Adding service reminders to customer accounts allows you to proactively schedule and manage upcoming service needs, ensuring timely communication and preventing missed appointments.
Prerequisites
Before you begin, review the prerequisites.
Click here to explore the prerequisites.
Click here to explore the prerequisites.
Configured service reminders in settings.
Communication rules: To ensure service reminders are sent correctly, you'll need to check two things:
Global communication settings: Confirm that the communication methods you want to use (email, SMS, letter) are enabled in your Communication rules. This ensures the system is set up to send these types of communications when a new customer is created.
Individual customer preferences: Check each customer's profile to verify their individual communication preferences. These preferences determine how they will receive service reminders, so make sure they have opted in to receive reminders via their preferred method (email, SMS, or letter).
Job description templates: Linking job description templates to your service jobs offers consistency and is required for using Contracts and self-service portals.
Adding service reminders manually
There are two ways to manually add a service reminder to a customer:
Add via customer dashboard
➡️ Navigate to the customer dashboard > Find the Service reminders section in left side panel.
If the customer has no existing service reminders:
➡️ Click here to add one
If the customer has existing service reminders:
➡️ View > Add new service reminder
Service type: Select your service reminder from the dropdown.
Due date: Set the date when this service will be due next.
Send to: Choose the contact who will receive the reminder communications.
Click Add service reminder to save.
Add via service job
➡️ Navigate to the customer dashboard > Add new job
Fill in job details: Add all relevant job details, eg., select job description, job notes, etc.
Service job: Check box
Service type: Select the service reminder from the drop down.
Select up to 3 service reminders for one job, all selected reminders will be created.
Click Add job to create a new job and service reminder(s).
When a service reminder is created via a service job, the due date defaults to the day of creation. The date can be changed later once the service job is complete.
What's next?
Once a service reminder is added, the reminders will be sent to the assigned contacts based on the service date that was set when adding the reminder and the configured service period.
Learn about managing your service reminders effectively!
Troubleshooting
Service reminders and work addresses: It's important to understand that service reminders are only sent to the main customer's selected contact address, not directly to any work address contacts.
Here's why:
The main customer is responsible for booking the service at the work address. They initiate the process and choose the service needed.
Once the main customer books the service, the work address contact is then responsible for scheduling the actual appointment. They'll receive a notification and can choose a date and time that suits them.
This ensures a clear workflow where the main customer initiates the service request, and the work address contact manages the specific appointment details.
Check communication preferences: When adding a service reminder, if you don't see the customer's preferred communication method (email, SMS, phone call or letter) next to their name, you'll need to edit their contact information and update their communication preferences. To do this, go to the customer's profile, edit their contact details, and add or remove communication preferences by ticking the relevant boxes. Once you've updated their preferences, you can proceed with adding the service reminder.
Complete previous jobs: If you're trying to add a service reminder through a service job, and the option is unavailable (greyed out), it means there's an open service job for that customer that needs to be closed first. Make sure the previous job has been invoiced or marked as free of charge before adding a new service reminder.