Automatic messages (Triggers)
The Triggers page controls the automatic messages Tellem sends customers — for example an arrival heads-up or a running-late notice. You choose which are on. Two rules keep it safe:- Messages only send during the messaging hours you set, so customers aren’t contacted at odd times. A new account starts at 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM in your business timezone; change it any time on the Account page. Tellem currently doesn’t allow messaging hours earlier than 8:00 AM or later than 6:00 PM: if you enter an earlier start or a later end, it’s set back to 8:00 AM or 6:00 PM and the page tells you why. Messaging hours can’t be left blank, and they must end after they start. Widening the window within those limits — an earlier opening time or a later closing time — asks you to confirm first, and tells you how early or how late customers could now be texted. Narrowing it saves without asking.
- Nothing goes out unless you’ve turned the relevant trigger on. Tellem never messages a customer behind your back.
- Message templates are created and controlled by Tellem for Tellem.ai Service Alerts. They carry only approved appointment details (customer name, business name, appointment time, ETA, worker name) and never links or promotional content. Templates aren’t editable in the dashboard — contact support to change one.
Close each job when it ends. A job that runs past its scheduled time stays the worker’s current job until somebody marks it Done in the worker app, or completes or cancels it on the Schedule page. Tellem never assumes a job is over because the clock moved on. Leave a finished job open and the next customer’s arrival message waits behind it.The running late notice needs to know where the worker is. Tellem will send it without an ETA when it can’t work one out, but it will not send it at all when the assigned worker’s phone hasn’t reported a recent location — or when nobody is assigned to the job yet. “Running late” is a claim about where somebody is, and Tellem won’t make it blind: the worker may be parked outside the customer’s door with the app asleep in their pocket. Once a customer has been sent the on the way message for a job, Tellem won’t send them the running late notice or the running later than expected follow-up for that job. Telling someone their worker is on the way and then that they’re running behind reads as a contradiction. You’re still alerted if the worker is late (see Business alerts). Rescheduling the job resets this, along with the rest of its messages. Because the notice is based on live GPS rather than the clock, it can go out before the appointment’s scheduled time whenever the drive is long enough that Tellem can already tell the worker won’t make it. Once it has gone out, Tellem uses the later arrival time it just gave the customer — instead of the original booked time — for whatever comes next: a same-day confirmation or reminder that hasn’t gone out yet. The arriving (“pulling up now”) message is the exception and keeps to the booked time, as described above. Messages always show the appointment’s booked time; only Tellem’s internal timing shifts. The notice still sends at most once per appointment, and rescheduling the appointment resets it, same as every other message. If the delay keeps growing, Tellem sends one follow-up, running later than expected, once Wait after first late text has passed (15 minutes by default, on the Triggers page). It only goes out if the worker’s live location still puts them later than the arrival time the customer was just given, by more than your Delay grace. A worker who makes up the time doesn’t trigger it, and like the running-late notice, it isn’t sent without a recent location. Location is likewise required for the arriving message, which has nothing to say unless it knows where the worker is. The on the way message doesn’t need a location: the worker’s On my way tap is enough, and when Tellem can work out a live ETA it includes one. Like every other message it only goes out inside your messaging hours — a tap outside them sends nothing, and the message isn’t saved to send later. If the worker taps again later and the message still hasn’t gone out, Tellem tries again. Each message sends at most once per appointment; if you reschedule the appointment, the messages for the new time can send again. One exception: once the worker has marked — or been detected — as arrived, the same-day confirmation is skipped, because telling the customer you’re still coming isn’t useful when you’re already at the door.
Send a one-off email
From an appointment on the Schedule page, choose Email customer to send a one-off email right now. Write it yourself, or tap AI draft to get a few suggested wordings you can edit before sending.You always review and approve the message — the assistant only proposes wording, it never sends on its own.One-off texts aren’t available: for Tellem.ai Service Alerts, Tellem controls the SMS content, so appointment texts are sent only from the standardized templates above. Use email for anything you need to say in your own words.
About text messaging
Text messages are sent through Tellem.ai Service Alerts, the informational SMS program Tellem operates on a Tellem-controlled toll-free number. Tellem controls the message templates, sending rules, and HELP/STOP handling. Messages are limited to appointment and service-status updates — never marketing or promotions. Every text opens by naming the program and your business, so the customer can tell at a glance who is texting them and why:Tellem.ai Service Alerts for Beacon Plumbing: Hi Jane, we’re running a bit behind for your 9:00 AM appointment. We’ll send you an updated ETA as soon as we’re on the way. Reply STOP to opt out or HELP for help.Every message ends with
Reply STOP to opt out or HELP for help. The first text
a customer ever receives from Tellem also carries Msg&data rates may apply.
Before a customer can be texted, an SMS consent record must be on file for that
number. For a new customer, that happens when you tell them why you’re texting
them before you ask for their number, and confirm it in Tellem while booking —
their handing you the number is the consent, there’s no separate question to ask.
For a number that was already on file before this process existed (most often an
imported customer), one sentence at your next contact with them covers it — see
Appointments for both. There is no public sign-up form a
customer can fill in on their own.
The enrollment confirmation
When you record a customer’s consent, Tellem texts them a short confirmation — as long as it’s the first text your business has ever sent that number:Tellem.ai Service Alerts: You’re enrolled for Beacon Plumbing appointment texts. Msg frequency varies. Msg&data rates may apply. HELP=help, STOP=opt out.This is the customer’s receipt. Because consent is given out loud on a phone call, they otherwise have nothing in writing and no way to opt out until their first appointment text arrives — the confirmation closes that gap immediately. A customer gets one of these. Booking them a second job doesn’t send another, and a customer you were already texting before this existed won’t suddenly get one — they’ll simply keep receiving their appointment messages as usual. It’s also skipped until you’ve saved your Account page at least once. It isn’t one of the automatic triggers, so it doesn’t appear on the Triggers page and can’t be switched off there — it’s part of how consent works, not a notification setting. For the same reason it sends right away rather than waiting for your messaging hours: it’s a direct reply to something the customer just agreed to, and it’s what gives them a way to opt out. If the customer had previously texted STOP, no confirmation is sent and they stay opted out — recording consent on their behalf doesn’t override their own opt-out. Importing a spreadsheet doesn’t send these. An imported number lands as “notice pending” — not consent — so nothing is texted to it at all until a rep confirms the continuing-updates notice on that customer’s appointment. That confirmation is what triggers this same enrollment text; there’s no separate version for imported customers. When a customer has both a phone and an email, Tellem texts them. These updates are time-critical — a text gets read in minutes, where an email might not be opened until after the visit is over. Email is the automatic fallback, not a second message: a customer only gets the email version when the text can’t go out, which covers a customer who has texted STOP, a number with no SMS consent on file yet, or an account whose text messaging isn’t enabled. Nobody gets both copies of the same update. Email works immediately. If text messages aren’t sending yet, it’s usually because text messaging hasn’t been fully enabled for your account yet — your Tellem contact can confirm where that stands. Until then, customers with an email on file keep getting these updates by email. One exception to the text-first rule: the Email customer one-off you send yourself from the Schedule page is always an email, by design (see above).