In Tekmetric, you can set up two way texting to communicate with your customers, rather than needing to use personal phones. Many times, service writers will send similar messages to their customers to update them regarding their vehicle(s).
In order to limit redundancy and streamline communication, you can create template messages, allowing service writers to quickly and consistently send updates to customers without the need to retype similar messages over and over. This will improve their efficiency and ensure a professional, uniform customer experience. This article will review how you can setup canned text messages in your shop.
Set up Two-Way Texting via Tekmessage Integration
If you haven't done so, be sure you setup two-way texting in your shop. For more information, visit this article.
Set up Templates
If you have two-way texting enabled and have Shop Settings permissions, you will click the message icon on the top right of your browser. Click the three dots on the top right of the sidebar, and select Template Messages.
Here, you can create a custom template by clicking New Template on the bottom left of the modal. Things to keep in mind when creating a new message template:
- The template name must be unique with a character limit of 30.
- The message has a limit of 420 characters.
- You can not attach images.
You can also select the tab over called default to customize the verbiage of texts sent out when you share the inspection, estimate or invoice. For more information, visit here.
Personalization menu
You can add personalization to your template message. A drop down menu appears with the following options:
- Shop Name
- First Name
- First and Last Name
If you select one of these placeholders, we will insert the tag where you left the mouse cursor within the message field. If the cursor is not in the message field, the personalization placeholder gets added to the end of the existing text.
You can also adjust the placement by copy/paste actions.
Using Templates in Two-Way Texting feature
Within the textbox, service writers will see the template message icon. If they select this icon, they can search or scroll through the list of templates created. These templates are listed in the order of creation.
When you add these template messages into a text message, we will pre-fill the placeholder with the customer's name or shop name, depending on the selection. If you are texting a customer who has not been added to your shop, we will leave the placeholder empty when adding the template since there is no first or last name to pull from.
When you select a template, it will not auto-send to the customer. This will give the service writers opportunity to review and adjust as needed.
If the service writer starts typing into the textbox, then decides to add a template, we will add the template message to what already exists in the textbox. We will not override the message.
However, if the service writer adds a template to the textbox and doesn't make any adjustments, then goes and selects another template, we will replace the original template message with the new one.
Video Linked Below
For any questions on this feature, please contact our support team.