In this article, we will cover how to set up your texting templates within FieldCentral for those that have the Connect Add on.
If you have FieldCentral Connect, users must set up their texting settings in order to begin using and capitalizing on this feature and communicating with your customers.
Once you have logged into your FieldCentral web account, navigate to the Settings Page via the quick access panel.
Select Communications
Within the Texting Template section, users enrolled in FieldCentral Connect are provided with three pre-built texting templates: Dispatch, Completion, and Reminder.
To update any of these, the user can click on the pencil icon and to delete, click the X icon.
To create a new texting template, click the green + button in the section
To create a new template choose what the template will be called, the text type, the service, and the WTD associated with the text message. Generic is the one type where a service & WTD does not need to be associated with it.
Provide the template a name and type of text along with the service and the WTDs that will be associated with the text message.
If the user selects the text type “Generic” then a service and WTD are not required for setup.
- Reminder texts can be sent automatically and sent (x) days before.
- Completion texts get sent when the crew marks the job complete in the field if they are set up for auto send.
- Dispatch texts are sent when the crew selects “driving” on the visit from the field app when it is set up to auto send.
- Generic texts are set up as one time text messages to a property. They can only be sent one by one to a property that has a visit on the schedule.
Additionally, there are some options to set up to ensure the best possible experience while using this feature.
Texting options:
- Assign text replies to: these appear in the reminders section and can be assigned to a specific user that will be responding to the customers who reply back with text messages.
- Text reply priority: set by the business on what level of priority applies (the priority will apply to the reminder that is created from the text reply)
- unrecognized text reply: the customer will get an automatic response back when they try to reply to a text message. A custom message can be created using the pencil icon next to the text box.
Email options (that also apply to texts):
- Set all email and texting types to all existing customers - it will allow all of the template types to be received to the customers.
- Enable texting for all phone numbers - every phone number in contacts will have the box checked off to enable sending the customer a text message.
- Only send automatic reminders for confirmed visits - the customer will have to confirm their appointment in order to get the reminder text messages
- When using time ranges, always show the first visit of the day as an exact time - this will show the first appointment of the day as an exact time instead of using the time range variables available. If the first visit is scheduled at 7am it will show 7am vs variable +2 showing the customer between 7&9am.
- When using time ranges, do not allow the range to precede the start of day - this will ensure that if there is a time range variable with a - it will not say the tech will be there before the start of the day. If the start of the day is set to 7am and the variable is -1+3 it will show the tech will be there between 7 and 10.
If you are a FieldCentral Connect client, be sure to checkout your Communication Settings and ensure your Texting Templates and Email/Text Setup options are set to your business needs.