GarageDoorBossPro Blog — Garage Door Software

Texting Customers From Garage Door Software: Two-Way Texts, Reminders and Alerts

Garage door customers text. They text a photo of the door hanging crooked, they text to ask when the tech is coming, and they text back “yes” faster than they return a phone call. A garage door company that texts from someone's personal cell phone ends up with customer conversations scattered across every phone in the company. Texting from the software keeps them in one place.

Texting Alongside Billing

Property managers on the accounts described in Monthly Accounts in Garage Door Software: One Statement for Property Managers and HOAs are often the heaviest texters. A quick text is how most of them report a problem at a unit or approve the next step.

Two-Way Texting From the Office

In GarageDoorBossPro, the office texts customers from the software and the customer's replies come back to the same place. Anyone in the office can see the conversation, so whoever picks it up knows what was already said.

Common uses for a garage door company:

• Confirming a time for an install
• Letting a customer know the tech is running behind after an emergency spring call
• Asking for a new gate or door code when a tech could not get in
• Following up on an estimate
• Answering a question about an invoice

Because texts live with the customer, the conversation is still there when the customer calls again next year.

Automatic Reminders and Alerts

Many texts should not need anyone to send them. Automated reminders and alerts go out by text and email:

• Night before, so the customer knows the visit is tomorrow and can plan to have the car out of the garage
• When they're next, the on-the-way text when the tech heads to them
• When the tech arrives

Customers choose which alerts they want. The on-the-way and arrived texts are triggered from the tech app as the tech works the route, so the tech never has to stop and type a message.

Why It Matters for Garage Door Calls

A lot of garage door work needs someone home. The tech needs into the garage, the homeowner needs to move a car or open an inside door, and a property manager might need to let a tenant know. A night-before reminder and an on-the-way text mean fewer wasted trips to a house where nobody answers.

For emergency calls, the texts do something else. A homeowner whose car is stuck behind a broken door is anxious. A text saying the tech is on the way, followed by one saying they have arrived, takes care of most of the “are you still coming?” calls.

Monthly Text Allowance

Every plan includes a monthly text allowance for texts sent and received in the US and Canada:

• Start ($59/month): 500 texts
• Pro ($89/month): 1,000 texts
• Crew ($199/month): 2,000 texts

Both directions count, so a customer reply counts the same as a text the office sends. A one-van company sending reminders and on-the-way alerts usually sits comfortably in the smaller allowance, and a company with several vans and a lot of commercial accounts will lean toward the larger ones.

Texts When a Tech Skips a Job

Sometimes the tech gets to the house and cannot do the work: nobody is home, the garage is locked, or the door code in the notes no longer works. The tech taps Skip with a note on the tech app. The office sees the skip and the reason, and a two-way text to the customer is usually the fastest way to sort it out. “We stopped by and could not get into the garage. Can we come back tomorrow morning?” The reply lands in the same conversation, and the office moves the job to the new day.

Good Texting Habits

A few habits keep texting useful for customers:

• Keep it short. “Your tech is on the way, about 20 minutes out” does the job.
• Answer from the office, not personal phones. That way the history stays with the customer.
• Do not text repair advice. If a homeowner asks whether they can fix a spring or cable themselves, the answer is no. Those are for a trained tech, and the office should say so and offer to book a visit.
• Use the texts for scheduling, not chasing. Past-due follow-up and estimate follow-up emails handle the reminders that would otherwise feel like nagging.

Texts, Email and the Customer App Together

Texting is one of three ways customers hear from you. Email carries invoices, estimates and follow-ups. The customer app holds the live route map, invoices, payment and service requests. Texts are the quick, timely nudge that ties them together. A customer who gets an arrived text and then an invoice in the app a few minutes later sees one company that has its act together.

The next few articles in this series turn to company size, starting with Garage Door Software for a One-Van Company. For everything texting connects to, visit the GarageDoorBossPro garage door software page.