Automatic and scheduled messages: reminders for customers, nudges for the crew

One queue for every message

A message to a customer or a team member can come from three places: a person scheduling it ("text Ava Reyes on Friday morning"), a rule (the visit reminder), or a broadcast to a group. In SWITCHBOARD all three do the same thing: they plan a message. One scheduler sends what is due, and before each one goes it decides again whether it should, because a lot can change between planning and sending.

At send time it checks for a STOP reply, an email unsubscribe or bounce, a visit that was moved or canceled, a rule that was switched off, and the sender's own rights (if someone loses permission to message the team, their scheduled notes stop and say why). A skipped message is never shown as sent; the plan says why it did not go.

Customer visit reminders

The visit reminder goes at 5 pm the day before a visit, and, if you turn it on, two hours before as well. It goes by text, or by email when there is no mobile number or texting is off. It is skipped when:

• the visit was moved or canceled after the reminder was planned;
• an arrival-window text already told the customer within the last 12 hours;
• the two-hour reminder would land too close to the visit to be useful.

The words are filled in when the message sends, not when it was planned, so a visit moved at 3 pm gets a reminder with the new time. For why this matters, see how to reduce no-shows and how to send appointment reminders.

Messages to the crew

The team rules cover the things an office manager would otherwise text by hand:

Each person can turn a rule off for themselves, set their own quiet hours (8 pm to 6 am by default) and choose how the app reaches them: push first, then text, then email. Tomorrow's list goes by text if the push is not opened within 30 minutes.

Caps and quiet hours

Customers only get messages between 8 am and 8 pm shop time. A message planned outside that window is moved to the next allowed time, not dropped. The shop can also turn on caps on how often one customer hears from you.

For the team, there is a push cap: by default each person gets at most 6 non-urgent pushes a day from scheduled messages and rules, and the shop can change the number. Anything past the cap is held to the next day, after that person's quiet hours, and is never silently skipped. Urgent messages, such as an emergency on call, go through. Techs stop ignoring the app when it only speaks when it matters; see how to communicate with techs in the field.

Scheduling a message yourself

From a customer's or team member's Calls and messages, the office can schedule a message for later and see what is planned next to the thread. Inbox, Scheduled and Broadcast shows everything planned, the results of what went, and the automations. A broadcast to more than a handful of people needs a preview first, and the list of who gets it is worked out by the server when it sends, not from a list someone's browser sent. Switch, the AI, can schedule a message from anywhere, but only through a confirm card you tap.

Every message on the record

Messages go out through one path that stores the message first and then sends it, so the thread shows the real status: sent, delivered, tapped, failed with a reason, or skipped with a reason. Nothing looks sent that was not. Automatic messages pair well with the AI receptionist for calls and with on-call dispatch for after hours. See it working in the sandbox or on a 30-minute walkthrough.