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How to Purchase SMS Credits and Enable Automatic Appointment Reminders

  • Updated

Simple Salon makes it incredibly simple for you to set up your SMS, it's pretty much already done for you!

Step 1: Buy some SMS credits

If you are on either the Plus, Pro or Max subscription plan, you will have Included SMSs to use each month.

Instead, if you're on the Starter plan (or you've run out of Included SMS Messages) follow the steps below to buy SMS Credits:

1. Head over to your Admin page.

2. Click the Messaging tab.

3. In the SMS Account Setup section, click Buy Credit.

4. The Top-Up SMS Balance pop-up will appear, where you can select how many credits you would like to purchase. Once you click Purchase, you will be asked to confirm payment.

5. Simply click Yes to proceed and the credit card you have on file will be used for the payment. If succesful the credit amount will be added to your balance.

6. (Optional) If you want your SMS Balance to automatically recharge, tick the Enable Auto Top-Up setting. You'll need to choose your Recharge Threshold amount, and the Amount to Recharge ("Recharge Threshold" is the amount your balance needs to get to before the "Amount to Recharge" is triggered). Remember to Save!

Important: You must have a Credit Card linked as your default payment method in order to purchase SMS Credit. Direct Debit is not currently an option for purchasing Credit. Click here to learn how to add a Credit Card as a payment method.

Notes:

  • 1 SMS equals 160 characters. If you go over 160 characters, the system will automatically allow you to use more than 160 characters, however you will be charged for 2 SMSs. If you do not wish to go over the 160 character limit, you can un-tick the Allow Multiple SMS Messages setting, via Settings > Marketing Settings.

    You can also click here to see the SMS Character breakdown.
  • Marketing messages sent will not use your purchased Credit balance (i.e. SMSs sent from the Marketing page). If you have an Included SMS balance, this can be used for Marketing. Otherwise, you will be required to make payment on the spot, so you know exactly how much you're spending on a specific SMS Marketing Campaign before it gets sent out. 

Step 2: Turn on Your Automatic Appointment Reminders

1. Head over to your Admin page.

2. Click the Messaging tab.

3. Go to the 1-Touch Marketing section and click Edit next to the 1st Appointment Reminder.

4. Tick SMS Enabled and/or Email Enabled (emails are free of charge through Simple Salon)

5. Enter in the number of Days BEFORE Appointment to send message (the system will automatically send out the reminders this number of days before the appointment).

6. If you've created your own SMS Reminder template, select it from the SMS Template drop-down menu. Likewise if you've created your own Email Reminder template, select it from the Email Template drop-down menu. Otherwise, feel free to use the default templates!

7. Click Save.

Notes:

  • The 2 Way SMS is automatically setup in your Simple Salon Messaging account so that when a client replies Yes to their SMS Reminder, the letter C (for Confirmed) will automatically appear on their appointments. However, the Default SMS Templates for Appointment Reminders do not automatically contain a "Reply Yes" section. You will need to either edit the default, or customise your own message.  For info on how to do this, check out this article.

  • You can see all SMSs sent and view client responses in your Campaign Report (via your Marketing page). You can change the dates, click Recipients for any SMS campaign, and check out the replies in the Response column. Click here for more information on the Campaign Report.

Do you want to see how to set up SMS in action? Simply jump to 12:48 in the following video!

Are you ready for the next article in your Getting Started section? Click here!

If you have any questions, please send them to us via the Submit a Request option in your Help & Support page.

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