Reminders that bring cars back
Roshan, owner of a two-bay tyre and wheel centre (sample business). What each reminder rule sent and how many booked, every message with its status, and the rule itself.
Reminders that bring cars back: guided tour, 3 steps
Step 1 of 3: What each rule achieved. Sent, delivered, read and booked for each rule, like the revenue licence reminder 30 days before it is due.
Reminders · sample data← → to move · Esc for the whole screen
17:30Step 1 of 3
What each rule achieved
Sent, delivered, read and booked for each rule, like the revenue licence reminder 30 days before it is due.
The tour, written down
Reminders that bring cars back: how the tyre centre checks its follow-ups
Open Reminders at the end of the day. Performance shows what each rule sent, how many were delivered and read, and how many customers booked. The message log lists every reminder with its due time, status and channel. Rules hold the timing, quiet hours and the order of channels: WhatsApp, then SMS, then email.
Half of a tyre centre's work is already booked before the customer knows it. A car fitted today needs its wheel nuts checked in a couple of days. A car that came in last year needs its revenue licence and emission test sorted soon. Reminders turn those dates into bookings, but only if they go out, and only if someone checks whether they worked. This tour is the last look of the day at the Reminders page, at half past five, when the bays are quiet.
What does the Reminders page show?
The Reminders page answers two questions: did the messages go out, and did anyone book because of them. It is split into three tabs, Performance, Message log and Rules, and the tour shows all three side by side.
| Tab | What you see | The question it answers |
|---|---|---|
| Performance | Each rule with Sent, Delivered, Read, Booked and the revenue from those bookings | Is this reminder worth sending? |
| Message log | Every reminder with the car, due time, status and channel | Did this customer get their message? |
| Rules | Days from the event, send hour, quiet hours, channels in order, service or marketing | When and how does this reminder go out? |
The heading under the page title says it plainly: reminders are sent for you by WhatsApp, then SMS, then email. Nobody at the counter has to remember to send them.
Step by step
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Open Reminders from the side menu. The page opens on Performance. In the sample business there are two rules switched on: the revenue licence and emission test reminder, sent 30 days before it is due, and the wheel nut re-check, sent 2 days after fitting. Each card shows a green On label, so you can tell at a glance that the rule is live.
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Read the funnel for each rule. The licence reminder in the sample went to 42 customers. 40 were delivered, 31 were read and 9 booked, bringing in Rs 186,000 of work. That is the number that matters. A reminder that is read but never booked tells you the message or the timing needs work. A reminder that is rarely delivered usually means old phone numbers on customer records.
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Compare the rules against each other. The wheel nut re-check sent 57 messages and 12 customers booked. It shows no revenue, because a re-check is normally free. Its value is safety and goodwill: a customer who comes back for a free check is a customer who comes back for their next set of tyres. Judge each rule by what it is for, not only by money.
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Switch to the message log. This is the list of every reminder, one row each. You see which reminder it was, the vehicle number, when it is due, its status and the channel it went by. A wheel nut re-check for Saturday at 09:00 shows as Scheduled. A 24-hour booking reminder sent today shows Delivered. Licence reminders show Read or Booked.
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Look for anything held back. One row in the sample, a "Tread low" message, shows Suppressed. The note at the bottom of the log explains that suppressed means held back, for example by the customer's contact preferences. If a customer replies STOP to a marketing message, their pending marketing reminders are suppressed straight away, including ones already queued. You do not have to go and cancel them by hand.
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Answer the customer who says "I never got a message". Find their vehicle number in the log. You will see whether the reminder was scheduled, delivered or read, and on which channel. That turns an argument into a ten-second check.
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Open the Rules tab and pick a rule. The tour opens the wheel nut re-check. It reads like a sentence: two days from the event, sent at nine, never during quiet hours from 21:00 to 08:00.
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Check the channel order. The rule lists its channels, tried in this order: WhatsApp, SMS, email. Most customers read WhatsApp first, so it leads. If that fails, SMS is next, then email. You can change the order if your customers prefer something else.
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Check whether the rule is a service message or marketing. The wheel nut re-check is set as a service message, because it is about work the customer has already paid for. A promotion, such as a discount on alignment, would be marketing, and only reaches customers who have agreed to marketing on that channel. Moving a rule from marketing to service asks you to read the guidance and confirm, and the change is recorded.
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Save the rule. Press Save rule. Rule editing is kept to the business's admin, so staff on the counter can read the page without changing it.
Why do quiet hours and send hours matter?
They decide whether a reminder feels helpful or rude. A licence reminder that arrives at 06:15 on a Sunday is more likely to be muted than read. Setting a send hour of nine puts the message in front of people when they are planning their day, and quiet hours make sure a late-scheduled message waits for the morning rather than going out in the middle of the night.
A useful habit is to look at the Read column against the send hour. If a rule is delivered well but read poorly, try moving the send hour before changing the wording.
Tips for getting more bookings from reminders
- Keep phone numbers clean. Delivered is the first number that drops. Ask for a WhatsApp number at the counter when the car comes in, and correct it on the customer record when it changes.
- Time the licence reminder to the customer, not the calendar. Thirty days before the due date gives a customer time to book without forgetting. Much earlier and they put it off; much later and the slots are gone.
- Use the free re-check as a relationship tool. The wheel nut re-check costs you a few minutes of bay time. It also puts the customer back in front of your stock, where a worn spare or an uneven tread is easy to point out honestly.
- Look at Booked weekly, not daily. A single day is noisy. A week shows whether a rule is pulling its weight.
- Treat marketing consent as fixed unless the customer changes it. The system starts every customer with service messages on and marketing off for each channel. Respect that and your messages stay welcome.
Common mistakes
- Reading Sent as success. Sent only means the message left. Delivered, Read and Booked are the numbers that show whether it worked.
- Marking a promotion as a service message to reach more people. It may reach more phones, but it breaks the trust that makes service reminders work, and the page asks you to confirm the guidance for a reason.
- Turning a rule off after one quiet week. Compare several weeks before deciding a rule is not worth it.
- Ignoring Suppressed rows. A run of suppressed messages for one rule can mean customers are opting out of it. That is feedback on the message.
- Changing the channel order for everyone because of one customer. Fix that customer's contact details instead.
What to do next
Once the reminders are bringing cars back, follow them into the rest of the day. The appointments tour shows online requests waiting to be confirmed in each bay, and the job card tour shows the inspection, the quote approved by link and the invoice. If you are setting up a tyre centre from scratch, the stock control guide explains how to keep tyre sizes and DOT lots under control, and the cash flow guide shows why repeat visits matter more than one big sale. For choosing a till that suits a busy counter, read how to choose a POS system.
The sample business, figures and vehicle numbers in this tour are examples only.
Questions people ask
How do I know if a reminder message led to a booking?
Open Reminders and look at the Performance tab. Each rule shows how many messages were sent, delivered and read, and how many of those customers went on to book.
What does Suppressed mean in the message log?
The reminder was held back on purpose. A common reason is the customer's contact preferences, for example they replied STOP to marketing messages, so the message was not sent.
Can reminders go by WhatsApp and SMS?
Yes. Each rule lists its channels in order. The usual order is WhatsApp first, then SMS, then email, so the customer gets the message on the first channel that works for them.
Will customers get reminder messages late at night?
No. Each rule has quiet hours, for example from 21:00 to 08:00, and a send hour. A reminder that falls inside quiet hours waits until they end.
What is the difference between a service message and a marketing message?
A service message is about something the customer already has with you, such as a safety re-check after fitting. A marketing message is promotional and only goes to customers who have agreed to it. Moving a rule from marketing to service asks you to read the guidance and confirm first.
Who can change a reminder rule?
Editing rules is kept to the business's admin, so a busy counter does not change timings by accident.
