Message customers about a visit without retyping it every time
Retyping the day, the time and the job reference into every text is slow, and it is how the wrong date gets sent. Here is what a good visit message says, how to stop rewriting it, and how TradeYoke's Message button fills the details in for you.
Most trade businesses send the same handful of messages all week: "you're booked in", "we're with you tomorrow", "on my way", "all done". The words barely change. The details do, and retyping the day, the time and the job number into each one is where the mistakes and the wasted minutes live. Here is how to stop doing it by hand.
Key takeaways
- Write each routine message once, then reuse itBooking confirmation, visit reminder, on my way and work finished cover most of what you send.
- Put the details in the message, not in a follow-upThe day, the time (if you have one), the address or reference, and the one thing the customer needs to do.
- Never send a sentence with a hole in itA text that says “booked in for . Reference .” is worse than no text at all.
- TradeYoke's Message button does the filling inOpen it from a job and the visit's day, time and job reference are already in the template.
- Sending texts and emails from TradeYoke is part of EssentialsFrom £19 a month; see the pricing page for what each plan includes.
Quick answer
Quick answer: the way to stop retyping visit details is to keep a small set of templates and let the software fill in the customer, day, time and reference from the job itself. In TradeYoke, press Message on a job, pick Booking confirmation or Visit reminder, and the message opens with the right customer already chosen and the visit's details already written in. You check the preview, then send it as a text, an email or both.
Why retyping visit details costs more than the minutes
Typing "Hi Mrs Marsh, we're with you Tuesday, reference 4471" takes half a minute. Do it for a dozen customers before a busy week and it is a lunch break. The bigger cost is accuracy. Copying a date from the diary into a text is exactly where a Tuesday becomes a Thursday, or a job number gets a digit wrong, and then the customer is at the gate on the wrong day or ringing to ask which job you mean.
The other failure is the opposite one: a template that has a gap where a detail should be. If a message is built from a template and the date was never filled in, you get a sentence that reads like "you're booked in for . Reference ." Customers notice, and it makes a small business look careless.
What a good visit message says, whatever you use
Quick answer: a good visit message names who you are, says when you are coming, gives the customer something to identify the job by, and tells them the one thing they need to do, if anything. It is short enough to read in a doorway.
A visit message that works
- Say who you are first“Hi Helen, Harbourside Window Cleaning here” beats an unknown number. Customers ignore texts they do not recognise.
- Give the day, and the time only if it is a real time“Tuesday 29 September” is honest for a round. Do not invent a time you will not keep.
- Include a referenceA short job reference lets a customer reply “about WC-FF7B” and lets you find the job in seconds.
- Say the one thing you needGates unlocked, side access, someone in, water on. One request, not five.
- Make it easy to change“Reply if you need to change it” gives a customer who cannot do Tuesday a way to say so before you turn up.
The timing matters as much as the wording. A confirmation goes out when the work is booked and a reminder goes the day before; the reasoning for that second one is in the text that stops locked gates, and the case for sending it at all is in how reminder texts cut no-shows.
How TradeYoke fills the details in
Quick answer: every job in TradeYoke has a Message button. It opens the message wizard already pointed at that customer and that visit, so the template says the right day, the time when one was booked, and the job reference, and the message is filed against the job afterwards.
The button sits on the job record next to On my way and Directions, and it is there wherever the job opens: the jobs list, the schedule board, the planner or the customer's own record. It works the same way for every trade.
Press it and the first step, Who is this for?, already has the customer's name, email address and mobile number. Choose the message step, pick a template from the list and the wording appears with the details written in. You get a live preview of the email and of the text as the customer will see them, and you can change any word before sending.
You can also start from the customer instead of the job, using the text button on their line in the customer list. In that case TradeYoke uses the customer's next booked visit to fill in the day and reference. If they have nothing booked, it leaves out the sentences that needed a visit rather than sending a gap, so the message stays clean.
Three steps, about half a minute
- Open the job and press Message. The customer is already chosen; check their number or email and carry on.
- Pick the template. Booking confirmation or Visit reminder to start with; the day, time and reference fill themselves in.
- Check the preview and send. Send it now, or schedule it for later. It is recorded on the customer's history, and any reply lands back on the same record.
Making the templates sound like you
The wording is not fixed. The ten messages a trade business sends most (booking confirmation, visit reminder, on our way, work finished, quote sent, quote follow-up, invoice sent, invoice overdue, payment received and review request) are ready-made and can be reworded in Settings, then Message templates. Placeholders such as the customer's name, the visit's day and the job reference are dropped in from a menu, and a live preview shows how it will read. Anything you have not changed keeps TradeYoke's own wording. Every template also ships in English, Welsh, Spanish, German, Portuguese and French, as covered in invoices and texts in Welsh.
What it does not do
The Message button writes and sends one message to one customer about one job. It is not a bulk text to a whole round, and it does not guess a time you never booked: with no time on the job, the time simply is not mentioned. Sending texts and emails is part of the Essentials plan and above, from £19 a month. The free trial is 30 days of Essentials with no card, and emailing and texting unlock when you choose a plan; the pricing page has the detail.
Questions people ask
How do I stop retyping the same text to customers?
Keep a small set of templates for the messages you send every week and let your software fill in the customer's name, the day and the job reference. In TradeYoke that is the Message button on a job: pick Booking confirmation or Visit reminder and the details are already written in.
Will the date and job reference be filled in automatically?
Yes. From a job, the template says that visit's day, its time when one was booked, and the job reference. From the customer's record it uses their next booked visit. If nothing is booked, the sentence that needed a date is left out rather than sent with a blank.
Can I change the wording of the templates?
Yes. Reword any of them in Settings, Message templates, with a live preview. Anything you leave alone keeps TradeYoke's default wording, and you can restore the original at any time.
Does the Message button send a text or an email?
Either, or both. The wizard offers text and email using the customer's mobile number and email address, shows a preview of each, and lets you send now or schedule it.
Which TradeYoke plan lets me text and email customers?
Emailing and texting customers is part of Essentials (£19 a month) and above. The free trial is 30 days of Essentials with no card, and sending unlocks when you choose a plan. See the pricing page for the comparison.
Send your first booking confirmation in seconds
Start with 30 days of Essentials free, no card required. Add a customer and a job, press Message, and see the details fill themselves in.
