Email & SMS templates

Almost every automatic message BenchKey sends, status updates, estimate-ready notes, receipts, review requests, lead follow-ups, comes from a template you control. Edit them once and every future send uses your words.

Where templates live

Open Settings → Communications → Communications, then the Templates tab for the template library. Starter templates cover the common moments (Ticket Created, In Diagnosis, estimate ready, Ready for Pickup, Picked Up, and more), so the system talks to customers from day one. Edit any of them, or add your own.

Existing message-trigger switches can be reviewed on every plan. Creating new triggers requires Pro or above, and SMS needs a connected texting provider.

Templates attach to triggers elsewhere:

• Statuses attach an email, an SMS, or both, that fire when a ticket enters the status.
• Review requests use their own message with your review link.
• Lead follow-up sequences chain templates over days.

Variables, write once, personalize always

Status templates support placeholders that fill per customer and ticket at send time:

• {{customer_name}}, {{ticket_id}}, {{ticket_device}}
• {{portal_url}}, the customer’s private tracking page, include it in nearly everything
• {{business_name}}, {{business_phone}}, and the rest of your business profile

Use the editor’s insert menu for the fields supported by that template. Preview combines example customer and ticket values with your saved shop branding. Check a test ticket before relying on a changed template.

The visual email editor

Emails edit in a visual builder: your logo, brand colors, buttons, and sections, no HTML required. Brand colors come from Settings → Business → Profile, so every template matches your identity automatically.

Let the AI write or rewrite them

Two fast paths instead of staring at a blank box:

• In the AI assistant: “rewrite my ready-for-pickup email, warmer, two sentences, keep the portal link.” It rewrites in your shop’s voice and you review the result.
• During setup, the assistant drafts the whole starter set to match your trade, a watch bench and a phone store should not sound alike.

Texts: short wins

Keep SMS templates short, with the next step and relevant link near the start. Put longer repair details in the email version. Both can use the same status trigger when configured.

Test before you trust

Change a template, then run a test ticket through the status (or send yourself a manual message from any ticket). Check that the message resolves variables such as {{customer_name}} before using it with customers.