SMS in Petboost runs on credits. Your credits come from your monthly plan allocation, the extra credits Communications Booster adds when it is on, and any credit packs you buy. Replies from customers are free.
Plan allocations
Each plan includes a monthly SMS allocation that resets on your billing cycle date:
Plan | Monthly SMS credits |
Calendar Lite | None (email only) |
Business Pro | 500/month |
Business Flex | 700/month |
Business Max | 1,000/month |
Unused plan credits do not roll over to the next month. Your own allocation is on the 1-way SMS card on SMS, with the date it resets.
Buy an SMS credit pack
Buy a pack when you need more credits than your plan provides. Pack credits never expire: they stay on your account until they are used, whatever happens to your billing cycle or plan.
Open Settings, then SMS.
Under SMS Top-up Credit Packs, select the price button beside the pack you want.
In Confirm purchase, check the Credits and the Amount, then select Confirm purchase.
Pack | Credits |
Starter | 100 |
Growth | 250 |
Business | 500 |
Power | 1,000 |
Each pack's price is on its button, with the price per credit under the pack's name. The pack is charged to your payment method on file. On Billing, Top up on the Plan & Power-Ups tab, or the SMS Credits card on Overview, opens SMS Credits, where you can buy the same packs under Buy a top-up credit pack.
On an Enterprise plan, pack credits go into a pool shared by every location in your organisation, and the purchase is charged to your organisation's payment method.
Turn on auto top-up
Auto top-up buys a pack for you when you run out. It has no balance threshold: when it is on, Petboost charges the pack you selected on the next SMS after you run out.
A business with an active subscription that has never set Auto top-up has it on at the smallest pack. Choosing a pack or switching Auto top-up off replaces that default, and your choice stays. It does not apply during a free trial or while a subscription payment is overdue.
Open Settings, then SMS.
Under SMS Top-up Credit Packs, select the pack Petboost should buy when you run out.
Switch on Auto top-up.
The same switch is in SMS Credits on Billing, and the SMS Credits card there shows Auto top-up on or Auto top-up off.
When credits are low and auto top-up is off
When 80% or more of your credits are used, or none are left, and Auto top-up is off, a strip on SMS says texts will stop when credits run out, or that texts have stopped. It sits on the 1-way SMS card, or on the Communications Booster is on card when Communications Booster is active. It is amber while credits are low and red from 90% used or once none are left.
Select Turn on auto top-up on the strip to scroll to Auto top-up under SMS Top-up Credit Packs, then pick a pack and switch it on. The strip's button does not switch it on by itself.
Select the cross to shrink the strip to one line for this billing cycle. It stays on the page until you buy a pack or switch on Auto top-up.
On other pages, a banner across the top says the same thing. With Auto top-up off, its cross also shrinks it to one line, which stays until you buy a pack or switch on Auto top-up.
Credit pooling
All your SMS credits are pooled into a single balance:
Monthly plan allocation credits
Communications Booster credits, if Communications Booster is active
Purchased pack credits
When you send an SMS, credits come out of the pooled balance. Plan allocation credits are used first, followed by pack credits.
What uses credits
Action | Credit cost |
Automated appointment reminder (SMS) | 1 credit per segment |
Bulk SMS (per recipient) | 1 credit per segment |
Manual message via Communications Booster | 1 credit per segment |
Automated message via Communications Booster | 1 credit per segment |
Payment link sent by SMS | 1 credit |
Photo message (per photo or PDF) | The credits shown beside Photo messages on SMS |
Inbound message (Communications Booster) | Free |
An SMS uses one credit for each segment. A segment holds up to 160 characters, or 153 each once a message splits. One emoji or other special character makes the whole message Unicode, and a segment then holds 70 characters, or 67 each once it splits. Curly quotes, long dashes, the ellipsis and no-break spaces are sent as their plain equivalents, so they do not change the count. A longer text is sent in parts, so the customer may receive it in two or more pieces, and each part uses a credit. The compose field in a conversation, Mass Text and Bulk Send all show the segment count before you send.
Trips texts use credits the same way. Marking a stop picked up or dropped off can send the customer a text, if you switch that on for the service. See Getting started with Trips.
A payment link sent by SMS is the exception. It uses one credit, whatever its length.
Turn on SMS confirmation replies
Confirmation replies let customers confirm or cancel from the reminder text. They need an active dedicated number.
Open Settings, then Notifications.
Under Pre-Appointment Reminders, switch on Confirmation Reply (Y/N).
Optional: edit Confirmation Message, the text added to SMS reminders only.
Select Publish Changes, tick the box in Before You Publish, then select Publish Changes.
The customer replies Y to confirm or N if they cannot make it
N cancels the appointment when they give at least your Change & Cancellation Notice Period. With less notice and a cancellation fee, they are asked to accept the fee first. If online cancelling is off, they are asked to contact you instead
A Y reply does not change the appointment status. Petboost texts back "Thanks! See you then." and the reply appears in Messages
No reply keeps the booking
Replies from customers are free. Each text Petboost sends back uses credits, one per segment
This is separate from Pre-Appointment Message under Custom Messages, below Advanced options on the same page. That note goes on confirmation and reminder emails and on the booking card. Switch on Also add to confirmation and reminder texts to add it to SMS as well, and remember a longer text can use an extra credit for each segment.
Find what is using your credits
Check your usage when the credits run down faster than you expect.
Open Billing and choose SMS Usage.
Select Run 14-Day Breakdown, or choose 7 days, 14 days, 21 days or 28 days.
Under What used your credits, select a setting to see each text it sent, the credits it used and the booking it was about. Select Change setting to go to the switch for those texts.
SMS Usage shows the Credits used in the period, the Texts sent, the Credits per text and the Biggest setting, the one that used the most credits. It then groups every text you sent by the setting that sent it, such as Reminders, Sent by staff from a booking, Membership texts, Bulk SMS and Messages you sent, with each setting's templates under it. Each text is counted on the day it was sent, whatever the date of the booking it was about, and shows its characters and credits. Not itemised is the credits used by texts to your own phone, such as new booking alerts, and by photo messages. Deep Dive on the SMS Usage Breakdown card on SMS opens the same tab.
The balance itself shows in three places:
The 1-way SMS card on SMS shows the credits left, how many are from your plan and when they reset, and how many are from packs
SMS Top-up Credit Packs on SMS shows your Monthly usage against your allocation, and Pack credit usage
The SMS Credits card on the Overview tab of Billing shows the credits remaining of your total, split into plan and pack
Keep your credits from running out
Check usage weekly, especially during busy periods or after bulk sends
Turn on auto top-up if you rely on automated reminders, so they keep going when the balance runs out
Use email where it suits: email is included at no extra cost, and suits non-urgent or detailed messages
Review your plan: if you buy packs every month, a larger plan allocation may cost less
Target bulk sends at the customers they are for, rather than your whole customer base