Sometimes you just need to tell one customer something: a session has moved, a place has come up, you have found their lost water bottle. The Message button on a person's screen sends one message to one customer, in your business's name.
Where to Find This
Open Customers in your console, press the customer's row, and press Message among the buttons under their name. See A Person's Screen.
The button is shown to roles that can change customers. A colleague who can only look at customers does not see it. See Managing Your Team.
Which Way It Will Go
The sheet is headed Message followed by the person's name, and its first line tells you how the message will travel, before you write anything:
The line shows the way Bizzly will try first. It checks again when you press Send, and the way can change:
- If their choice has changed since you opened the sheet, the message at the bottom says which way it actually went.
- If a customer is on WhatsApp but your WhatsApp allowance for the month is used up, or WhatsApp has found it cannot reach their number, the message goes by text instead, where your plan includes text and has room left.
- If text is closed as well, because your plan does not include it or its monthly allowance is used up, nothing is sent and the sheet tells you why. A customer who chose text is not switched to WhatsApp: if text is closed for them, nothing is sent.
Sending a Message
- 1
Write it
Type in the box headed Your message. It takes up to 500 characters, and the hint under the box says so. Line breaks become spaces, because the message goes as one paragraph. When you are within the last hundred characters, a counter appears under the box ("412 of 500").
- 2
Press Send
There is no extra question. The message is queued as soon as you press the button, and the line under the box has already told you that It goes out within a few minutes, and a message cannot be unsent.
When it is queued, the sheet closes and a message at the bottom of the screen reads Sent. It goes out on WhatsApp within a few minutes, and cannot be unsent. (it says by text if that is the way it went). There is no Undo, because a message cannot be taken back once it is on its way.
What Your Customer Sees
They get a message that begins Message from followed by your business name, then your words.
Seeing the Conversation
The Conversation line on the person's screen quotes the newest message, marked They: or You:, and opens to their WhatsApp conversation with your business, oldest first, up to the latest thirty messages: what they sent and what your WhatsApp assistant answered. A message you send with the Message button is not part of that conversation, and a message that went by text never appears there, because the conversation lists WhatsApp only. See WhatsApp AI Assistant for how the assistant answers.
What you send is in the group under it, Sent to them. Once you press Send, the screen reads itself again and your message joins this group as a new row, named Message from you, saying its way (WhatsApp or Text message) and Queued for followed by the time. When it has gone, the row says Sent and the time, and if it could not be sent it says Could not be sent. The row does not repeat your words. See A Person's Screen.
When Bizzly Does Not Send It
Bizzly checks before it queues anything, and tells you in words, in the box or under the Send button, if it will not send:
When Bizzly refuses a message, nothing is sent.
To send a customer something to pay, use Payment link on their screen, which makes a payment link and sends it for you. To ask for a review, use Ask for a review. Message is for everything else you would say in your own words.