SMS, calls and customer notifications
Turn on texting (shared number or your own), connect your phone system, choose when the AI answers, and switch on automatic customer texts and emails: booking confirmed, job ready, review invites and quote reminders.
Where it is
- Integrations → Inbox, SMS & phone — SMS, MaxoTel, call handling, AI receptionist, new-conversation rules
- Integrations → Customer notifications — Automations, Templates, Upsell products, Activity
- Inbox
Settings for this
- Integrations → Inbox, SMS & phone → SMS — Turn on texting, get your own number, or use Twilio
- Integrations → Inbox, SMS & phone → Phone system — MaxoTel key and your extension
- Integrations → Customer notifications — Which automatic messages go, by SMS, email or push
- Settings → Website chat — Your opening hours (used for after-hours AI and voicemail)
- Settings → AI usage — AI on/off and monthly limit
Turn on texting
- Open Integrations → Inbox, SMS & phone.
- Under SMS, press Turn on texting. Texts go out from a shared BuildTrack number straight away, with no paperwork. The card shows texts sent and received this month and the cost.
- Get my own number: search Australian mobile numbers and press Use this number. It's added to your BuildTrack bill. Release number goes back to the shared one.
- Use Twilio instead if you have a Twilio account (paste the Account SID and Auth token), or ask BuildTrack to set one up.
Turn off texting stops booking texts, notifications and inbox replies by text.
Calls
- MaxoTel phone system: create an API key in the Maxo portal (with SMS, Initiate Call and Call History permissions), paste it under Phone system (MaxoTel) and press Connect MaxoTel. Set My extension for click-to-dial. Missed calls are pulled every 2 minutes and can trigger a missed-call text-back flow in Marketing.
- On a Twilio number (without MaxoTel): Enable call handling, then the numbers to ring, how long, a greeting, voicemail, after-hours voicemail and call recording.
When a new message arrives
The automation card on the same page (press Save):
- Auto-create a contact for unknown people (on by default).
- AI receptionist on SMS and AI employee on Messenger & Instagram: Off (default), After hours only, or Always until a person takes over. Once staff reply in a thread, the AI stays out of it.
- Create a follow-up task on new conversations (on by default), assigned to one person or round-robin a team, due within 24 hours.
After-hours uses your opening hours under Settings → Website chat. See The Inbox.
Automatic customer notifications
- Open Integrations → Customer notifications.
- Automations: switch each On and choose its channels (SMS, Email, Push) and template:
- Booking confirmation
- Portal access invite
- Job ready / collection
- Review invite
- Quote approval reminder: 2 days after sending, then 3 days later, for quotes sent in the last 14 days.
- Templates: + New template to write your own SMS, email and push wording with merge fields like {{first_name}}, {{job_number}} and {{cta_url}}.
- Upsell products: products offered on the job-ready pay page.
- Activity: the last 100 sends and whether they went.
All automations are off until you switch them on. Order updates (order confirmed, on backorder, on its way) are switched on under Settings → Orders.
Who can do it
Customer notifications needs Edit settings.
If something's not right
- "Connect your OneSignal app first": open the Connection tab and Manage connection →. Most businesses use the shared app with nothing to set up.
- Texts aren't going: check texting is on and not paused, and that the customer hasn't opted out.
- The AI isn't replying: check the mode here and that AI is on under AI usage.