Across SmartMy Garage
Notifications
SmartMy Garage tells customers and staff when something needs them. That can be the estimate ready, a test drive gone too far, a customer's decision or a request to approve. Each event has its own recipients and channels, and every message is logged.
PlansEvery plan
The problem it solves
- Customers call to ask, because nobody told them.
- An advisor learns about a test drive that went 40 km over the limit the next day.
- A customer approves on the job page and the advisor does not notice for an hour.
- When someone says they never got the message, nobody can check.
How it works
- 01
Something happens on a job card: it is checked in, ready or paid, or a car is not back on time.
- 02
The event finds its people: the job card's customer, its advisor, the branch's workshop managers or advisors, the approvers of a level.
- 03
Messages to customers go by WhatsApp, else SMS, else email, with in-app for customers with a login. Messages to staff go as a phone notification and in the app, else by email.
- 04
Every message leaves a line in the Delivery Log, with the reason when it could not be sent.
- 05
An administrator switches each event on or off per branch, changes its channels and edits the wording.
Everything it does
To customers (every plan)
- Vehicle Checked In, Estimate Ready, Extra Work Found, Waiting on the Customer, Ready for Pickup
- Vehicle Delivered (with the invoice PDFs), Payment Received, Rework Opened
- Free Storage Ends Tomorrow, Storage Charges Started, Storage End Reminder, where the branch charges storage
To customers (Growth and Scale)
- Growth: Appointment Booked, Appointment Reminder, Appointment Cancelled, Inspection Ready
- Growth, offers: Estimate Follow-up, Service Reminder, Garage Campaign
- Scale: Insurance Claim Update; Contract Renewal Due (an offer)
To staff
- Customer Decided Online: to the job card's advisor
- Vehicle Movement Alert: to the advisor and the branch's workshop managers, for over the limit, a fuel or battery drop, or not back in time
- Growth: Online Booking Request to the branch's advisors; Enquiry Assigned to its owner
- Request Waits for Your Approval: to the approvers of the next level, with a to-do
- Scale: Asset Warranty Ending, Maintenance Contract Ending and Insurance Ending for your own assets, to the person looking after them
- Scale: Asset Given: Please Acknowledge and Asset Taken Back: Please Confirm, to the staff member; email or in-app
- Scale: Asset Hand Back Asked, Asset Not Received and Asset Handover Disputed, to the Incharge who gave it or the Asset Managers
Channels and delivery
- Customers: WhatsApp, else SMS, else email (the first that works); in-app with a login
- Staff: phone notification, in the app, else email
- SMS and WhatsApp use paid message credits on every plan; email, in-app and phone notifications are free
- Templates per event, channel and language
- Delivery Log: every message with its status and, when not sent, why; administrators can retry or cancel
People's choices and quiet hours
- Visit and staff messages are work messages: they go at once, at any hour; a person can switch off a channel, never the event
- Offers (follow-ups, service reminders, campaigns, renewals) wait for the branch's quiet hours and stop for a customer who unsubscribed
Who uses it
Where you use it
- Web: each user's inbox; Garage > Configuration > General > Settings > Messages > Garage Messages; Notifications > Delivery Log, Templates and settings
- The SmartMy Garage app: the Inbox, and phone notifications once the push service is set up for your organisation's app. Built and in testing, not in the app stores yet.
- Customers: WhatsApp, SMS, email, and notifications on their pages when signed in
What you control
Settings
- Per event and branch: on or off, its channels and their order
- Templates per channel and language
- Quiet hours per branch, for offers
- Messaging set-up for WhatsApp and SMS: none until your provider is connected
FAQ
Questions, answered.
Do staff get alerts on their phone?
Yes, as a phone notification once push is set up for your organisation's app. They are always in the app's Inbox, and go by email when a phone notification cannot.
Can we change the wording?
Yes. Each event has a template per channel and language. Change the wording in Notifications.
Can we check whether a customer got a message?
Yes. The Delivery Log lists every message, its channel and status, and why one was not sent, such as no mobile number.
Are WhatsApp and SMS included?
They work on every plan and use message credits you buy. Email, in-app and phone notifications are free.
Is the approver of a parts transfer told?
Yes. The approvers of the level get a to-do and Request Waits for Your Approval.
Related
Related features.
Messages to the customer at every step, with the invoice on deliveryEvery plan
Customers hear from you when the car is checked in, the estimate is ready, extra work is found, the car is ready, delivered and paid. Each message carries the link to their job page, and the delivered message carries the invoice. Messages go by WhatsApp, else SMS, else email, on every plan.
Alerts when a test drive goes too far, fuel drops or the car is late backEvery plan
Your advisor and workshop managers are told at once about a test drive over its limit. They also hear about a fuel or battery drop beyond what you allow, or a car late back. A test drive without the customer's consent is stopped before it starts.
Approval chainsFrom Growth
What staff must approve goes through one approval engine. That is counter authorisations from Growth, changes to fixed assets in Scale, and parts requests between branches in Enterprise. You set who approves, per branch, without code, and every decision is kept with who made it and why.
Approve line by line and pay online from the job pageEvery plan
On the job page, the customer ticks the work they want, types their name and signature, and approves or declines. Each decision is kept with how, when and by whom. When the invoice is ready, Pay now takes them to your payment provider and the payment lands on the invoice.
The staff app for phones and tabletsEvery plan
The SmartMy Garage app puts the job card in your team's hands at the car. Check in with the camera, mark damage on a car outline, scan the VIN, run tasks with timers, invoice and deliver. It runs on Android and iPhone, phones and tablets.
Want to see it on your own job cards? Book a demo and we walk you through it with your workshop's work.