You can send receipts to your customers by SMS / text message, as long as a customer with a mobile number is linked to the transaction. This is handy for customers who would rather have a receipt on their phone than on paper or by email.

There are two ways to send them:

• At the Point of Sale, when you complete a transaction, save an order or save a layaway. If a customer isn't already linked, you can link one at this stage.
• From the Back Office, at any time afterwards, using the customer's record. This is also where you can send Order Receipts and Order Invoices via SMS.

This article covers the following topics:

• Setting your register(s) to default to SMS receipts
• Sending a receipt via SMS at the Point of Sale
• Sending Order Receipts or Order Invoices from the Back Office
• Sending an e-receipt via SMS from the Back Office
• Frequently Asked Questions

Setting your register(s) to default to SMS receipts

Each register has two settings that control which receipt options are switched on by default on the Transaction Options screen: Default to email receipts and Default to SMS receipts. You can tick either one, both, or neither.

1) In the Back Office menu, expand Setup, then click Registers.

2) Open the register you'd like to change.

3) Tick Default to SMS receipts. If you'd also like email receipts to be switched on by default, tick Default to email receipts:

4) Click Save Pending Change(s).

Sending a receipt via SMS at the Point of Sale

When you complete a transaction, the Transaction Options screen appears. Here you can choose whether to print a receipt, open the cash drawer, and send the receipt to the customer by email, SMS or both.

If no customer is linked to the transaction

To send a receipt by SMS, you'll first need to link a customer.

1) Click Link customer:

2) The Link a customer box will open. Start typing the customer's name, email address, postcode or mobile number, then select them from the results. To browse your full customer list instead, click the person icon to the left of the search box:

3) If the customer doesn't exist yet, click + Add "[name]" As A New Customer and create the customer as normal. You'll go back to the Transaction Options screen with the new customer linked:

Once a customer is linked

1) Switch on Send SMS receipt to customer?. If you'd also like to email them a copy, switch on Send email receipt to customer? as well:

2) Click the button at the bottom of the screen to finish. For a standard sale this is Complete Transaction. For an order or layaway, it will be the matching save button, for example Save Layaway.

If the customer doesn't have a mobile number

If there's no mobile number on the customer's record, the SMS option is replaced with a box where you can add one.

1) Type the customer's mobile number into the box and click Save:

2) The number is saved to the customer's record, and Send SMS receipt to customer? becomes available.

The same applies to email receipts if the customer has no email address on their record.

If the number belongs to another customer

If the mobile number or email address you enter is already on another customer's record, you'll see the Found Existing Customer message:

From here, you can choose one of these options:

• Load Customer: link the other customer to the transaction instead. You'll stay on the Transaction Options screen.
• Merge Customers: combine the two records if they're duplicates of the same person.
• View Customer: open the other customer's record in the Back Office.
• Cancel: go back without saving the number.

If you're completing an existing customer order, you'll see the Already in use message instead, because the customer on the order can't be changed from this screen:

Click OK to go back. To use the number on this customer instead, you'll need to remove it from the other customer's record first. You can open that record in a new Back Office tab by clicking their name.

Sending Order Receipts or Order Invoices from the Back Office

1) In the Back Office menu, expand the Customers heading, then click on Customers:

2) Use the search and/or filters to locate the customer whom you'd like to contact and double-click on them to open their customer card.

3) Click on the Orders & Workshop Jobs tab:

4) Next, use the search and/or filters to locate the order you're looking for. N.B. the grid will only show Open orders by default, so you may wish to filter to All Orders before you start.

5) Click on the Actions button next to the order, then choose Receipts & Invoices from the menu that appears:

6) Use the Send Special Order Receipt via SMS or Send Order Proforma Invoice Via SMS buttons to send the appropriate document to the customer:

If the message is sent successfully, you'll see this displayed in the top right corner of the screen:

If there is a problem, for example, if there is no mobile number set on the customer's account, there'll be a corresponding message to alert you to this:

Sending an e-receipt via SMS from the Back Office

1) In the Back Office, open the customer's record and select the Purchase History tab.

2) Use the filters to locate the transaction for which you would like to send an e-receipt via SMS.

3) Once you've found the transaction, click on Actions, then on Send e-receipt via SMS:

If the SMS is sent successfully, you'll see a message in the top right of the screen to confirm this:

If there's a problem, this will be displayed:

Frequently Asked Questions