Pet owner communications are the automated messages your customers receive through their journey with your business, including appointment confirmations, reminders, receipts and service updates. They are included in Business Pro, Flex and Max.

Each message goes by SMS, by email, or both.

Communications Booster is an add-on for Business Pro, Flex and Max. It gives you a dedicated Australian +61 mobile number, an inbox where customers reply directly, one thread per customer holding the automated messages (reminders, payment alerts) and your manual replies, extra SMS credits pooled with your plan allocation, and free inbound messages.

Reviews are usually approved within 1-3 business days, and the dedicated number activates automatically after approval. When the number is live, use Messages for conversations. On Trial or Calendar Lite, the card reads Communications Booster needs a Pro, Flex or Max plan and the button is See plans.

You can only message existing pet owner customers, not any phone number. Booster credits pool with your plan's included SMS allocation, top-up credit packs are there if you need more, and pack credits never expire. The full setup is in Communications Booster and 2-Way SMS.

Petboost's texts follow standard templates filled in from the booking. These are examples of what the customer receives. With Communications Booster and an active number, you can write your own wording for the booking texts.

Appointment reminder:

Appointment rescheduled:

Appointment cancelled:

Pre-authorisation payment issue:

Payment declined:

(no-reply) is added after your business name while you have no active dedicated number. With Communications Booster, customers can reply to your texts and the tag is left off. The link in a text opens the booking in the pet owner app.

The details Petboost fills in are:

Without an active Communications Booster number you cannot rewrite these templates. The wording you write yourself is the Confirmation Message and the Pre-Appointment Message on Notifications, both below.

Most of this section applies to a business with Communications Booster and an active number. Without an active number the wording boxes do not show, except the visit texts on a service, and Petboost sends the standard wording. If the number stops being active, Petboost goes back to the standard wording for the other texts, and any wording you saved stays stored but does not send.

Every business can write the visit texts on a service, with no agreement to tick: ready to collect or home safely, time to bring the pet in or on our way, and picked up.

The texts you can reword are the booking confirmation, booking request received, reminder (both reminders share one wording), rescheduled, price or details changed, booking accepted, booking declined, booking cancelled, ready to collect or home safely, time to bring the pet in or on our way, and picked up.

Payment failed, pre-authorisation failed, payment link, vaccination, form and login texts cannot be reworded.

The owner or an admin of the business has to tick the agreement. Petboost records who agreed, when, and the exact wording, and shows the name and time under the box.

Trap: These texts are for appointment information only. Wording must relate strictly to the appointment and must not contain marketing or promotional content such as offers, discounts or sales messages. Promotional content in these texts can put your business in breach of the Spam Act 2003, which the ACMA enforces. Edited wording is your business's responsibility. For promotions, use Bulk SMS.

A service's wording replaces the business wording, and the business wording replaces the standard wording. To go back, select Use the standard wording, or on a service Use your business wording when you have written one.

Your business name, the payment link on a pick-up text, the drive time on an on our way text, deposit and add a card lines on a confirmation, the prepaid outcome on a cancellation, the Pre-Appointment Message and the Confirmation Message are added for you and cannot be removed. The line under the box shows the credits the text uses at its longest, with two pets, a long service name and every added line. One emoji changes how the whole text is counted, so it can use more credits.

A customer who replies STOP to your number stops receiving every text from that number, these texts included.

On Fridays at 2pm, business time, Petboost emails the pet owner about each confirmed booking from Saturday to the following Friday. Email the customer: Friday reminder controls it, and it follows the first reminder email until you change it. There is no Friday text.

Payment receipts go out by email automatically after a payment, with the invoice details, the payment confirmation, your business branding and a downloadable PDF receipt.

Each lesson in a course is its own appointment, so course customers receive the same reminders and change messages as other bookings. The enrolment confirmation email lists every lesson in the course with its name, date and time.

Send it when a customer calls to ask when their next appointment is, or to confirm their schedule ahead of time.

The message greets the customer by first name, lists their next appointments, up to six, with the date and time of each, and links to their appointments in the pet owner app. Send Upcoming Appointments needs Communications Booster and a phone number on the customer's account, and it sends nothing when the customer has no upcoming appointments. The same option is in the customer's details on a booking.

Reminders go out before each appointment, at the time you choose. A reply-to-confirm line can be added to the reminder text.

Reminder Time takes Weeks, Days, Hours and Minutes, with minutes in 5-minute steps. A reminder time longer than 72 hours shows This reminder may not land in time to be effective. Common settings are 2 hours for a last-minute reminder on a same-day appointment, 24 hours as the standard reminder, and 48 hours for two days' notice.

Confirmation Reply (Y/N) asks the customer to reply Y or N, and needs an active dedicated number from Communications Booster. A Y reply does not change the appointment status or the confirmation email copy. For a note on confirmation and reminder emails, and optionally texts, use the Pre-Appointment Message, below.

Automatic actions run at fixed points around an appointment.

A customer can have notification and booking settings of their own that override your business defaults, such as email reminders only, or a shorter notice period for a trusted regular. A customer's setting takes precedence over your business and service settings.

What they receive today, at the top of the tab, shows the result for this customer. Each on/off setting starts at your business default. Change it and the row shows Own value. Set it back to match the default and the override is removed. Timing settings have a Use business default switch. The same settings are under Personalised Booking Rules when you select Edit Owner Details, and the tab needs Business Pro or higher.

You can override per customer:

Common uses are switching off SMS reminders for a customer who prefers email, shortening the notice period for a trusted regular, overriding pre-hold funds for one customer, and adding a Personal Note for a customer with special requirements.

The Pre-Appointment Message is a note of your own that Petboost adds to confirmation and reminder emails and shows on the pet owner's booking card. It is on Notifications, not on SMS.

With the texts switched on, the page shows how many SMS segments the confirmation and reminder texts will use, and each segment uses a credit. One emoji can switch the whole text to Unicode and increase the segment count.

Examples:

Service messages are the messages about appointments, payments, changes, cancellations and other booking matters. They are how you provide the service, so marketing consent does not apply to them, and the Communication Preferences on a customer's profile do not switch them off. Under Australian privacy law, and as a condition of service, customers must be notified of material updates relating to their bookings and interactions with the business. Your notification settings decide whether these go by SMS, email, both or neither.

Trap: A customer who replies STOP to your number stops receiving texts from that number altogether, service texts included. Their emails keep going.

Bulk SMS for announcements and marketing is separate, and needs Communications Booster. Customers manage their own preferences for those from their profile in the pet owner app. See Bulk SMS, and for consent, Communication Preferences.