SMS Trip Reminders

SMS Trip Reminder is a feature that can be used to send a Trip Reminder Notification to clients via text message

In order to use SMS Trip Reminders you first need to speak with our sales team.  You can use this link to reach out to our sales team and let them know you're interested in adding this feature to your account: Contact Form

Set Up

  1. In order to establish which clients will receive SMS messages, each Account Class will need to be set up to either use or not use SMS Reminders.  
    • To open this setting, go to the Billing tab --> Accounts --> Click Class --> Select the Account Class.  You can then set "SMS Reminders" to either Yes or No.  You will need to do this for each account class you want trip reminders to work for.
  2. SMS_Account_ClassTrip reminders are sent out on the day before the scheduled trip. 
    • If Yes is selected for SMS Reminders on the Account Class window, the next setting to establish is what time these reminders will be sent out on the preceding day.  The setting is in 24-hour time, for example SMS Reminders are enabled on this "Self-Pay" account class with the reminders going out at 9:00 AM on the previous day.

How to Set up a Client with Trip Reminders

  • Open the Client record and add the phone number the client would like to use as their preferred number for SMS trip reminders (only one number can be used at a time). 
  • If a customer has multiple phone numbers on the record, the order that trip reminders will use is as follows:
    1. Contact Phone
    2. Mobile Phone
    3. Phone 1
    4. Phone 2
      • This means that if there is no phone number listed for the Contact Phone, then the Mobile Phone will be used and so on.

How Do SMS Trip Reminders Work

  • When an SMS trip reminder text message is sent, the recipient will be prompted to reply with either "Confirm" or "Cancel". 
  • A reply of "Confirm" will mark the trip as "Ready (Confirmed)" .  This can be found on the Trip Scheduling window here:

Received

or on the Dispatch Window here:
Received_Dispatch

  • The message exchange will look like this:

Confirm

  • A reply of "cancel" will result in the following message: "Thank you for cancelling your ride(s). Reply STOP to stop receiving trip reminders. Msg & data rates may apply".
    • A cancellation will also prompt an "SMS Cancellation" notification in RoutingBox.
  • Clients will have 60 minutes to either confirm or cancel.  This is the default value but can be changed in system settings by updating the value of the setting: TRIP_REMINDER_RESPONSE_TIME
  • If clients respond outside of the response time, they will be receive the following reply "Please contact the transporter to [confirm/cancel] your ride.  Your reply was not received within the allowable time frame"

How Clients Can Opt In or Out of SMS Trip Reminders

  • The client can opt out of receiving future messages by replying with "stop" at anytime.  This will result in the following message "You have successfully been unsubscribed.  You will not receive any more messages from this number.  Reply START to re-subscribe."
  • Similarly, the client can opt back in by replying with "start" at anytime.