SMS Credits and Usage

SMS in Petboost runs on credits. Your credits come from your monthly plan allocation, the extra credits Communications Booster adds when it is on, and any credit packs you buy. Replies from customers are free.

Plan allocations

Each plan includes a monthly SMS allocation that resets on your billing cycle date:

Unused plan credits do not roll over to the next month. Your own allocation is on the 1-way SMS card on SMS, with the date it resets.

Buy an SMS credit pack

Buy a pack when you need more credits than your plan provides. Pack credits never expire: they stay on your account until they are used, whatever happens to your billing cycle or plan.

1. Open Settings, then SMS.
2. Under SMS Top-up Credit Packs, select the price button beside the pack you want.
3. In Confirm purchase, check the Credits and the Amount, then select Confirm purchase.

The pack is charged to your payment method on file. On Billing, Top up on the Plan & Power-Ups tab, or the SMS Credits card on Overview, opens SMS Credits, where you can buy the same packs under Buy a top-up credit pack.

On an Enterprise plan, pack credits go into a pool shared by every location in your organisation, and the purchase is charged to your organisation's payment method.

Turn on auto top-up

Auto top-up buys a pack for you when you run out. It has no balance threshold: when it is on, Petboost charges the pack you selected on the next SMS after you run out.

1. Open Settings, then SMS.
2. Under SMS Top-up Credit Packs, select the pack Petboost should buy when you run out.
3. Switch on Auto top-up.

The same switch is in SMS Credits on Billing, and the SMS Credits card there shows Auto top-up on or Auto top-up off.

Credit pooling

All your SMS credits are pooled into a single balance:

• Monthly plan allocation credits
• Communications Booster credits, if Communications Booster is active
• Purchased pack credits

When you send an SMS, credits come out of the pooled balance. Plan allocation credits are used first, followed by pack credits.

What uses credits

An SMS uses one credit for each segment. A segment holds up to 160 characters, or 153 each once a message splits. One emoji or other special character makes the whole message Unicode, and a segment then holds 70 characters, or 67 each once it splits. A longer text is sent in parts, so the customer may receive it in two or more pieces, and each part uses a credit. The compose field in a conversation, Mass Text and Bulk Send all show the segment count before you send.

Trips texts use credits the same way. Marking a stop picked up or dropped off can send the customer a text, if you switch that on for the service. See Getting started with Trips.

Turn on SMS confirmation replies

Confirmation replies let customers confirm or cancel from the reminder text. They need an active dedicated number.

1. Open Settings, then Notifications.
2. Under Pre-Appointment Reminders, switch on Confirmation Reply (Y/N).
3. Optional: edit Confirmation Message, the text added to SMS reminders only.
4. Select Publish Changes, tick the box in Before You Publish, then select Publish Changes.

• The customer replies Y to confirm or N if they cannot make it
• N cancels the appointment when they give at least your Change & Cancellation Notice Period. With less notice and a cancellation fee, they are asked to accept the fee first. If online cancelling is off, they are asked to contact you instead
• A Y reply does not change the appointment status. Petboost texts back "Thanks! See you then." and the reply appears in Messages
• No reply keeps the booking
• Replies from customers are free. Each text Petboost sends back uses a credit

This is separate from Pre-Appointment Message under Custom Messages, below Advanced options on the same page. That note goes on confirmation and reminder emails and on the booking card. Switch on Also add to confirmation and reminder texts to add it to SMS as well, and remember a longer text can use an extra credit for each segment.

Find what is using your credits

Check your usage when the credits run down faster than you expect. A bulk send is not counted here, so a sudden drop straight after one is that send.

1. Open Billing and choose SMS Usage.
2. Select Run 14-Day Breakdown, or choose 7 days, 14 days, 21 days or 28 days.
3. Read By notification type, and select View full breakdown for the table.

SMS Usage counts the automated texts your appointments generated in the period, the daily average, the texts per appointment and the reminders, then breaks them down by notification type and by appointment date, and lists the settings generating them. Bulk sends and the messages you type on Messages are not included. Deep Dive on the SMS Usage Breakdown card on SMS opens the same tab.

The balance itself shows in three places:

• The 1-way SMS card on SMS shows the credits left, how many are from your plan and when they reset, and how many are from packs
• SMS Top-up Credit Packs on SMS shows your Monthly usage against your allocation, and Pack credit usage
• The SMS Credits card on the Overview tab of Billing shows the credits remaining of your total, split into plan and pack

Keep your credits from running out

• Check usage weekly, especially during busy periods or after bulk sends
• Turn on auto top-up if you rely on automated reminders, so they keep going when the balance runs out
• Use email where it suits: email is included at no extra cost, and suits non-urgent or detailed messages
• Review your plan: if you buy packs every month, a larger plan allocation may cost less
• Target bulk sends at the customers they are for, rather than your whole customer base