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Newsletters & SMS

Stay in touch with your customers through email and text

Overview

Staying connected with your customers is essential for building loyalty and driving repeat visits. Check-in DOG provides two communication channels — email newsletters and SMS messages — so you can reach your customers however they prefer. Create targeted mailing lists, compose rich newsletters, and monitor your SMS activity all from within the application.

Mailing Lists

Mailing lists are the foundation of your email communication strategy. They let you organize your customers into groups so you can send targeted messages to the right audience.

Creating a Mailing List

Navigate to Mailing Lists in the sidebar under the Communication navigation group and click New mailing list.

Each mailing list has the following fields:

  • Name — A descriptive name for the list (e.g., "Monthly newsletter," "VIP customers," "Dog owners," "Holiday promotions").
  • Description — An optional note explaining the purpose of this list. Useful when you have many lists and need to remember why each one exists.
  • Archived — A toggle that lets you hide old or inactive lists without deleting them. Archived lists do not appear in the default list view but can be restored at any time.

Recipient Count

Each mailing list displays a recipient count showing how many customers are currently subscribed. This count updates automatically as customers are added to or removed from the list.

Managing Mailing List Members

Customers Tab

When editing a mailing list, the Customers tab lets you view all current members of the list. From this tab, you can also remove individual customers from the list.

Add by Criteria

Use the Add by criteria header action on the mailing list edit page to bulk-add customers based on matching rules. A modal opens with the following criteria:

  • Animal type — Only include customers who own an animal of one or more selected types. You can select multiple types to cast a wider net (for example, dogs and cats at the same time).
  • No appointment in the last N months — Only include customers who have not had an appointment in the specified number of months. Useful for re-engagement campaigns.
  • Tag — Only include customers whose animals carry one or more selected tags. You can select multiple tags to match any customer whose animal has at least one of them.

All matching customers are added to the list in one step. The criteria are saved on the mailing list so you can re-apply them later with updated results.

Tips for Effective Mailing Lists

  • Create lists based on customer segments that matter to your business: breed type, service frequency, geographic area, or customer loyalty tier.
  • Use the description field to document any rules about who belongs on each list. This helps if multiple staff members manage communications.
  • Archive seasonal lists (e.g., "Summer grooming tips") instead of deleting them. You can reactivate them next year with all the subscribers still intact.

Creating Newsletters

Newsletters let you compose professional emails and send them to your mailing list subscribers.

Composing a Newsletter

Navigate to Newsletters in the sidebar under the Communication navigation group and click New newsletter.

The newsletter form includes:

  • Subject — The email subject line your recipients will see in their inbox. Keep it clear and compelling — this determines whether your email gets opened.
  • Body — A rich text editor where you compose the content of your newsletter. The editor supports:
    • Text formatting (bold, italic, underline)
    • Headings and subheadings
    • Bulleted and numbered lists
    • Links
    • Images
    • Text alignment

Writing Effective Newsletter Content

  • Keep it concise. Most customers will skim your email. Lead with the most important information.
  • Use headings to break up content into scannable sections.
  • Include a call to action. Whether it is booking an appointment, trying a new service, or visiting your shop, tell your readers what you would like them to do.
  • Personalize when possible. Mention seasonal grooming tips relevant to your local climate or upcoming holidays.

Test Sending

Before sending a newsletter to your entire mailing list, always send a test first.

How Test Send Works

  1. Open the newsletter you want to test.
  2. Click the Test send action.
  3. A modal opens asking you to enter an email address. Type in the address you want to receive the test (it defaults to your shop email) and confirm. The newsletter is sent to that address.

This lets you:

  • Preview exactly how the email will appear in a real inbox.
  • Check for formatting issues, broken links, or typos.
  • Verify that the subject line displays correctly.
  • Confirm that images load properly.

Best Practice

Make it a habit to test every newsletter before sending. Even a quick glance at the test email can catch mistakes that are easy to miss in the editor.

Newsletter Campaigns

Production sends are managed through Newsletter Campaigns, found under Communication → Newsletter Campaigns in the sidebar.

How Campaigns Work

A campaign links one newsletter to one mailing list and tracks the send from creation to completion.

Campaign statuses:

  • Draft — The campaign has been created but not yet sent.
  • Sending — The send is in progress. Emails are being dispatched to recipients.
  • Sent — All emails have been dispatched. The campaign is now locked and cannot be modified.

Creating a Campaign

  1. Navigate to Newsletter Campaigns under Communication.
  2. Click New campaign.
  3. Select the newsletter you want to send.
  4. Select the mailing list you want to send it to.
  5. Save the campaign as a draft.

Sending a Campaign

Once you are satisfied with the newsletter content and have chosen the right mailing list:

  1. Open the campaign.
  2. Click the Send campaign action.
  3. Confirm the send.

The campaign status changes to Sending, and emails are dispatched in the background. Once complete, the status changes to Sent and the campaign is locked.

Newsletter List Actions

The newsletter list retains two actions:

  • Duplicate — Create a copy of a newsletter for reuse or variation.
  • Test Send — Send a preview to a specific email address (opens a modal).

Production bulk sends are only available through campaigns.

Duplicating Newsletters

If you send regular newsletters with a similar format, you can save time by duplicating an existing one.

How to Duplicate

  1. Find the newsletter you want to copy in the newsletters list.
  2. Click the Duplicate action.
  3. A new newsletter is created with the same subject and body content.
  4. Edit the duplicated newsletter to update the content for your new message.

This is especially useful for:

  • Monthly newsletters that follow a consistent template.
  • Seasonal promotions that you run each year with minor updates.
  • A/B testing different subject lines with the same body content.

Delete Safeguards

Check-in DOG protects your communication history by preventing you from deleting newsletters that have already been sent.

Why This Matters

Once a newsletter has been sent to recipients, the sending records and delivery tracking data reference that newsletter. Deleting it would break these records and lose your communication history.

  • Unsent newsletters can be freely deleted.
  • Sent newsletters cannot be deleted. The delete action will be blocked with an explanatory message.

If you no longer need a sent newsletter, it remains in your list as a historical record. You can use the search and filter features to find specific newsletters when needed.

SMS Messages

SMS messaging provides an immediate, high-visibility channel for reaching your customers. Check-in DOG tracks all SMS activity so you always know what was sent and to whom.

SMS Message Log

Navigate to SMS in the sidebar under the Communication navigation group to view your SMS message log.

The log is a read-only record of all SMS messages sent from your salon. For each message, you can see:

  • Phone number — The recipient's mobile phone number.
  • Message body — The full text content of the SMS.
  • Status — Displayed as a color-coded badge:
    • Sent — The message was successfully delivered to the carrier.
    • Failed — The message could not be delivered (invalid number, carrier rejection, etc.).
  • Timestamp — The exact date and time the message was sent.

SMS Opt-In

Respecting your customers' communication preferences is both good practice and a legal requirement in many jurisdictions.

Each customer record includes an SMS opt-in toggle. This toggle controls whether the customer has consented to receive SMS messages from your salon.

  • Opted in — The customer has agreed to receive SMS messages. Their phone number is eligible for SMS communication.
  • Opted out — The customer has not consented or has withdrawn consent. They will not receive SMS messages.

Managing SMS Opt-In

  • When adding a new customer, the SMS opt-in toggle defaults to off. You must explicitly enable it after obtaining the customer's consent.
  • Customers can request to opt out at any time. Update their record immediately when they do.
  • The opt-in status is visible on the customer's profile so you can quickly verify before discussing SMS communication.

SMS Credits

Sending SMS messages requires credits, which are purchased through the subscription page. See the Plans & Billing documentation for details on purchasing SMS credit packs.

Practical Communication Strategy

Building Your Lists

Start with two or three broad mailing lists and refine over time:

  1. All customers — For important announcements that affect everyone.
  2. Regular customers — For loyalty rewards and special offers.
  3. Service-specific — For tips and promotions related to specific services (e.g., dog grooming, cat grooming).

Frequency and Timing

  • Newsletters: Once or twice a month is ideal for most grooming salons. More frequent emails risk annoying your customers; less frequent ones may be forgotten.
  • SMS: Reserve for time-sensitive communications like appointment reminders, last-minute availability, or urgent schedule changes. SMS has a much higher open rate than email, so use it strategically.

Content Ideas

  • Seasonal grooming tips (summer coat care, winter skin protection).
  • New service announcements.
  • Holiday schedule changes.
  • Customer appreciation events.
  • Before-and-after grooming photos (with customer permission).
  • Product recommendations for at-home care.

Troubleshooting

Newsletter Not Sending

  • Verify that the mailing list you selected has recipients. Check the recipient count on the mailing list.
  • Ensure your shop email is correctly configured in shop settings.
  • Check that the newsletter has both a subject and body content.

SMS Showing as Failed

  • Verify the customer's phone number is correctly formatted with the country code.
  • Ensure you have sufficient SMS credits remaining.
  • Check that the message body is not empty.
  • Some carriers may reject messages to landline numbers — ensure you are sending to mobile numbers.

Summary

Check-in DOG's communication tools give you everything you need to maintain strong relationships with your customers. Mailing lists let you organize your audience, newsletters provide a professional email channel with full delivery tracking, and SMS logging keeps you informed about text message activity. Combined with thoughtful content and respectful opt-in practices, these tools help you build a loyal customer base that keeps coming back.

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