SMS messages are another Notification Type in Aspire. Sometimes, you have customers who don't read emails or prefer a short message to notify them about a service. You can reach these customers with an SMS notification.

The types of SMS notifications are Visit Reminder, Work Ticket Complete, and Absentee Notification (Internal).

• Visit Reminders remind your customers about an upcoming service visit.

• Work Ticket Complete notifications are sent based on the trigger you select during setup. You can notify customers when the Work Ticket is completed in Aspire Mobile, the Subcontractor Portal, or Aspire Cloud.

• SMS Absentee Notifications are for internal use only and send a message when a crew member doesn't clock in for a scheduled Work Ticket. This helps you monitor your onsite teams and stay on track with daily workflows.

Before setting up an SMS notification, confirm that you have:

• Assigned the correct user role permissions to Manage Notification Settings.

• Set up your Contact records to receive Notifications.

For more information on these steps, see Email and SMS Notification Overview.

The following is information to keep in mind for SMS notifications:

• All messages should state the name of your business.

• Your carrier sends messages that are over 160 characters as two separate messages.

• We strongly recommend you include opt-out instructions in your messages that direct customers to text STOP, Stop, or stop to your toll-free number.

• You can enter text and add tokens to communicate important information to your customer.

• There is a maximum limit of 320 characters to ensure the message is concise. For more detailed messages, you can create an email notification.

All SMS messaging must comply with applicable laws and regulations, including the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). Because of this, Aspire includes additional opt-in functionality for SMS messaging.

After you select Save, Aspire sends your customer a message to confirm they want to receive SMS messages from your company. You can view their real-time opt-in status in the Notifications column on the Property Details screen.

• A warning icon indicates the customer has not opted-in yet.

• A green checkmark indicates the customer has confirmed their opt-in.

To opt-in, your customer must reply with START, Start, or start to the opt-in message.

• To opt-out, your customer can reply STOP, Stop, or stop to your toll-free number at any time.

• To opt back in, the customer must send Start or unstop to the toll-free number.

  Note: If you update a customer's phone number, they will be opted out and must re-opt-in.

Update multiple contacts with a bulk action

Disclaimer: We do not recommend using Bulk Actions to set the SMS Notification Contact without prior consent from your customers. If your customers reported your message as spam, telephone providers could flag and block your toll-free number.

To update multiple contacts:

1. Select the checkboxes for the properties you want to update.

2. In the upper-right, select Bulk Actions.

3. Select Change SMS Notification Contact. The top options in the menu will be Primary Contact, Billing Contact, and Email Invoice Contact.

⚠️ Be careful as you can potentially associate contacts with a property they shouldn’t be associated with.

To create an SMS notification template, configure the fields from the New Notification screen, test, and then save your notification.

1. Go to Notifications > Manage Notifications.

2. From the New menu, select Add SMS Notification.

3. In the Notification Name field, enter a name that clearly describes the reminder.

   1. Example: St Louis - Weekly Maint - Weekly Reminder

4. From the Branch menu, select the branches that will use this reminder.

5. Optional: From the Route menu, associate the reminder with a time-based or sequenced route.

   1. Note: You must set a time-based route under the Route(s) field to use Time-based Visit Tokens in the Message Body field.

6. From the Divisions menu, choose the divisions for this reminder.

7. From the Service Type menu, select the service types for this reminder.

8. From the Service menu, select the service for this reminder.

9. For Notification Type, select Visit Reminder.

10. The Trigger Type defaults to Work Ticket Visit Scheduled and cannot be changed.

11. The Delivery Time defaults to Day Before and cannot be changed.

12. In Delivery Time Details, set when the reminder is sent. You can set the minutes to 00, 15, 30, or 45.

13. In the Message Body field, type your message. To add tokens, select the Search icon.

    1. Manually typed text and tokens count towards 320-character count maximum.

Once you save your settings, you can Test your notification to make sure that everything looks correct when the Visit Reminder notification is sent to your customers.

Below are the examples of Placeholder text for each SMS Notification type:

Test your SMS notification

1. Select Test in the upper-right corner to send a preview before you save the template.

2. Enter the phone number of your test recipient and select the attestation checkbox to acknowledge consent.

3. Select Send Message. You receive a confirmation that the test was sent.

4. You are taken back to the Visit Reminder screen where you can make changes before you save the notification.

5. Select Save once you are satisfied with the template.

You can copy a notification to use as a template for a new one.

1. Go to the notification you would like to copy.

2. From the action menu (...) in the upper right, select Copy.

For example, a system administrator can use a main notification template, then individual branch managers can copy the template and use it for creating branch-specific notifications.

Canceling a visit reminder

If you delete a Work Ticket visit, a cancellation notification is sent to your customer within 15 minutes. This automated message cannot be modified.

Note: A cancellation notification will not be sent if a visit is canceled or rescheduled before the original visit reminder is sent.

Visit reminders for rescheduled tickets

If you update the date or time of a scheduled Work Ticket after the original reminder was sent, a reschedule notification is sent. The message is sent within 15 minutes of the change. If a visit is rescheduled for a future date, your customer receives two messages: the reschedule notification and a new visit reminder for the new date.

Use the SMS absentee notification

Absentee Notifications are useful for tracking crew clock-ins for scheduled Work Tickets. The notification is sent to your internal team if someone fails to clock in after the designated start time. To start, create the notification template and ensure your employees have opted-in to receive messages.

The setup for an Absentee Notification is similar to a Visit Reminder, with a few different fields:

• Recipient(s) and Additional Recipient(s): Use these fields to assign who on your internal team receives the notification.

• Grace Period: This field allows you to set an acceptable amount of time to pass after the Work Ticket's Visit Start Time before the notification is sent.

• Property Tag: You can filter when an absentee notification is sent for a specific property by adding property tags to the template and the property.

Set up employee contacts for internal notifications

For your team to receive Absentee Notifications, you must send an SMS Notification Invite from their contact record.

1. On the employee's contact record, go to the Mobile Phone number field and select SEND INVITE.

2. The field will update to Opt-in SMS Sent.

3. Your employee receives a message and must reply START to finish opting in, then their status shows as SMS Enabled.

Receiving an absentee notification

When an Absentee Notification is sent, Aspire sends only one message per template. If an employee is a recipient for multiple templates that share the same Branch and Route but have different Grace Period settings, they receive separate messages for each grace period.

Note: A message can only be received when the device is online.

Additional resources

Aspire also offers email notifications. To learn how to set them up, see Using Email Notifications.