One inbox. Every channel.

Yes. There's a Messages tab in your booking app — "Ask us anything about your visit" — where pet parents can write to you and attach a photo. It's one ongoing conversation, so earlier messages stay put. Replies you send in the app are free and don't use SMS credits.

Neither. It runs in the phone's browser and they reach it with their phone number — there's no account to create and no password to forget. They can add it to their home screen so it behaves like an app, which is also what enables push notifications on iPhone (iOS 16.4 or later). Everyone with an email on file gets an email alert regardless.

In the Inbox, as one conversation per customer — and app messages and text messages sit in that same thread, each labelled "Chat" or "Text", so you can see the whole history in one place. New messages alert your staff devices and show an unread count on the Inbox. Replies default to whichever channel the customer used last, and "Send by text" is one tap when you need to reach someone right away.

Both ways. Parents can show you the matting before they arrive, and you can send the after-groom photo back. Messages run up to 2,000 characters with one photo each, in the usual phone photo formats up to 10 MB.

Yes — confirmations, reschedules and cancellations, 24-hour and 1-hour reminders, ready-for-pickup, and daycare or boarding check-in and check-out all land in the conversation, marked "Automatic" so they're clearly not a personal reply. You can edit the wording of each one or switch individual ones off.

It's in-app messaging rather than live chat — new messages appear within about 15 seconds, and there are no typing indicators. You'll see that a message was delivered, but not whether it's been read. A few things aren't in yet either: Inbox search, assigning conversations to staff, auto-replies and business hours, and video or PDF attachments.

The Inbox itself is for owner and front-desk roles. Groomers can still message a customer directly from the booking they're working on, so they're never blocked from reaching a pet parent — they just don't get the whole message centre.

Yes. WhatsApp messaging is fully integrated via the Meta Business API. Booking confirmations, reminders, and follow-ups can all be sent on WhatsApp. Template approval is handled during onboarding — most salons are live within 1–2 days.

Yes. The unified inbox threads every customer message across email, SMS, and WhatsApp into a single conversation per customer, in chronological order. Replies go out on the same channel the customer used.

SMS is included in your plan. Automated text reminders are included on Pro and Scale, and two-way texting includes 500 messages a month on Pro and unlimited on Scale; extra messages on Pro are billed per message. In-app replies from pet parents are free. WhatsApp Business API messages are billed by Meta directly to you. ThePetsMonk doesn't add a per-message markup on WhatsApp.

Yes. Every system-triggered message has a template per channel that you can edit. Merge tags like {{customer_first_name}} and {{pet_name}} personalize each message automatically.

They stop receiving marketing campaigns (rebooking nudges, seasonal promotions) but still receive transactional messages — booking confirmations and reminders — because those are essential to the service they're paying for.

Yes. The Compose feature lets you message any customer on any channel directly. Quick-reply templates are available for common one-liners ("Running 15 min late", etc.). Every message is logged on the customer profile.