Sending SMS and WhatsApp to Customers
Several customer lists in Invoay let you pick customers and send them a message straight away. It's perfect for offers, "we miss you" messages, or festival wishes.
You can message customers from:
- View Customers
- Repeat Customer › Repeat Service Based, Repeat Product Based and Repeat Bill Based
- Lost Customer › Lost Customer Service Based, Lost Customer Product Based and Lost Customer Bill Based
Step 1: Choose your customers
Click a row, or tick the box at the start of it, for each customer you want to message. The number of Selected customers is shown above the list. You can filter the list first — for example, only customers from one store — and then tick the box in the header to select them all.
On Repeat Service Based, Repeat Product Based, Lost Customer Service Based and Lost Customer Product Based, pick a service or product in the box at the top before you send. If you leave it on all services or all products, you'll be asked to choose one.
Step 2: Choose how to send
Use the buttons in the toolbar at the top of the list:
| Button | What it does | When you'll see it |
|---|---|---|
| Send SMS | Send an SMS using your own approved templates | Always |
| Send WhatsApp | Send a WhatsApp message using your approved templates | Always — but you need an official WhatsApp Business (WABA) connection to send |
| Send Built-in SMS | Shows information about promotional SMS rules | 🔑 Only on View Customers and Lost Customer Service Based, and only if Built-in SMS is on for your account |
Send SMS
| Field | What it means |
|---|---|
| SMS Store | Which store's SMS balance to use. Your current balance is shown |
| Template | Choose one of your approved promotional templates |
| Subject | A name for this campaign, so you can find it in reports later |
| Message | The message, filled in from the template you chose. {firstname} is replaced with each customer's first name |
| Characters (approx) / Approximate Credits | How long the message is and roughly how many SMS credits it will use |
| Scheduled Date / Time Slot | Send it later instead of right now (only if scheduled SMS is on for your account) |
| Unsubscribe (STOP SMS) | Add an unsubscribe link to the message |
| Referral link | Add the customer's referral link, so they can refer friends |
| Track revenue | See how much business this campaign brings back |
There's also a link to Sample SMS Templates if you need ideas. Click Send.
⚠️ India only: by TRAI rules, SMS templates must be approved on the DLT portal first. A template that isn't approved may fail to send.
Send Built-in SMS
This button doesn't send messages. It opens a notice explaining that, under TRAI rules, promotional SMS can only be sent once your DLT registration is complete. Until then, use Send WhatsApp through WABA, or chat with Invoay Support for help.
Send WhatsApp
- Choose the WhatsApp Store — its WhatsApp Credits balance is shown. Make sure it's enough for the number of customers you picked.
- Enter a Subject for the campaign.
- Choose one of your approved WhatsApp templates in WABA Template (or DoubleTick Template, if your account uses DoubleTick).
- With a WABA template, fill in Media Path — the web link to the picture or video the template uses. The form asks for it on every send.
- Click Send.
{FirstName} in the template is replaced with each customer's first name.
If you see "You need to subscribe to WABA to use this feature", your account isn't connected to official WhatsApp Business yet. Contact Invoay Support to get set up.
Tips
- Keep an eye on your balance. You can see your balance and past recharges under Reports › WhatsApp / SMS (SMS Current Balance, WhatsApp Current Balance and WhatsApp / SMS Recharge).
- Customers who unsubscribed are marked in the customer list, and won't receive promotional messages.
- Personalise. Messages with the customer's name get noticeably better responses.