The kinds of messages
Every message in Woofle falls into one of four groups. Knowing which is which makes the rest of the system much easier to follow.
- Appointment updates — offered whenever you book, reschedule, complete, cancel, mark as paid, or record a no-show. For example, completing a groom offers a "payment due" text.
- Reminders — a nudge to the client before an upcoming appointment, so they don't forget.
- Re-book nudges — a friendly prompt when a pet is overdue for its next groom and has nothing booked in.
- One-off messages — a thank-you, an onboarding link to fill in their details, or a free-text message you write yourself.
Now vs. later: when messages happen
The four groups split neatly into two timings.
Right now — as you work
Appointment updates and one-off messages happen in the moment. When you complete a groom, the "mark complete" window already has the payment text written out and ready. You read it, tweak it if you like, flick the send switch, and it goes. If you don't switch it on, nothing is sent — you've simply marked the appointment complete without a text. Same for booking, cancelling, and the rest.
Later — Woofle keeps an eye out
Reminders and re-book nudges work differently. Woofle watches your calendar and, when one becomes due, surfaces it on your dashboard (and on the Scheduled messages page). Each one shows the pet, the client, and the date, with two buttons:
- Send — opens the same compose window, with the reminder or nudge ready to go.
- Dismiss — clears it away if you'd rather not send this one. It won't keep nagging you.
You'll only ever see one of these per pet at a time, and once you've sent or dismissed it, it won't come back for that appointment. On the Scheduled messages page you can also look a week or two ahead to see what's coming — handy for getting ahead on a quiet afternoon.
The dials and knobs
Here's everything you can adjust, from the wording of the texts down to who receives them.
Message templates — the wording
Every message type has a template: the default wording Woofle suggests. You'll find these on the Message Templates page, where you can rewrite any of them in your own voice. Templates use tokens — little placeholders in square brackets that Woofle swaps for the real details when the message is sent:
- [ClientFirstName] and [ClientName] — who you're texting
- [PetName] — the dog in question
- [AppointmentDate], [AppointmentTime], [ServiceName], [Price] — the appointment details
- [PortalLink] — the client's personal portal link
- [BusinessName] — your salon's name
So "Reminder: [ClientFirstName], [PetName] is booked in on [AppointmentDate]." might arrive as "Reminder: Sarah, Bella is booked in on Monday 1 June." Each message type only offers the tokens that make sense for it, and Woofle warns you if you use one that doesn't fit.
Each template also has a "Send by default" switch. Leave it off (the standard setting) and the send switch starts unticked every time, so sending is always a deliberate choice. Turn it on for a message you almost always send — an appointment confirmation, say — and its switch will start ticked, ready to go, while still letting you untick it for any individual client.
Per-client — who can be messaged
Two things on each client's record decide whether they can be texted at all:
- A mobile number. No mobile, no text — there's nowhere to send it. The compose window will simply tell you a number is missing.
- The "Send messages" switch. On by default. Turn it off for a client who'd rather not get texts, and Woofle stops offering messages for them everywhere — including reminders and nudges.
Per-pet — reminder and nudge timing
Reminders and nudges are set up per pet, on the pet's profile, which lets you tune them to each dog's routine:
- Reminder: how many days before an appointment the reminder should appear (for example, 2 days before). Leave it blank and that pet gets no reminders.
- Re-book nudge: how many weeks after the last groom to prompt a re-book (for example, 6 weeks) — but only if nothing's already booked. Leave it blank for no nudges.
Credits — the cost of sending
Each text costs credits, and your plan includes a batch every month (100 on a paid plan). A standard-length message is 1 credit; longer messages run to 2 or more, and special characters or emoji shorten how much fits in a single credit. The compose window always shows the cost before you send, so there are no surprises. If you run low, you can top up at any time from your billing settings — and you'll need credits available to send.
Sending a message, step by step
Wherever a message is offered — an appointment window, a dashboard reminder, or an ad-hoc message from a client's history — the compose box works the same way:
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Flick the send switch on
This reveals the message. If "Send by default" is on for that type, it's already switched on for you.
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Read it over — edit if you like
The text comes pre-written from your template with the real details filled in. Change anything you want; if you edit it, Woofle pauses the auto-fill so your wording sticks. A Regenerate button puts the template back if you change your mind.
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Check the credit cost, then send
The corner shows how many credits it'll use. Send it, and you're done — the message lands in the client's history.
When a message doesn't go through
Texts occasionally fail — a wrong number, a network hiccup. A failed message is clearly marked in the client's message history, and you can retry it from there once the problem's sorted. You're never charged credits for a message that didn't send.
Putting it together
That's the whole system: four kinds of message, two timings, and a handful of dials — templates for the wording, per-client switches for who, per-pet settings for when, and credits for how many. Set your templates up once, switch on reminders for your regulars, and day to day messaging becomes a couple of taps that keep your diary full and your clients in the loop.
Want to go deeper on any one piece? Each has its own guide on the guides index.