Editing the Wording of a Customer Message

Availability: all plans

When ServiceVisit sends a customer an email, a text message or an in-app notice for your business, the words come from a communication template. The template editor lets you write your own subject and body, drop in details such as a customer name or job reference using variables, and check your work before saving. This guide walks through editing a template for a single channel.

Before you start

You need permission to manage templates.
Find the template first on Settings, then Communication Templates, as described in the guide on finding and resetting templates.
Decide which message you are changing. The editor works on one channel at a time, and the channel is shown in the Template Info panel.

Steps

On Communication Templates, select Customize (or Edit if you have changed it before) on the template you want. The page opens as Edit Communication Template. You can also reach it from the Notifications page with Edit email template.
For an email, edit the Subject Line. The email subject is required.
Edit the Body. The label tells you what the channel supports: HTML plus variables for email, plain text for SMS (keep it under 160 characters), and variables for other channels. For SMS, a counter under the box shows the number of characters and how many SMS messages that makes.
To compare with the original, select Show system default under a field. It shows the wording ServiceVisit uses when you have no version of your own.
To add a detail from the customer or job, use the Available Variables panel on the right. Type in Search variables... to filter the list, then click a variable to insert it where your cursor is. If the cursor is in neither box, it goes into the body. Each variable is inserted in double curly braces, and the panel shows its description, an example, and a mark if it is required.
Select Validate Template to check the variables. A green message, Template validated successfully, means every variable is recognized. Validation also runs automatically shortly after you stop typing.
If the panel says Unknown variables detected, each unknown variable is listed. Where there is a close match, you are asked Did you mean the suggested name, and Replace with suggestion swaps it for you.
Select Save Template Override. On success you return to the list with the message Template override saved successfully., and the template shows Customized.
Select Cancel instead to leave without saving.

Tips

Your wording replaces the system default for every notification of this kind sent by your account. A note in the editor says so.
Only variables from the Available Variables list work. Inventing a name will be flagged, and the Save Template Override button is disabled until the template validates.
Check the whole message after inserting variables, especially spacing around them.
Keep text messages short. Longer text is split into more than one SMS message, as the counter shows.
Each channel and language is edited separately. Changing the email does not change the SMS.

If something goes wrong

If saving shows Subject is required for Email templates. or Body is required., fill in the missing field.
If saving shows Template validation failed, correct the unknown variables listed under the message, then save again.
If you see Failed to save template. Please try again., try once more; if it persists, contact support.
If the page says Template Not Found, select Back to Templates and open the template from the list.
If the variable list says Failed to load variables., refresh the page.

Finding and Resetting Communication Templates — Communication templates hold the wording of the messages ServiceVisit sends on your behalf, such as the emails and text messages your customers receive. ServiceVisit supplies a system default for…
Messages and the Provider Inbox Overview — Messages keeps your text and email conversations with customers in one place. This guide explains what the provider inbox holds, how it connects to the customer's own Messages page, where each part…
Setting Up Text Messaging and Opt-Outs — Text conversations work once you give ServiceVisit the phone number your messages are sent from. This guide covers that setup, what happens when a customer replies with a stop word, and why a text can…
Set up SMS messaging — ServiceVisit lets you set up SMS messaging for your customers. In the SMS Notifications section of the Notifications page under Settings you enter the phone number your messages are sent from, in…