Choosing How Customer Reminders Are Sent

Summary

Every customer reminder (MOT due, service due, and so on) is sent on exactly one channel: email, SMS, WhatsApp, or browser push. Torqueflow picks the channel by walking a fixed preference ladder, skipping any channel that is unavailable or that the customer has declined. This article explains the ladder, the organisation-wide defaults page, the per-customer preferences card, and the WhatsApp template registry.

Prerequisites

• You have the settings.communication.manage capability (Owner and Manager roles) to edit organisation defaults.
• You have the customers.consent.manage capability to edit a customer’s preferences. Viewing them needs only customers.view.
• For WhatsApp reminders, your WhatsApp channel is connected and you have the settings.whatsapp.manage capability.

Steps

Understand how the channel is chosen

For each reminder, Torqueflow walks this ladder and uses the first channel that works:

1. The customer’s override for that specific reminder type (if set).
2. The customer’s default channel (if set).
3. The reminder rule’s own default channel.
4. Your organisation’s default for that reminder type.
5. The built-in fallback order: email, then SMS, then WhatsApp, then browser push.

At each step, the channel must be both usable and permitted. A channel is skipped when the customer has declined it, when the contact details are missing (no email address, no mobile number), when WhatsApp has no approved template for that reminder type and language, or when the customer has no active browser push subscription.

Email is also skipped when Torqueflow can no longer email that address. That happens when earlier email to it bounced for good (the mailbox does not exist) or the recipient marked one of our emails as spam. The reminder then goes on the next channel the customer allows.

Set organisation defaults

1. Navigate to Settings > Communication > Reminders.
2. The channel defaults section at the top lists each reminder type (MOT due, service due, and so on) with its default channel and an Enabled toggle.
3. Pick the default channel per reminder type. This applies wherever no customer-level preference takes precedence.
4. The Enabled toggle is the kill switch for that reminder type across your whole organisation. Switching it off stops all future sends of that type.
5. When you switch a type off, a banner shows how many reminders of that type are currently in flight. In-flight reminders can take several hours to drain, so a few may still go out after you toggle. The toggle itself is recorded in the consent audit log.

Set preferences for a single customer

1. Open the customer’s record and select the Settings tab.
2. Find the Reminder preferences card, next to the consent card. See The customer record.
3. The card shows a grid of channels (email, SMS, WhatsApp) against the two message classes: service reminders and marketing. Toggle any combination on or off.
4. Use the Default channel dropdown to set the customer’s preferred channel for all reminders. Leave it unset to fall through to your organisation defaults.
5. Expand the per-type overrides section to pin a specific reminder type to a specific channel for this customer (for example, MOT reminders by SMS even though everything else goes by email).
6. Every change is recorded in the consent audit log with who changed it and when.

How WhatsApp reminder templates work

WhatsApp requires reminder messages to use a pre-approved template. Torqueflow provides these templates for every garage, so there is nothing to register. Where no approved template exists for a reminder type and the customer’s language, that WhatsApp reminder falls back to SMS automatically. Garages cannot add or change their own WhatsApp templates at the moment.

Let customers manage their own preferences

Customers can manage the same channel and class toggles themselves from the customer portal, including enabling browser push notifications. See Customer reminder preferences in the portal.

Expected Outcome

• Each reminder goes out on one sensible channel without staff picking per message.
• Organisation defaults cover the common case; per-customer settings handle exceptions.
• WhatsApp reminders send only when an approved template exists, and fall back to SMS cleanly when one does not.

Troubleshooting

Problem: A reminder went by SMS even though the customer’s default is WhatsApp. Cause: No approved WhatsApp template exists for that reminder type and the customer’s language, or the customer has declined WhatsApp. Fix: Check the customer’s reminder preferences card. If WhatsApp is allowed there and reminders still go by SMS, contact Torqueflow support.

Problem: A customer with an email address on file gets their reminders by text, or not at all. Cause: Torqueflow can no longer email that address, because earlier email to it bounced for good or the recipient reported it as spam. The reminder moves to the next channel the customer allows. If there is none, it does not go out. Fix: Check the address with the customer and correct it on their record if it is wrong. If they confirm it works and still get nothing, contact Torqueflow support. You cannot see or clear the block yourself yet.

Problem: I switched a reminder type off but a customer still received one a few hours later. Cause: Reminders already in flight when you toggled continue to drain for up to several hours. Fix: None needed. No new reminders of that type are scheduled after the toggle.

Problem: A customer is not receiving any reminders at all. Cause: Every channel on the ladder is either declined or unusable for them (no email address, an address we can no longer email, no mobile number, no template, no push subscription). Fix: Open their reminder preferences card. Check at least one enabled channel has working contact details.

Permissions

Action	Required capability
Edit organisation channel defaults and kill switches	settings.communication.manage
View a customer’s reminder preferences	customers.view
Edit a customer’s reminder preferences	customers.consent.manage

Notes

• When a customer messages you on WhatsApp, Torqueflow records that as permission to send them service messages on WhatsApp. Marketing always remains an explicit opt-in.
• Browser push only counts as available once the customer has enabled it on at least one device from their portal.
• Reminder wording is edited separately. For MOT reminders see Automatic MOT reminders.