Messaging in ServiceCore is your hub for outgoing communication with customers and site contacts. It covers two types of automated messages: email reminders and SMS text messages.
Automated email reminders are available to all ServiceCore plans. SMS text messaging is a Pro Plan feature that requires completing the 10DLC compliance registration process before use. Both are managed from the Messaging tab in the top navigation.
Before You Start
Here are a few things to know before you continue:
- To see if you have access to this feature in ServiceCore, please check out this article on user permission levels.
- SMS text messaging is only available on ServiceCore’s Pro Plan. Your account must complete 10DLC compliance registration before SMS can be used. For more information, check out our Register for SMS Campaigns article.
- Automated email reminders are available on all ServiceCore plans. Manager, Admin, or Owner permissions are required to create or edit automations. For more information, check our Automated Email Reminders article.
- Your Account Owner should start and complete this process. It should not be done by other user types.
- Only Owner or Admin users can make changes to SMS Messaging Preferences.
Messaging Page Overview
You can navigate to your messaging options by clicking “Messaging” in the top menu. You’ll see two tabs at the top: SMS and Email
SMS Tab (Pro Plan Only)
The SMS tab is only visible to Pro Plan subscribers. If your account is not on the Pro Plan, you’ll land directly on the Email tab when you open Messaging.
This is where you manage all outgoing text messages to your site contacts. It has three tabs: Messaging Preferences, Chat History, and Contacts.
Messaging Preferences
Messaging Preferences is where you control which automated text messages get sent to your site contacts. You can turn individual messages on or off at the company level from here. Only Owner and Admin users can make changes.
Please Note: Turning a message on or off applies to all contacts at the company level. Individual contact preferences are managed in the Contacts tab.
There are 6 message types available. The Intro Message and Response Message are always on and can’t be disabled. This is a legal requirement. The remaining four can be toggled on or off based on your preferences.
Intro Message
The Intro Message is the first message your site contacts receive. It introduces your business, provides your contact information, and explains how to opt out of future messages. This message is sent immediately after you enable messaging for a contact. For legal compliance reasons, it cannot be disabled.
Variables & Values
- Company Name: Your Company's Name
- Company Phone Number: Your Phone Number
Response Message
The Response Message is sent automatically when a contact replies to any SMS from your account. It lets them know that replies are not monitored and directs them to call your office for more information. This message cannot be disabled.
Variables & Values
- Company Name: Your Company's Name
- Company Phone Number: Your Phone Number
Driver ETA Message
The Driver ETA message lets site contacts know your driver is on the way and to be ready for their arrival. Unlike the other messages, this one requires driver action in the app. It is not triggered automatically. When a driver taps "Send ETA Text" in the ServiceCore Mobile App, ServiceCore calculates their drive time to the site and sends the message.
For step-by-step instructions on sending ETA texts from the mobile app, check out our Send ETA Updates Using the Mobile App article.
Variables & Values
- Company Name: Your Company's Name
- Site Address: Address of Job Site
- ETA: Calculated Drive Time to the Site
Job Scheduled
The Job Scheduled message notifies the crew at the job site that a driver is coming so they can be prepared. It is sent immediately after a job is created. This message has variations for one-time and repeat jobs.
Variables & Values
- Job Type: Delivery, Pickup, Exchange, Service
- Company Name: Your Company's Name
- Site Address: Address of Job Site
- Job Date: Date of Job
- Time Window: Time of Job (if applicable)
- Repeat Series: How Often Does the Job Occur (if applicable)
- Company Phone Number: Your Phone Number
Job Completion
The Job Completion message lets your site contacts know the job was completed successfully. It is sent when a job is moved to Done with a status of Complete.
Variables & Values
- Job Type: Delivery, Pickup, Exchange, Service
- Company Name: Your Company's Name
- Site Address: Address of Job Site
Job Incomplete
The Job Incomplete message lets your site contacts know the job was not completed successfully and prompts them to call your office for more information. It is sent when a job is moved to Done with any status other than Complete.
Variables & Values
- Job Type: Delivery, Pickup, Exchange, Service
- Company Name: Your Company's Name
- Site Address: Address of Job Site
- Status: Unable to Service, Partial service
- Company Phone Number: Your Phone Number
Chat History
Chat History shows all outgoing SMS messages sent from your account. You can view messages by contact and see a full timeline for the messages. If a customer calls asking about job status, you can pull up their contact here to see exactly what was sent and when. Currently, Chat History shows outgoing messages only. Incoming replies from contacts are not displayed.
Contacts
The Contacts tab is where you control which site contacts receive SMS messages. SMS messaging is off by default for all contacts and must be enabled manually. For full instructions, check out our Enable Text Messaging for Site Contacts article.
Email Tab
The Email tab is available to all ServiceCore plans. This is where you view and manage automated email reminders generated by automations you have set up in your account settings.
The Email tab in Messaging is where you review and manage the reminders they generate once they are running. It has three tabs: Sent, Upcoming, and Unsubscribed.
Sent
The Sent tab shows you all email reminders that ServiceCore has attempted to send to your customers. You‘ll see the email address the message was sent to, its status, when it was sent, and the subject line.
There are 7 statuses for email reminders in ServiceCore:
- Sent: The email has been successfully sent from ServiceCore to the recipient's email server.
- Delivered: The email was accepted by the recipient's email server and delivered to their inbox.
- Hard Bounced: The email permanently failed to deliver due to an invalid email address or domain that doesn't exist.
- Soft Bounced: The email temporarily failed to deliver due to issues like a full inbox or server problems, but may succeed if retried later.
- Spam Complaint: The recipient marked the email as spam.
- Rejected: The recipient's email server refused to accept the email.
- Unsubscribed: The recipient clicked the unsubscribe link and will no longer receive automated email reminders.
You can use the “Filter” button at the top of the list to see emails with each status (except for Sent).
Upcoming
The Upcoming tab shows all the scheduled email reminders that haven't been sent yet. You’ll see the customer who’ll receive the email, its status, when it’s scheduled to be sent, its subject line, and the job the email is associated with.
If you need to reschedule an email or change which email address should be used, click the “pencil” icon to adjust the email’s information.
Please Note: The dynamic variables you see in the body of the email (like <Client Name>) will be automatically replaced with whatever the tag refers to. For instance, <Site Address> will be replaced with the customer’s actual job site address when the email is sent.
There are 6 statuses for scheduled email reminders in ServiceCore:
- Scheduled: The email is scheduled and will be sent at 10am EST on the scheduled date.
- Disabled: The automation that controls this email has been turned off, so the email won’t be sent.
- Queued: The email is ready to send and waiting in ServiceCore’s outgoing email queue.
- Skipped: The email wasn’t sent due to the automation being disabled, the customer being inactive, and/or the site being inactive.
- Failed to Send: The email couldn't be sent because no valid recipient email address was found.
- Failed to Schedule: ServiceCore wasn’t able to process and schedule the email properly.
You can use the “Filter” button at the top of the list to see emails with each status.
Unsubscribed
The Unsubscribed tab tracks customers who have opted out of automated reminders. These customers won't receive future automated emails, but will still get transactional messages like invoices and job notifications.
Please Note: Due to federal regulations, there’s no way for you to opt a customer back into receiving automated reminders once they’ve unsubscribed.
For full instructions on setting up and managing automated email reminders, check out our Automated Email Reminders article.
Glossary
These terms come up frequently in Pro Messaging and 10DLC compliance conversations.
- SMS: Short Message Service. The standard protocol for sending text messages to a cell phone.
- A2P Messaging: Application-to-person messaging. Any text sent by software on behalf of a business, rather than a person typing it manually.
- 10DLC: 10-digit long code. A standard 10-digit business phone number used for A2P messaging. US regulations require businesses to register before sending automated texts.
- Brand Registration: The first phase of 10DLC compliance. Confirms that the business sending messages is legitimate and not a spam operation.
- Campaign Registration: The second phase of 10DLC compliance. A more detailed review confirming that the messages being sent match what was described during registration.
-
The Campaign Registry (TCR): The third-party organization that manages A2P campaign reviews and approvals on behalf of wireless carriers.
If you have any questions, please reach out to our Support team through the chat widget on the bottom of this page or by sending an email to support@servicecore.com!