Messaging customers
Channels and fallback
Four ways to reach a customer, with very different reach, cost and reliability. The fallback chain exists so the important messages get through without paying for the expensive channel every single time.
The four channels
Rich messaging and SMS
The workhorse. Sent as a rich message where the handset and network support it and as an ordinary text where they do not — the network decides, per handset, and you are charged for whichever carried it. This is the only channel that reliably reaches somebody who has left your shop.
- Reaches
- Any phone with a number
- Costs
- Counts against your allowance
Web push
A browser notification, instant and costing nothing. Most visitors never enable them, so this is a good first attempt and a bad only attempt.
- Reaches
- Only customers who allowed notifications
- Costs
- Free
Good for confirmations, details and receipts. Poor for urgency: nobody watches their inbox for their turn in a queue.
- Reaches
- Anyone whose address you hold
- Costs
- Free — does not touch your allowance
Voice
An automated call reading out the message. Reserved for the moment that genuinely matters, and for customers who will not look at a screen.
- Reaches
- Any phone
- Costs
- Counts against your allowance
How a message chains
For a given message, every channel you have switched on is attempted. The interesting decision is the text message, because it is the one that costs money: each message decides whether to send it always, or only when the free push did not do the job.
Always send
The text goes out regardless. Simple, immediate, and the right answer for “it's your turn”.
Only if the push was not delivered
The text is skipped when the push got through. Cheapest option, and the one to use for the messages that are useful rather than urgent.
Only if the push was not tapped within a minute
The text is held for a minute. If the customer opened the notification, it is dropped; if not, it is sent. This tests something real — whether a human actually saw it — at the price of a minute's delay.
Two limitations worth knowing
A push has no delivery receipt
When a push service accepts a notification, that is the last thing anybody hears about it. The phone may be switched off, the browser may have been uninstalled, the notification may be silently dropped — and none of that comes back.
So “not delivered” means definitively not delivered: the customer had no subscription, every endpoint was gone, or the send was refused. Those are the common cases, because most visitors never enable notifications. Where the push was accepted, it is treated as delivered, because that is the strongest signal the platform gives. If you want a harder guarantee, use the tapped condition, which tests something observable.
The one-minute delay is really one to six minutes
Held messages are released by a job that runs every five minutes, so a message deferred for “a minute” goes out somewhere between one and six minutes later. Anything more than ten minutes stale is dropped rather than sent, because “it's your turn” arriving ten minutes late is worse than not arriving — the customer has already been called or given up.
This is honest timing for “you're next”. It is too slow for “it's your turn right now”, which is why that message should be set to always send.
Choosing per message
| Message | Suggested setting |
|---|---|
| It is your turn | Always send. Never economise on this one. |
| You are next in line | Only if the push was not delivered — a minute either way does not matter. |
| Joined the waitlist | Only if the push was not delivered, or email only. |
| Booking reminder | Always send. It is the whole point of the reminder. |
| Follow-ups | Email, or switch off entirely. |
Voice calls
An automated call is the strongest signal available and the most intrusive. It suits businesses whose customers are not looking at a phone screen — a garage waiting room, an older clientele — and it suits the single moment of being called rather than the running commentary.
Voice is not currently offered as an automatic step in the fallback chain: the chain runs push and text. A call is available as a channel in its own right.
Which number it comes from
Texts and calls go out from a number chosen by where your customer is, not where you are — a customer in the United States receiving a UK number is both more expensive and far more likely to be filtered. You can pin a specific number instead. See sender numbers.