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Who uses this: Anyone sending a message by hand from a job record or a customer record, on the web app or in the FieldPulse mobile app. Availability: All regions · Customer communications must be enabled on your account.
Not every message needs an automatic trigger. When you want to send one customer communication to one customer — a quick update, a photo of the finished work, an invoice link — you send it by hand from that customer’s job record or customer record, on the web app or in the FieldPulse mobile app.

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Overview

You send a customer communication from the Actions menu on a job record or a customer record. Select an email or SMS template, check that the Field Values filled in with that customer’s and job’s details, then send the message. You can attach a file or photo before the message goes out. A technician in the field sends the same way from the FieldPulse mobile app, and can also send a trip tracking SMS that shares a live location link and an ETA on the way to the job. Automatic triggers cover the messages you would rather not send by hand, and which number or address a triggered message comes from depends on whether your account uses the Engage add-on — see Setting Up Automatic Communication Triggers.

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Before you begin

  • Confirm customer communications are enabled on your FieldPulse account.
  • Build the email or SMS template you want to send. The send screen lists your saved templates — see Setting Up Email & SMS Templates.
  • For trip tracking, turn on location services for FieldPulse on the technician’s device. FieldPulse needs background location access to build the trip tracking link.

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On web

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Send an email or SMS

  1. Open the job record or customer record you want to message about.
  2. Select Actions at the top right.
  3. Select Send Customer Communication. The Actions menu open on a job record with Send Customer Communication highlighted
  4. Select the Email or SMS tab.
  5. Select the template you want to send. The Select an Email Template window with Email and SMS tabs and the account's saved templates listed
  6. Check the message. The Field Values are already filled in with this customer’s and job’s details.
  7. Select Send Email or Send SMS. The Send Customer SMS composer with the To Number and SMS Body filled in, a note that you will not receive replies from the customer to this message, and the Send SMS button The note on the composer means what it says: an SMS sent from FieldPulse this way is one-way, and you will not receive the customer’s reply — include your contact number in the template if you want the customer to get back to you.

Video walkthrough: Customer Communications in the web app

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On mobile

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Send an email or SMS

  1. Open the job record or customer record you want to message about — on the schedule, tap the job you are working. Tapping a job on the Team Schedule list in the FieldPulse mobile app
  2. Select the green Actions button. A job record in the FieldPulse mobile app with the green Actions button at the bottom right
  3. Select Send Customer Communication. The Available Actions sheet on mobile with Send Customer Communication highlighted
  4. Select the Email or SMS tab.
  5. Select the template you want to send.
  6. Check the message, then select Send.

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Attach a photo or file

  1. Before you send, select Upload under Additional Files. The mobile Send SMS screen with the Attached Files picker and the Upload button under Additional Files
  2. Choose where the file comes from — Take Photo, Attach File from Phone, Attach File from File Library, or Attach File from PDF Library. The mobile Attach File menu listing Take Photo, Attach File from Phone, Attach File from File Library, and Attach File from PDF Library
  3. Repeat for each file you want to send.
  4. Select Send when the message is ready.

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Send a trip tracking SMS

A technician on the way to a job can text the customer a live vehicle location and an ETA from the FieldPulse mobile app.
  1. On the job you are heading to, select Actions > Send Customer Communication.
  2. Open the SMS tab.
  3. Select Send Trip Tracking SMS to Customer. The mobile SMS template list with Send Trip Tracking SMS to Customer at the top of the templates
  4. The first time you send one, write your default trip tracking message. Use Insert Variable to drop in details such as the customer’s first name and the trip tracking link.
  5. Select Save. The Template Message screen for a trip tracking SMS, with the message body, the Insert Variable button, and Save
  6. If FieldPulse asks for location permission, select Open Settings and allow the app to use your location in the background. Without that access, FieldPulse cannot build the trip tracking link. The Location Permission Needed prompt asking for background location access, with the Open Settings button
  7. Set Be There In to the number of minutes you need.
  8. Check the message once more, then select Send SMS. The trip tracking send screen with the Be There In minutes selector, the message preview containing the tracking link, and the Send SMS button
  9. Select Include Profile Photo to send a photo of the team member with the text.
  10. Select Send from FieldPulse App or Send from Phone. Sent from your phone, the text goes out from your own phone number. The prompt to send the trip tracking text from the FieldPulse App or from your phone, with the Include Profile Photo checkbox
The live trip tracking link stays active for one hour after it is sent, so a technician’s location is shared only while they are on the move. Trip tracking messages cannot be tied to an automatic trigger — a technician sends each one by hand.
For the map and text your customer opens, see Trip Tracking Overview.

Video walkthrough: Customer Communications in the FieldPulse mobile app

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What you can attach

You can attach files and photos to email and SMS customer communications sent from the web app or the FieldPulse mobile app, on both one-off and templated messages. One message can carry several attachments, but you select and upload the files one at a time.
  • Email attachments are capped at 10 MB per file.
  • SMS attachments have no size limit, because FieldPulse texts your customer a link to a file viewer instead of the files themselves.
“Please click the link below to view all files.” is default FieldPulse text on the SMS that carries your attachments, and it cannot be removed or edited.
Email and SMS templates carry an Attached Files picker and an Upload button under Additional Files, so you can build a file into the template itself — see Setting Up Email & SMS Templates.

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Who receives the message

  • Job-related communications go to the main customer contact, or to any additional contact on the customer record that you set as the job’s designated contact.
  • All other communications go only to the main customer contact — they do not go to additional contacts.

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FAQs

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Can I send a message without using a template?

Yes. Select Empty Form (No Template) in the email template list and write the message yourself.

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Where do I check whether a message reached my customer?

FieldPulse records every message your team sends under Management > Communications, with a delivery status on each one. See Customer Communications Overview for what each status means. You have sent it right when your customer receives the message with their own name, job time, and location already filled in, and the send appears with a delivery status under Management > Communications.