The sequence
| Step | When it goes |
|---|---|
| Ask | 2 hours after the job is marked Completed |
| Nudge | 3 days after the ask, if they haven’t opened the link |
| Last message | 7 days after the ask, if they still haven’t, saying it’s the last time you’ll ask |
| Thank-you | When you tick them as Reviewed on the Sent tab |
The two-hour wait means whoever did the job has left before the customer is asked. The nudge and last message are timed from the ask, so day 7 stays day 7 even if the nudge waited overnight. You can turn the nudge or the last message off on the Messages tab.
Messages only go between 09:00 and 20:00 in your own timezone, any day of the week. A job finished at 7pm is asked at 9am the next morning.
If your business needs different timings, our support team can change them for your account.
Which jobs are asked about
A job is asked about when all of these are true:
- it’s marked Completed in ServiceM8;
- it was completed after you switched Reviews on, and within the last seven days, so an old job edited today isn’t swept up;
- neither the job nor its client card has the No Review badge;
- the customer hasn’t been asked or reviewed you recently (see asking again).
Each job is asked about once, ever.
Who is asked
The add-on looks for someone to ask in this order, and uses the first with a usable mobile number or email:
- the job contact (usually the person at the property);
- any other contact on the job, such as the billing contact;
- the contacts on the client card.
A landline in the mobile field is skipped, because it can’t take a text. The message greets them by first name. “MRS PATEL” becomes “Mrs Patel”, and if there’s no usable name it says “Hi there”.
If there’s no mobile or email anywhere, nothing goes and a note is added to the job saying so. Add one within a few days and the job is asked about.
Text, email or WhatsApp
| Order | Channel | Used when |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | WhatsApp, through ServiceHQ Chat | It’s switched on and there’s a mobile. If WhatsApp can’t deliver it, the same message goes as a text instead. |
| 2 | Text, from your ServiceM8 SMS | There’s a mobile. This is the normal route. |
| 3 | Email, from your ServiceM8 email | There’s no mobile to text. |
Turn each on or off on the Settings tab under How requests are sent. At least one of text or email has to stay on. Texts and emails are sent from your own ServiceM8 account and appear in the job diary. Sending by WhatsApp has its own page.
Watching it happen
The Overview tab lists the last 25 jobs with where each request is up to: “Ask by text, 21 Oct, 17:05” means it’s waiting to go at that time, and “Ask sent by text, 21 Oct” means it’s gone. What every status means.