What this helps you do
Sending a Blast delivers your message to the phones and computers of everyone in the audience you pick, and by email to the customers who chose email. You can send now, schedule for later, or repeat weekly. The composer supports formatting, links and images (a photo of the worn part), up to three attached files (the estimate or the recall bulletin as a PDF), a YES / NO reply the Hub counts, and Send a test to me so you see exactly what customers will receive.
When to use it
Use it for the messages a customer is glad to get: the vehicle is ready, here is where the job stands, the part arrived and here is the slot, the appointment moved, the service drive or the store is closed this morning, holiday hours, a courtesy recall or service-campaign note, an owner clinic or launch evening, and the vehicle somebody asked you to watch for. A trade or lease note belongs here too, used sparingly enough that it still reads as useful.
How to do it
- Open Send, or start from one of the starter templates your Hub seeds for the ready notice, status updates, parts, appointment changes, recalls, closures and events.
- Pick an audience: Service Customers, Sales & New Arrivals, Parts & Accessories, Events & Clinics, VIP & Owners Club, or All Customers.
- Type the message and add a photo if it helps. Attach the estimate or the bulletin (up to three files, 5 MB each).
- For an appointment slot or an owner clinic, ask for a YES / NO reply and the Hub counts the answers.
- Read the Delivery panel: one Blasts credit per customer on Blasts, one email credit per email.
- Click Send a test to me, then choose Send now, Schedule for later, or Repeat weekly.
- If you are sending to All Customers, confirm with your passkey or on your phone when asked.
Example
Six inches of snow and the service drive cannot open until ten. At 6:05 the service manager picks Service Customers, says the drive opens at ten, that anyone with an early appointment will be worked in, and that the phones are answered from eight, and clicks Send now. The read count tells the contact team which of the morning's appointments still need a call.
Good to know
- A person sends every notice. The Hub does not know repair-order, parts or inventory status, so the advisor, the contact team or a system you already run posts the update.
- A recall or service-campaign Blast is a courtesy message beside the manufacturer's and the regulator's required notification, never instead of it. Say so in the message.
- An immediate send is held for about a minute so you can cancel it from Sent & Scheduled; nothing is charged for a cancelled Blast.
- Delivered and read counts come from confirmed actions in the Blasts app, not from open pixels. A read is not an acknowledgement: ask for a YES / NO reply when you need one.
- Recurring Blasts are managed under Sent & Scheduled: pause, resume or delete them there.
- If a manager's Blasts require approval (Settings), their send waits under Sent & Scheduled until an administrator approves it.