You can automatically send emails notifying customers when their route day changes, reminding them about past due invoices, or following up on open quotes that need approval. It's an amazing feature that automates a lot of manual work and puts more money in your bank account.
Access Automatic Email Settings
Go to the Email Center
Click on the "Automatic Emails" tab at the top of the page
You'll then see 3 more tabs for "Route Day Changes", "Past Due Invoices", and "Open Quotes" which you can select
Route Day Changes
Pool Brain can automatically notify customers when their scheduled route stop day changes either permanently or temporarily. This works for route stops only and not one time jobs.
How it works:
As scheduling changes are made throughout the day, Pool Brain keeps track of whether the day of the week for the scheduled route stop has changed. If it has, it will be placed in either the "One Time Moves" or "Permanent Moves" sending queue in the "Route Day Changes" section of the Email center.
For example, if a property is normally scheduled for Thursday and it's moved from Thursday to Friday (regardless of date), it will be placed in the send queue. If it's then moved again from Friday to Monday, it will remain in the send queue. If it's then moved again from Friday to Thursday, it will be removed from the send queue because Thursday was the original day it was scheduled for so no change of day notification is needed.
At the time of day you set (default is 5:30pm), Pool Brain will send email notifications to any customers in these queues using a specific email template. You can customize different email content for both "One Time Moves" and "Permanent Moves" send queues as you may want the messaging to be different.
With the Route Day Change automatic email feature, you can make any schedule changes as normal throughout the work day. Pool Brain will auto-notify any customers who have had their route day changed at a time you set (after business hours recommended) with the messaging you want. No more wasted time or training manually performing these tasks 🙌🏻
How to turn on auto-notification emails:
Navigate to the Automatic Emails section of the Email Center
Make sure the "Route Day Changes" tab is selected
Click the "Auto-Send" toggle switch to turn it on (if this switch is off, no day changes will be tracked and no route day change emails will be sent)
How to change notification settings:
Navigate to the Automatic Emails section of the Email Center
Make sure the "Route Day Changes" tab is selected
Click the blue pencil icon next to either the "One Time Moves" or "Permanent Moves" row to open up the settings window
Send to - set whether you want to send the notification to the customer's billing contact, primary contact, or both.
Alternatively, you can choose to send to an internal email (any email you choose). Internal email may be used if you prefer to have your office staff call the customer instead of sending emails but this is rare.Schedule (time of day) - choose when the email notifications are sent. We recommend setting the time for after your office closes and all scheduling has been done. Typically 5:30pm or 6pm is a great time to do this so scheduling is done and customer still receives plenty of notice.
Email content - you can edit the email subject and body content to anything you want. The default content makes great use of dynamic content tags to let your customers know which day it was moved FROM and which day it is being moved TO. You can also add other dynamic content tags such as the original technician, new technician, specific service address and more.
Managing the send queues manually (optional):
It's typically not required, but you have the option to manage the send queues manually. You can see details on which properties will receive notifications, remove any properties you don't want to be notified, or send the notification emails immediately instead of waiting for the time of day automation to trigger.
The number of properties in each queue will display at all times above the right side of each row
Click the number of properties text to open a window that shows all properties in the send queue (there must be at least 1 property in the send queue to do this)
Click the red X icon next to any property to remove it from the queue
Click the blue "remove all" text to remove all properties from the queue
Click the blue "send now" text to immediately send the route day change notification emails for all properties in the send queue (this is only used if you don't want to wait for the time of day you set to trigger the automated emails)
If you don't want a specific customer to ever receive automatic route day change notifications, you can disable automatic emails for that customer by going to their customer page, hovering over their customer status at the very top of the page, and clicking the envelope icon that appears to the right of customer status.
Past Due Invoices
Configure reminder emails for past due invoices that can be automatically sent to either your customer directly or to your office staff with instructions for follow up. Pool Brain will only send reminders for invoices that are in "past due" status.
How it works:
If the automatic emails feature is turned on for past due invoices, the system will send reminder emails based on how many days the invoice has been past due and the time of day you want it to send.
You can create any sending workflow you want with no limits. For example, you could setup a workflow to send a gentle reminder when an invoice becomes 3 days past due, another gentle reminder at 7 days past due, a more firm reminder at 14 days past due, a firm reminder at 30 days past due, and an email sent to your office staff at 35 days past due instructing them to call the customer (and so on).
All relevant details of the invoice (including balance due and a link to pay) can be added to the reminder email templates automatically so both the customer and your office staff have what they need to get the payment processed quickly.
The default reminder workflow has been proven to work extremely well for most companies but you can always adjust it to your needs. Once an invoice is no longer in past due status, it will no longer trigger reminder emails to be sent.
How to turn on past due invoice email reminders:
Navigate to the Automatic Emails section of the Email Center
Make sure the "Past Due Invoices" tab is selected
Click the "Auto-Send" toggle switch to turn it on (if this switch is off, no invoice reminder emails will be sent)
Email reminders will only be sent when invoices reach each "days past due" milestone. For example, if you have reminder emails set to be sent at 7 days, 14 days, and 30 days past due and there is an invoice that is already 22 days past due when you activate the toggle switch, that customer will NOT receive reminders for the 7 day and 14 day past due milestones. They will receive the 30 days past due reminder if the invoice is still past due at the 30 day mark.
How to change email reminder workflow settings:
You can add a new reminder row by clicking the blue "Add Reminder" text
Default email reminder rows already exist that you can edit or remove
To remove, click the red X icon next to the row
To edit, click the blue pencil icon next to the row to open the settings window
Send to - set whether you want to send the notification to the customer's billing contact, primary contact, or both.
Alternatively, you can choose to send to an internal email (any email you choose). Internal email may be used if you prefer to have your office staff call the customer instead of sending emails.Schedule (time of day) - choose when email reminders should be sent each day for invoices that meet the criteria for the "days past due" settings.
Template - choose which email template to use for this reminder (templates can be added or edited in the "Templates" section of Email Center under "INVOICE REMINDERS" category)
Email content - you can edit the email subject and body content to anything you want. The default templates make great use of dynamic content tags to let your customers know specifics on the past due invoice and a link to view details and pay the invoice. You can add other dynamic content tags or any other content as desired.
Changes you make will automatically save to the selected template. If you've made changes to the email content and want to save it as a NEW template, you can click the "Save as new template" button.
Click "SAVE" button to save your changes
If you don't want a specific customer to ever receive past due invoice reminder emails, you can disable automatic emails for that customer by going to their customer page, hovering over their customer status at the very top of the page, and clicking the envelope icon that appears to the right of customer status.
Open Quotes
Configure follow-up emails for open quotes that can be automatically sent to either your customer directly or to your office staff with instructions for follow up.
How it works:
If the automatic emails feature is turned on for open quotes, the system will send follow-up emails based on how many days have passed since the quote was created. Pool Brain will only send follow-up emails for quotes that are in "Open" status.
You can create any sending workflow you want with no limits. For example, you could setup a workflow to send a gentle follow-up when a quote becomes 3 days old, another at 7 days old, and an email sent to your office staff at 12 days old instructing them to call the customer (and so on). The follow-up emails would continue as the quote ages and stop once the quote becomes approved, denied, or closed.
Pool Brain can automatically change quotes to "Closed" status after a certain period of time by adjusting this setting in the "Quotes" section of the Settings page. The quote will only change to "Closed" status if it is not already in "Approved" or "Denied" status. We recommend doing this.
All relevant details of the quote (including title, amount, and a link to approve) can be added to the email templates so both the customer and your office staff have what they need to get the quote approved quickly.
How to turn on email follow-ups for open quotes:
Navigate to the Automatic Emails section of the Email Center
Make sure the "Open Quotes" tab is selected
Click the "Auto-Send" toggle switch to turn it on (if this switch is off, no quote email follow-ups will be sent)
Quote follow-up emails will only be sent when quotes reach each "days old" milestone. For example, if you have emails set to be sent at 7 days, 14 days, and 30 days old and there is an open quote that is already 28 days old when you activate the toggle switch, that customer will NOT receive reminders for the 7 day and 14 days old milestones. They'll receive the 30 days old follow-up email if the quote is still in "Open" status at the 30 day mark.
How to change quote follow-up workflow settings:
You can add a new email follow-up row by clicking the blue "Add Reminder" text
Default email follow-up rows already exist that you can edit or remove
To remove, click the red X icon next to the row
To edit, click the blue pencil icon next to the row to open the settings window
Send to - set whether you want to send the notification to the customer's billing contact, primary contact, or both.
Alternatively, you can choose to send to an internal email (any email you choose). Internal email may be used if you prefer to have your office staff call the customer instead of sending emails.Schedule (time of day) - choose when emails should be sent each day for quotes that meet the criteria for the "days old" settings.
Template - choose which email template to use for this follow-up (templates can be added or edited in the "Templates" section of Email Center under "QUOTE REMINDERS" category)
Email content - you can edit the email subject and body content to anything you want. The default templates make great use of dynamic content tags to let your customers know specifics on the quote amount and a link to view details where they can approve or deny the quote. You can add other dynamic content tags or any other content as desired.
Changes you make will automatically save to the existing selected template. If you've made changes to the email content and want to save it as a NEW template, you can click the "Save as new template" button.
Click "SAVE" button to save your changes
If you don't want a specific customer to ever receive open quote follow-up emails, you can disable automatic emails for that customer by going to their customer page, hovering over their customer status at the very top of the page, and clicking the envelope icon that appears to the right of customer status.