Visit reminders and weather-delay messages

A customer reads the first line of a text and maybe the second. Put the thing they need up front: who you are, which day, and whether they have to do anything.

That's the whole craft of a reminder. An AI tool can help you hold to it, especially when you're sending the same message to twenty gates.

What goes in a reminder

Four things are enough:

• Your business name, so it's clear who's writing
• The day and rough time window of the visit
• Anything the customer needs to do, such as opening a gate or moving a car or a dog
• How to reach you if it doesn't suit

Leave out chatter. "We hope you're well" costs a line and tells them nothing.

A plain model to give the tool: "Hi, [business] here. We're booked to mow on [day], morning. Please leave the side gate open. Text this number if the day doesn't suit."

Weather-delay messages

A delay message has one job: tell them the new plan before they wonder where you are.

Say what changed, say the new day, and say what you need from them. Usually that's nothing.

Hi, [business] here. Rain has pushed today's visit back. We'll come on [new day] instead, same morning window. Nothing for you to do. Reply if that day won't work for you.

If you don't have a new day yet, say when they'll hear. "We'll text by [time] tomorrow with a new day" is better than silence.

Don't let the tool decide the weather call

Ask the tool for wording only. The decision to call off a round is yours, based on the ground, the forecast and the gear.

If you quote a forecast in a message, take care. A chance-of-rain figure is meaningless unless it comes with a time interval.¹ So "rain likely" in a message means little unless you know which hours it covers. Most customers don't need the forecast at all. They need the new day.

Check the draft

Chat tools sometimes state invented details as though they were fact.² In a message that could be a wrong day. It could be a promise you didn't make, like "we'll make up the time on Saturday".

Before it goes out, tick these off:

• Day and date agree with your calendar
• The time window is one you've set yourself
• No discount, refund or extra visit that you didn't decide on
• Business name and phone number are right

Texts that sell are a separate matter

Telling someone you're coming on Thursday is one thing. Pitching "book your autumn clean-up now" is another.

The ACMA, which regulates this in Australia, says marketing messages and emails need the receiver's consent first.³ It adds that they should be simple to unsubscribe from.³ The law behind it is the Spam Act, so read the ACMA's own page rather than relying on this one.

Rules in the US and UK differ again, and the FTC and ICO are where to look. Unsure whether a message counts as marketing? Ask the regulator before you send it.

Save the ones that work

Soon you'll have a handful of messages that suit you: the booking reminder, the rain delay, the running-late note. Store them on your phone and fill in the blanks by hand. Most days the tool isn't needed.

Go back to it for something new, like a message about a locked gate. The same checks apply. For the planning side of delays, see planning regular garden rounds.