Customer Reminder Preferences in the Portal

Summary

Customers control their own reminder settings from the Preferences page in the customer portal. Below the existing consent toggles, a Reminder channels section lets them choose which channels (email, SMS, WhatsApp, browser push) they accept for service reminders and for marketing, and lets them enable push notifications on their device. This article explains what the customer sees, so staff can answer questions about it. You never need to do this for the customer, but you can mirror any of these settings from their record on the staff side.

Prerequisites

• The customer has portal access (they can sign in via their magic link or portal password).
• For browser push, the customer’s browser must support push notifications. Most modern browsers on desktop and Android do. On iPhone and iPad, the portal must be added to the home screen first.

Steps

What the customer sees

1. The customer signs in to the portal and opens Preferences.
2. The Reminder channels section shows a grid of channels against two message classes: service reminders (MOT due, service due, booking-related messages) and marketing.
3. The customer toggles any combination on or off. Changes take effect for future reminders straight away.
4. Every change is recorded in the consent audit log, marked as made by the customer through the portal.

Enabling browser push

1. In the Reminder channels section, the customer clicks Enable browser push.
2. The browser asks for notification permission. The customer must allow it.
3. Once allowed, push becomes an available reminder channel for that customer on that device.
4. Push is per device. A customer who uses two browsers or two devices enables it on each one. Up to 10 devices can be registered.
5. To stop push, the customer unsubscribes from the same section. Blocking notifications in the browser’s own settings also stops them.

What staff can see and do

1. The customer’s choices appear on the Reminder preferences card on their record at /customers/[id]. Staff with customers.consent.manage can change settings there on the customer’s behalf, for example at the counter.
2. Staff cannot enable browser push for a customer. The permission prompt only works on the customer’s own device.

Expected Outcome

• Customers manage their own reminder channels without ringing the garage.
• Opt-outs apply immediately and are fully audit-logged.
• Push-enabled customers can receive reminders with no SMS cost to the garage.

Troubleshooting

Problem: A customer says the Enable browser push button does nothing. Cause: The browser blocked the permission prompt, or the customer previously chose “Block” for notifications on the portal site. Fix: Ask them to check the site’s notification permission in their browser settings, set it to Ask or Allow, and try again.

Problem: A customer enabled push but reminders still arrive by email. Cause: The channel ladder picks the first usable preferred channel. Email may sit higher for them via their default channel or your organisation defaults. Fix: Set the customer’s default channel to push on their reminder preferences card, or have them adjust their portal preferences.

Problem: A customer opted out of everything and now complains they missed their MOT. Cause: Opt-outs are honoured. No channel was permitted, so no reminder was sent. Fix: Re-enable at least one service-reminder channel with them, on the portal or on their record.

Notes

• Service reminders and marketing are separate consents. Opting out of marketing does not stop MOT or service reminders, and vice versa.
• Messaging the garage on WhatsApp records permission for service messages on WhatsApp. Marketing always stays an explicit opt-in.
• The portal Preferences page is also where customers manage privacy and security settings. See Customer portal privacy and security settings.