Spring is the perfect time to refresh your processes, tidy up your workflows, and make sure your customer communication is working as hard as you are. That was the focus of our recent Spring Into Communication webinar, where we took a closer look at the email and SMS tools available in Gingr and how they can help pet-care businesses communicate more clearly, consistently, and efficiently.
From automated reminders to one-off messages and two-way texting, Gingr gives businesses multiple ways to stay connected with pet parents throughout the customer journey. Whether you want to reduce no-shows, save staff time, or create a more polished client experience, these tools can help you do more with less busywork.
Today’s pet parents expect updates, reminders, and easy ways to stay in touch with the businesses caring for their pets. Clear communication helps set expectations, reduces confusion, and builds trust over time. It also makes life easier for your team by cutting down on manual follow-up and creating a more consistent experience across your business.
That’s where Gingr’s communication tools come in. Gingr offers multiple ways to manage customer communication through email and SMS, including system-generated emails, customizable templates, canned messages, and optional two-way texting features. These tools support one of Gingr’s core goals for pet-care businesses: helping you optimize operations while building customers for life.
The webinar focused on three main areas:
Together, these tools give you a flexible communication setup that can support both automation and personal outreach.
One of the biggest takeaways from the webinar was how much time businesses can save by setting up automated communications correctly.
Gingr includes a variety of system-generated emails and SMS messages that can be triggered by specific actions in the app. These can include communications tied to reservations, appointments, deposits, reminders, invoices, surveys, immunizations, and more. Businesses can decide which messages they want turned on, which ones they want turned off, and what each message should say.
This kind of automation helps ensure pet parents receive timely, relevant information without requiring staff to send every message manually. It is also a practical way to reduce no-shows and keep customers informed before, during, and after their visit. Gingr specifically highlights customizable reminders and communication templates as part of its client communication toolkit.
Automation does not have to feel generic. A major part of the webinar focused on variables, which allow businesses to personalize messages by automatically inserting details like a customer’s name, pet name, reservation type, or relevant action link.
For example, a reminder email can feel much more helpful and personal when it references the pet by name or includes a direct link to complete a required step. These small touches can make automated communication feel more thoughtful and relevant.
One important reminder shared in the session: only the variables listed within a specific email template can be used in that template. That makes it important to review available options before editing content.
Another helpful point from the webinar was that Gingr’s communication tools are not one-size-fits-all. Businesses can customize system email templates to better reflect their brand, their services, and the type of information pet parents need.
That includes editing:
This flexibility helps create a more polished and consistent customer experience. It also makes it easier to tailor communication based on service type or business needs.
In addition to automated system messages, Gingr also supports canned emails and optional canned SMS templates, which make it easy to send prewritten messages directly from a pet parent’s profile.
These are especially useful for recurring conversations your team has all the time, such as:
Instead of rewriting the same message over and over, your team can select a prepared template, personalize it if needed, and send it quickly. That saves time while helping everyone communicate more consistently.
The webinar also touched on Gingr’s optional two-way SMS functionality, which gives businesses the ability to have real text conversations with customers directly inside the app.
This feature allows your team to coordinate information about the customer, their pets, and their reservations while communicating in a format many customers already prefer. Incoming text notifications can be viewed from anywhere in the app, and staff can respond with custom messages in real time. Gingr also notes that businesses can book new reservations directly from the two-way SMS page, making the feature both convenient and operationally useful.
For businesses that want even more flexibility, multimedia messaging can also be added through Gingr’s messaging bundle, allowing staff to send photos, videos, PDFs, and more through the same communication channel.
One of the most practical parts of the webinar was the reminder that strong communication starts with proper configuration.
Before messages can work the way you want them to, it is important to review:
The broader recommendation was simple: take time to think through the messages you want customers to receive, then carefully review and configure each communication setting in the app. A little setup on the front end can save a lot of time later.
Another valuable feature highlighted in the broader communication overview is the ability to view communication history on a customer’s account. This helps your team track what has been sent, maintain context, and provide a better experience when pet parents reach out with questions.
Having communication records tied directly to the customer profile helps keep everything organized in one place, which is especially useful for busy teams managing multiple conversations across services.
At the end of the day, these tools do more than just send messages. They support a better overall customer experience.
When pet parents receive timely reminders, easy-to-understand updates, and quick responses, they are more likely to feel confident in your business. That confidence can lead to stronger loyalty, repeat bookings, and smoother day-to-day operations for your staff.
Gingr’s communication tools fit naturally into the platform’s larger value: helping pet-care businesses save time, reduce manual work, and keep customers informed and engaged. That aligns directly with Gingr’s messaging pillars around optimizing operations and building customers for life.
If your communication process could use a seasonal refresh, Gingr’s email and SMS features are a great place to start. With customizable templates, automated workflows, canned messages, and optional two-way texting, you can create a communication strategy that feels more organized, more personal, and easier for your team to manage.
A little setup now can lead to better client experiences all year long.