a booking is fine, but do not send them promotions.
Send a photo
Photo messages let you send photos and PDFs in a text, and see the ones customers send you. They need your dedicated number to be active, and they use SMS credits: each photo or PDF uses the number of credits shown beside Photo messages on SMS. Photo messages are off until you turn them on.
Photos are compressed to fit, and a PDF must be under 480 KB. If there are not enough credits left for the whole message, the composer says how many it needs.
When photo messages are off and a customer texts you a photo, Petboost cannot show it. A notice, A customer sent you a photo, appears when you open the conversation. An account owner sees Turn on photo messages on it; anyone else is asked to get an account owner to turn them on in SMS. Once they are on, ask the customer to send it again. If the switch shows Photo messages are not available on this number, message us.
Message the owner from a booking
To text an owner about a visit without leaving the calendar, start the message from the booking. This needs an active Communications Booster or an Enterprise plan.
On Appointments, right-click the booking and select Message owner.
On Mission Control, open the booking and select Message followed by the owner's first name.
The thread opens beside the screen you are on, with a card at the top naming the pet, the service, the day and the booking's status.
Read a thread
Each thread holds the full conversation in order, with timestamps. Messages you send sit on one side and the pet owner's on the other. A message your team typed carries the sender's name, and every message you send shows its delivery status: a tick for sent, a ticked circle for delivered, and a red mark for failed.
Automated messages, such as appointment reminders, payment alerts and confirmation requests, sit in the same thread as your own messages, so you always see what the customer has received. Each carries a badge naming what it was, such as Appointment Reminder, Booking Confirmation or Payment Link, and View appointment opens the booking it came from. Customer replies to automated messages land in the thread too, so your team can follow up from the same place.
To hide automated messages in the open conversation, switch on Hide automated in its header. On a phone it is in the conversation's menu, where it reads Show automated while they are hidden. If older messages exist, select Load earlier messages at the top of the thread.
Draft a reply with Grazi
Draft with Grazi sits beside the compose field in an open conversation. It opens Grazi with the recent thread and drafts a reply for you to review. Grazi only drafts when you select the button. It does not write replies when a message arrives.
Open Messages and select the conversation.
Select Draft with Grazi. If you have already typed a reply, the button reads Improve with Grazi.
Review the draft in the Grazi panel.
If the conversation is still open, select Insert to put the draft in the compose field, or copy it yourself.
Edit the text if you need to, then send it.
Automated messages, such as reminders and payment alerts, are left out of what Grazi reads. Sending the reply still uses your credits.
Call Catcher Booster
Call Catcher Booster is a power-up on top of Communications Booster. Calls to your dedicated number ring your own phone, and a call you cannot take is answered with a booking link or a voicemail. One recovered call, or one booking link sent, in a billing cycle covers the monthly price. It has its own call minutes: an allowance each billing cycle, then minute packs that never expire. Call minutes and SMS credits are separate.
Any Communications Booster business can switch Call Catcher Booster on itself (see Activate Call Catcher below). Once it is active, Messages becomes Messages & Calls, and everything Call Catcher does is under Calls at the top of that page.
What happens when a call comes in
When a customer rings your dedicated number:
During your opening hours, your phone rings. When you answer, you hear who is calling before you are connected: a client's name with their first pet and its breed, such as "Sarah Mitchell, Kiwi the Cavoodle's owner, is calling you", or "A new caller is calling your Petboost number" for anyone else. Press 1 to answer. With the answering menu on, press 2 to send the caller straight to your voicemail. If nobody presses a key, the call is not put through, so your phone's own voicemail never answers it. The caller sees your dedicated number, never your own phone number.
If nobody takes the call and the answering menu is on, the caller hears your greeting: press 1 for a text with your booking link, or press 2 to leave a voicemail. If the answering menu is off, the call ends and the caller gets the missed-call text back, if that is on.
Outside your opening hours with the answering menu on, the caller hears the greeting straight away and your phone does not ring. Opening hours come from Opening hours, including public holidays and special hours. Calls shows the same week under When your phone rings, where you can change it. If you have not set opening hours, calls always ring first.
If there are no call minutes left, the caller hears a busy tone.
Activate Call Catcher
Activate Call Catcher once Communications Booster is on. Only an owner or admin can activate it; anyone else sees Ask your account owner to activate Call Catcher.
Open Settings, then SMS.
On the Call Catcher Booster card, select Activate Call Catcher. The same button is on the Call Catcher card under Calls, then Settings.
In Get started with Call Catcher, check the monthly price, today's charge for the days left in this billing cycle, and the call minutes included each billing cycle.
Optional: select Have a discount code? and enter it under Discount code.
Select Activate Call Catcher.
Turn calls on, as in the next section. Activating does not start ringing your phone on its own.
The card shows a message instead of the button when something has to happen first:
The card shows | What to do |
Call Catcher needs a Pro, Flex or Max plan | Select See plans and upgrade, then come back |
Call Catcher needs the Communications Booster | Select Activate Communications Booster. Calls arrive on the dedicated number it gives you |
Call Catcher is not available on your number | Select Message us. Your number is on our older text provider and the team moves it |
Once active, the Call Catcher Booster card on SMS shows Active and Manage calls, which opens Calls.
Set up Call Catcher
Open Messages & Calls, select Calls at the top, then Settings.
Under Call Catcher, select Turn on. Calls ring the phone on your Business profile. If no phone is saved there, select Add your business phone first.
Optional: Under When nobody answers, turn on Answering menu and Text back a missed call.
Optional: Under When your phone rings, set Longest call to cap how many minutes one call can run. The default is 30 minutes. As the Forwarded calls are yours note under it says, every minute of a forwarded call uses your call minutes, and you are responsible for the calls you forward.
If Call Catcher is not active yet, the Call Catcher card shows Activate Call Catcher instead of Turn on. Only an owner or admin can activate it or change its settings. To stop calls ringing through without deactivating, select Turn off.
The Calls view
Calls works like the phone app on a mobile. The call log runs down the side: every call in and out of your Petboost number, newest first, with missed calls in red. Select Missed to see only missed calls and voicemails. Select a call to see every call with that person, play their voicemails, and Call or Message them. The panel beside their calls shows the contact's pets, owner details, action items and upcoming bookings, the same as beside a Messages thread.
Keypad is where you make a call. Settings holds everything Call Catcher does:
Call Catcher: whether it is on, which number clients call and which phone it rings, your call minutes left, and minute packs to buy. Manage has Deactivate Call Catcher.
When your phone rings: your opening hours, day by day. Switch a day on, set the times, then select Save hours. With the answering menu on, your phone rings only during these hours. With it off, your phone rings at any hour. There are no separate ringing hours: change when it rings by changing your opening hours. Public holidays and special dates still apply, and those are edited on their own pages.
When nobody answers: the answering menu, your greeting, and the missed-call text back.
Number on your public profile: whether pet owners see your business phone or your Communications Booster number.
Record your own greeting
The standard greeting says: "Hi, thanks for calling. We can't get to the phone right now. Press 1, and we'll text you a link to book online. Or press 2, to leave a message." To use your own voice instead:
In Calls, select Settings, then under When nobody answers, select Record greeting by phone. Petboost calls your business phone.
Answer, say your greeting after the tone, then press the hash key. Up to 30 seconds is recorded.
Listen to the playback, then press 1 to keep it, or 2 to record it again.
If you record your own greeting, say what pressing 1 and pressing 2 do. To go back to the standard greeting, select Use the standard greeting. The recording call uses call minutes.
The booking link text
If a caller presses 1, Petboost texts them a link to your booking form, even if they were texted in the last 24 hours. The missed-call text back sends the same text at most once a day per caller. Neither text is sent to a withheld number, a landline, or a customer who has replied STOP.
If the caller is a customer with a past visit, the text names their pet and last service, and the link opens the booking form with both already chosen. That text uses two or more SMS credits: usually two or three, depending on the length of your business, pet and service names, and more when the visit had four or more pets. For anyone else, the text is your Text back wording, or the standard wording if you have not saved one. Wording with no link in it has your booking link added to the end, which can take it to two SMS credits.
Voicemails
A voicemail appears in Messages in the caller's conversation, with a player to listen to it. To make a hard-to-hear message clearer, select Magic enhance, which tunes the playback and leaves the recording as it was left. Petboost also texts your business phone with a link to the conversation. That text uses one SMS credit. A voicemail can be up to 2 minutes long.
Make a call
Calls go out from your Petboost number, so the customer never sees your own phone number. Petboost rings your phone first, then the customer.
Open Messages & Calls, select Calls, then Keypad.
Search for a customer by name, or type a number, then select the green call button. You can also select Call on someone in the call log, Call back in a conversation's actions menu in Messages, or New Call in the menu on your Petboost number at the top of the screen, then choose the customer under To and select Call. Call back and New Call show Calling you now once Petboost is ringing your phone.
Answer your phone. After a short pause you hear "You've begun a call from your Petboost account to" the customer's name, their first pet and its breed. Press 1 to continue the call, or hang up to cancel. If you do not press 1, the customer is not called.
While the call is under way, Calls shows each of these steps. The call appears in the call log when it ends.
Only numbers in your own country can be called. To call someone who is not a customer yet, type their number on the keypad.
A call you make uses call minutes at 2x, because Petboost places two calls: one to your phone and one to the customer. A 3 minute call uses 6 minutes. If there are not enough minutes left for one minute of call, Petboost shows the reason instead of calling.
Use the phone menu in the header
Once your dedicated number is active, it shows at the top of every page, beside the location switcher on a computer and in the sidebar on a phone. With Call Catcher on, a dot beside it shows whether calling is on: green for Calling online, amber for Calling off.
Select the number to open its menu:
New SMS opens a new text in Messages.
New Call opens the call panel in Calls. It shows only once Call Catcher is available to your business.
New Bulk Send opens a bulk text.
Messages opens your inbox.
Call Opening Hours shows the hours your phone rings, and what happens to a call outside them.
If Call Catcher is not active, New Call and Call Opening Hours open Get started with Call Catcher instead.
What uses call minutes
Call minutes are counted in whole minutes, rounded up for each call:
A call you take, from the moment your phone answers.
A call your phone or its voicemail answers that you do not take, for the few seconds before Petboost hangs up on that leg.
Time a caller spends in the answering menu or leaving a voicemail.
A call you make, from the moment you answer to the end of the call, at 2x call minutes.
The greeting recording call.
Buy call minutes
Minute packs never expire and are used after the minutes included each billing cycle.
Open Messages & Calls, select Calls, then Settings.
On the Call Catcher card, under Call Minute Top-Ups, select the price button beside the pack you want.
In Confirm purchase, check the minutes and amount, then select Confirm purchase. The pack is charged to your payment method on file.
To buy a pack automatically when your minutes run out, choose the pack under Auto top-up, then switch Auto top-up on. It charges the selected pack on the next call after you run out.
Deactivate Call Catcher
Open Messages & Calls, select Calls, then Settings.
On the Call Catcher card, select Manage, then Deactivate Call Catcher.
In Deactivate Call Catcher?, select Deactivate, or Keep it to cancel.
Calls to your Communications Booster number stop ringing through, and the answering menu stops, on every location in your organisation. The phone calls ring and your greeting are cleared, so if you reactivate you turn calls on and record your greeting again. Minute packs you have bought stay on the account. If you deactivate partway through a billing cycle, you receive a credit for the unused days.
Who you can message and what it costs
Existing customers only. You can only message pet owners who are already customers in Petboost. Communications Booster is not for cold outreach.
Inbound messages are free. A customer texting your dedicated number uses no credits.
Outbound messages use credits. Every message sent from the dedicated number, manual or automated, uses one SMS credit per segment. A segment is 160 characters, or 70 when the message holds an emoji, and a longer message is sent in parts that each use a credit. Under the compose field, Petboost counts the characters and the segments as you type.
One pool. Credits from your monthly plan allocation, the extra Booster credits and any packs you buy are pooled together.
When 25 or fewer credits are left, the compose area shows how many remain, with a Top up link to SMS.
Deactivate Communications Booster
You can deactivate at any time, including before the dedicated number is live.
Open Settings, then SMS.
Select Manage on the Communications Booster card.
Select Deactivate Communications Booster.
In Deactivate Communications Booster?, select Deactivate.
Deactivating releases your dedicated number, so nothing can be sent or received on it after that. A number you brought from your old software is not released: it stays held for you, and you can message us to move it to another provider. Deactivating while a number is still on its way stops the move. It also turns off two-way texting, photo messages, Call Catcher, the missed-call text back and rebooking reminders. Reminder and notification texts on your plan keep sending. You receive a credit for the unused days of the billing cycle on your next invoice.
Existing conversation history stays on the account, and Messages shows it read-only with Reactivate. If you reactivate later, you may get a different number. If your business was already verified, you request the number again from the same card without uploading another document.
Troubleshooting
Verification is taking longer than expected
Reviews are usually approved within 1-3 business days. If the card still says Your business is being verified after that, check that:
The legal name and address match the document character for character
The ABN is active
The document is dated within 12 months and does not use a PO box address
Verification needs attention
The card shows the reason the review was not approved. Select Re-submit Verification, fix the fields so they match your document, and submit again.
Messages not being delivered
A failed message has a red mark beside it. Select the mark to open Message failed to send, which lists the common reasons and offers Retry sending. Then check that:
The recipient's phone number is a valid Australian mobile number
You have SMS credits left, because outbound messages need credits
The recipient has not blocked your number on their device