Actively using SMS to communicate with your clients is an easy way to increase retention levels and boost engagement. Simple Salon allows you to do this effectively with our built in marketing system. It's pretty much set up for you, and can be adjusted to suit your business needs.
The following article will guide you through SMS Marketing in Simple Salon.
We'll be covering the following:
- How to Send SMS Marketing
- Automatic SMS Marketing
- Campaign Report (view client responses or check the status of a campaign)
How to Send SMS Marketing
You can send SMS Marketing from a variety of places in your Simple Salon account. This includes:
- Pre-made Marketing options, accessed from the Marketing tab
- Reporting options in the Report List, accessed from the Reporting tab
As an example, we'll go to the Marketing tab, and use the All Clients list:
| Tip: Although this example will use the All Clients list, you'll find that these instructions will apply no matter which Marketing or Reporting option you choose to send an SMS from. |
The All Clients option will give you a list of all clients that have been added to your account:
When you're on a Marketing list, you'll notice a little mobile and email symbol on the top right, like so:
- The mobile symbol is the number of clients enabled for SMS promotions
- The email symbol is the number of clients enabled for email promotions.
- The Total is the total number of clients in the list, irrespective of if they have SMS/Email Promotions enabled.
You can select which clients you'd like to send an SMS to by using the tick boxes next to the client's name, like so:
If you're going to be sending to this group of clients often, you can also add them to a Marketing List for future access.
To learn about creating a Marketing List, click here!
Otherwise, simply select the required clients, and click the Send SMS button on the top left:
Give your SMS a Campaign Name (this is what you'll see on the Campaign Report - we'll explain what that is shortly).
You can choose a premade SMS Template from the Template drop-down menu as well:
If you're not sure what a template is (or what 'Add Tag' is) please click here to learn.
If you don't have a template, you will simply type out your message, like so:
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You must make note of the Length / Clients / Total SMS Required. Length - This refers to how many SMSs are required to send the message - where 1 SMS = 160 Characters. To see the breakdown of how many characters you can have (and the cost), click here. Client - This refers to how many clients are currently selected to be sent this SMS Total SMS Required (Est) - This will equate to the Length multiplied by the number of Clients. |
You will get prompted of what the total cost will be before the SMS is actually sent though!
When you click Send Message, it will let you know what the campaign's estimated cost is before actually sending the message:
Click Yes if you're happy to proceed, and the campaign will then be queued in your Campaign Report:
You can click the Campaign Report page link to get taken over straight to your Campaign Report.
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Note: The system requires you to have enough Plan SMS Messages or Credit in order to send the SMS to the selected client list. If you do not currently have the required amount, you'll be shown how much needs to be paid in order to send the SMS campaign, like so: If you select Yes, you'll get a final pop-up, confirming that you're happy to proceed: Once you've selected Confirm & Pay, the amount will immediately be charged to your Credit Card on file, at which point the SMS Campaign will queue to send. |
Automatic SMS Marketing
You can also send automatic SMS Marketing from within your Simple Salon account!
To check out the options available to you, go to Admin, then into the SMS & Email tab:
You'll notice the 1 Touch Marketing section to the right.
To learn what each option means, simply click on the links below to get taken to further information:
- Appointment Reminders
- First Visit Message
- Birthday Message
- New Client Message
- Clients Who Haven't Been In
- Operator Appointment Notifications
- Appointment Follow Up
- Re-Book Reminder
Campaign Report
The Campaign Report allows you to check the progress of an SMS or email campaign that has been sent, as well as view client responses.
You can get here by going to Marketing, then click the Campaign Report tab:
All of the SMS and email campaigns which were sent between your From and To date will be listed. By default today will be shown.
You can click Recipients next to any of the campaigns you wish to see the list of clients who were sent the campaign.
If a client has responded, you'll be able to see that here:
Note: You can also get sent an email whenever a client responds to an SMS sent from your Simple Salon account. Simply click here to learn where the SMS Response Notification setting is located.
What does Status mean?
Status refers to what stage the campaign is currently in:
Pending: means that the SMS or email is in the process of sending, and soon it will display either Sent or Error.
Sent: means that Simple Salon successfully sent the SMS to the client. (If it says Sent, but the client didn't actually receive the SMS, this is usually an issue related to the client's handset or their mobile carrier. Feel free to reach out to our support team if you'd like us to look into it).
Error: means that the SMS was not sent due to either of the reasons below. Click the Error link, and the reason for the error will display:
- Client doesn't have a mobile number
- Mobile number is not in the Mobile section of the client's personal details (it can't be in the Telephone section)
- You don't have enough SMS credits. Click here to learn how to buy more SMS credits
If you have an Error message and you're unsure of the meaning, send us the message via your Help & Support page by clicking Submit a Request.
So, now every time you want to see if your SMSs and emails have been sent, check out your Campaign Report!
If you have any questions, please send them to us via the Submit a Request option in your Help & Support page.