Customer Messages

Marlin Tyre and Mechanical Workshop Software enables customer messages to be sent from the Business Planner or customer order.

Once enabled, messages can be sent to customers via SMS or Email at any stage during the booking process.

Pre-formatted customer message templates, which will automatically be filled in with relevant Customer, Order, Branch and Company information, can also be set up for commonly sent messages.

To enable customer messages, please contact the Megabus Support Team.

Sending Customer Messages

Daily Activity > Business Planner > [Booking]

Customer messages can be sent from within the business planner by double-clicking on a booking to open the Details pop-up and clicking on the Message button at the top-right.

Customer messages can also be sent from within a Customer Order by clicking on the Message button to the top-right of the module window.

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Clicking either Message button will open a Customer Message pop-up window, containing a form for writing and sending customer messages.

Use the Message Type toggles to select whether to send the message as an SMS or email.

If the customer already has a mobile number or email address associated with them in the Marlin system, then the Destination Address will be automatically filled out with the relevant information.

If there is no mobile number or email address associated with the customer, then the appropriate contact information needs to be entered in the Destination Address textbox.

In the Message Details textbox, enter the message to the customer.

Pre-formatted customer message templates can be added to the message using the picker to the right of the Message Details textbox.

To send the customer message, click on the Ok button at the bottom right of the Customer Message window.

Customer Message Templates

Customer message templates can be viewed and edited by selecting System > Text Lists > Customer Message Templates from the Menu Bar.

The Customer Message Templates Search window will open, showing a list of active customer message templates.

To add a new customer message template, click on the Add action button the top right of the Customer Message Templates Search list.

The Customer Message Template Add window will open on the Details tab, which contains a form for adding a new customer message template.

In the Code textbox, enter an identifier for the new customer message template that will be used to identify it when adding to Customer Messages.

In the Subject textbox, enter a Subject for the message that will be used for any customer messages it is added to.

In the Message Details textbox, enter the body of the message that will be used for any customer messages it is added to.

To the right of the Message Details textbox is another textbox containing a list of substitution variables that can be added to Customer Message Templates that will be automatically replaced with relevant customer and order information.

The substitution variables that can be added are:

• {1} Customer's Name
• {2} Vehicle Registration
• {3} Booking Date
• {4} Booking Time
• {5} Company Name
• {6} Branch Name
• {7} Branch Phone
• {8} Branch E-Mail
• {9} Branch Address

To add a variable to the customer message template, enter the relevant number, surrounded by braces ("curly brackets" { }), in the Message Details textbox.

Leave the Active checkbox ticked to enable the new customer message template within the Marlin system.

To save the customer message template and return to the Search list, click on the Save action button to the top right of the Details tab.

Adding Customer Message Templates to Customer Messages

Daily Activity > Business Planner > [Booking] > Message

Pre-formatted Customer Message Templates can be added to customer messages by clicking the picker to the right of the Message Details textbox.

The Select Customer Message Template pop-up window will open, containing a list of active customer message templates.

Select a customer message template from the list.

To add the selected customer message template to the Message Details textbox and return to the Customer Message window, click on the Select button at the bottom right of the window.

Any substituted information will appear and can be edited in the Message Details window before being sent.

Viewing Customer Messages

The details and status of customer messages can be viewed by selecting System> Company > Integration Partners.

The Integration Partners Search list will open, showing a list of active Integration Partners.

From the Integration Partners Search list, open the Megalink integration partner.

The Megalink window will open on the Details tab.

At the top of the Megalink window, click on the Customer Messages tab.

The Customer Messages tab shows a list of customer messages that have been created and sent using the Marlin system.

To view further information about a customer message, double-click it in the Customer Messages list.

The View Customer Message pop-up window will open, showing the details of the customer message.