What this helps you do
Conversations are your one-to-one threads with individual customers, both the replies you receive and the messages you start. Replies arrive on two rails, Blasts and email, and land in the same inbox. This is where the ready note, the status update and the part that is in belong: the service desk knows the work is done because the work order says so, the parts counter knows the order landed because the delivery did, and they send the customer a line about it from here. Your team sees who is replying to whom, can assign a thread to a colleague, and keeps private staff notes on each customer (the second key that never turned up, the implement they are saving for, the model and serial number) that the customer never sees.
When to use it
Use it when the unit is ready, when the diagnosis is in and the estimate needs a yes, when the part somebody ordered is at the counter, when a customer replies to take or decline an offered slot, asks whether the part fits their model, wants to see the unit you told them about, or asks whether their model year is affected by a campaign.
How to do it
- Open Conversations.
- Read replies as they arrive, or click New conversation to message any customer on your list.
- When the work is done or the part is in, open that customer's thread and tell them: what, where, until when, and what name it is under.
- Reply in the thread; the Hub answers on the rail the customer uses, Blasts or email.
- Assign the thread to the right person, for example the service desk for a pickup time or the parts counter for a fitment question.
- Open the customer's page for their history, replies, interests, household and staff notes.
- Search by name, email, or message text to find any thread.
Example
The technician finishes at eleven. The service desk opens the customer's thread, says the mower is ready and can be collected until six, and attaches the invoice. The customer replies that he cannot get in before seven. The manager assigns it to the service desk, who confirm the after-hours pickup and add a staff note that he uses the side gate. When the blade set he ordered lands the following week, the parts counter opens the same thread and tells him it is in.
Good to know
- The Hub is not your dealer management system, your scheduler, your parts system or your CRM, and it never sees a work order, an estimate, a stock level or a deal. It does not know a job closed or a part landed: your team does, and they send the note. Keep the work order and the appointment where you keep them today.
- Replies can be turned off per Blast, for example on a plain change of hours; a reply to such a Blast is marked so you know the context.
- A Leader only sees replies from the audiences they are granted.
- STOP and START are handled automatically on both rails, and the customer's page shows their opt-out state.
- Receiving is free for customers; a reply they send uses their own Blasts credits, never the dealership's.
- Staff notes on a customer's page are private to your Hub team and are never shown to the customer.