How do I write a reusable message?

Write the messages you reuse, see exactly what each channel will send, and know where each one is already plugged in.

The short answer

Write the messages you reuse, see exactly what each channel will send, and know where each one is already plugged in.

Automations › Messages › New message

Steps

1
Open Automations, switch to the Messages tab and press New message.
2
Type a name. Remember it becomes the email subject.
3
Write the message and tap the tags you need.
4
Read the two preview panels below the message.
5
Save.

On this page7

One card per message Write the message and insert the variables Two tags do not survive every route Check what each channel really sends Sending one by hand WhatsApp needs a Meta template Ready-made examples, and deleting

One card per message

Path: Automations › Messages › New message.

The list is what opens by default, because a name is what you scan when you have twenty. Switch to the card view to see the message itself, which is what you recognise when you have eight.

The lightning mark means at least one automation already sends this text. The cursor mark means you can still send it by hand. A message used by an automation is not locked, it carries both marks.

A message has no channel of its own. The channel is decided when you send: by what the member has, or by the channel list inside the automation.

Write the message and insert the variables

Give it a name and write the text. The name is not decoration: it becomes the subject line when the message goes out by email.

Under the message, tap any tag to insert it. The tags are {name}, {first_name}, {nickname}, {last_name}, {full_name}, {plan}, {expiry}, {amount}, {gym}, {link} and {button:Your label}. {name} uses the nickname when the member has one, otherwise the first name.

{link} inserts a plain link to the member's own space. {button:Your label} becomes a real button in an email. LINE, WhatsApp and SMS have no buttons in a text message, so there the label and the link are sent on their own lines.

Put the sentence carrying {link} or {button:…} last. If no member space is reachable, the whole sentence is removed before sending, not just the tag. A message built around that sentence reads strangely once it disappears.

Two tags do not survive every route

{amount} is only filled when YOU send the template by hand from a member. An automation sending the same template leaves it empty in an email, and on LINE, WhatsApp or SMS it sends the four characters {amount} as they are written. Do not build a payment chase automation around it.

Sending a template by hand on LINE has its own gap: {name} falls back to the first word of the full name instead of the nickname, and {nickname}, {last_name} and {full_name} are sent unreplaced. Email and the automations do not have that problem.

The two preview panels do not warn you about either of these. They show the template as a manual EMAIL would send it, which is the one route where every tag works.

Check what each channel really sends

As soon as the message is not empty, two preview panels appear side by side: Email on the left, LINE, WhatsApp and SMS on the right. They are filled with sample values and built by the same code that does the real sending, so they cannot drift from what a member receives.

Below the previews you can send yourself a test by email. The test arrives with sample values instead of the variables, and its subject is prefixed with Test.

Never write click the button below without checking the right panel. On LINE, WhatsApp and SMS there is no button, and the sentence becomes false.

Sending one by hand

Path: Automations › Messages › Send on a card › search a member › pick a channel.

Only the channels that work for that member are offered: email if the member has an address, LINE if the member linked their LINE and your gym connected LINE, WhatsApp if the member has a phone and WhatsApp is connected.

Email and LINE go out straight away from your gym account. WhatsApp opens WhatsApp with the text already filled in, so you still press send there yourself. The same two-step menu is on every member profile and in the member list.

If your staff role does not have permission to send messages, the menu says so instead of letting you try. The server refuses anyway.

WhatsApp needs a Meta template

At the bottom of the editor there is an optional WhatsApp block: the name of one of your approved Meta templates and its language code. The member's first name is passed as the first variable.

This mapping only matters for automatic sending. When an automation has WhatsApp ticked and the template has no Meta template name, WhatsApp is skipped for that send and the reason is written in the activity log.

Ready-made examples, and deleting

Add examples creates a small set of templates: renewal reminder, payment reminder, happy birthday, welcome, we miss you, and, when online booking is available for your gym, one more called Your member space which shows the button tag in its proper place.

Pressing it again does not create duplicates: it only adds the names you do not already have.

A deleted template goes to the trash, in Settings › Activity, and can be restored for as long as your retention setting keeps it. If it was used by automations, the confirmation names them before you delete.

An automation whose template was deleted still runs. It just sends nothing, and the activity log records template not found. Repoint the automation to another template, or turn it off.

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Keep reading

Automations and messages: which one does what?An automation is the rule. A message is the text it sends. Two objects, and that is all there is.How do I set up an automation?A trigger, optional conditions, and one or more actions. Which triggers fire instantly, which wait for the nightly pass, and how to check a run.How do I read and answer messages from my members?One place for every conversation with your members, with the channel chosen at the moment you reply.