2022 Q1 & Q2 Feature Recap!
2022 is shaping up to be a monumental year in Time To Pet’s history! The first half of the year flew by, but with it came many exciting new features and updates that we are utterly thrilled to be sharing with all of you! We have some huge updates with features like Scheduled Messages and a new Pet Parent Onboarding process you can configure to suit your company’s needs, as well as much-requested improvements, such as the ability to request cancellations for multiple events through the Client App. Please keep reading to see what our team has been hard at work on for the first half of the year, and stay tuned for more great updates!
Scheduled Messages
Up first, we are very excited to introduce the Scheduled Messages feature! This new tool touches all types of messages within Time To Pet (including conversation feed messages, service order confirmations, emailed invoices, and email campaigns) and allows you to “schedule” these messages to be sent at a later day or time.
To schedule a message for later, you will want to click on the new drop-down arrow that appears next to the “send” button across all messages in our platform. Doing so will open up a new window that will provide you with the option to schedule the message for later and allow you to set the date and time you would like it to be sent.
Scheduled Messages can be used in a variety of situations and can help you to more efficiently manage your time and provide additional support to your clients. For example, if you would like to resend a confirmation message to remind your clients about their upcoming services or schedule a time for a client’s invoice to be emailed to them on the date it’s due the moment you book it, all of that will now be possible within Time To Pet! No longer do you need to make notes to yourself or hold off on doing something at a later date - do it now and save yourself the time (and brain space) for later!
For more information on the different message types you can schedule for later and how you can make your communication more efficient with them, please see our help article here: Scheduled Messages.
Business Hours
Another update that we’re pleased to announce that will also help you to more effectively manage your business at all hours of the day and temper the expectations of overeager pet parents who may like to contact you at all hours of the day is the Business Hours feature! The Business Hours tool can be found in the Settings > Company Settings > Messaging section of your account.
When Business Hours are enabled for your company, you can set your “Normal Business Hours” for your business. Once configured, the Business Hours feature will automatically display a message or send an auto-reply to pet parents who message you or your team outside of your normal hours of operation to let them know that you are currently unavailable. You can customize this messaging to direct clients on how to contact you in the event of an emergency or to let them know when your team will next be available to address their inquiries.
In the event that a client sends in a message about an urgent situation or asks a question about overnight services or something similar that you or your team would like to answer, you also have the option to override the Business Hours settings and send a message to them immediately. In the event of Visit Report Cards, however, they will always be sent to a client as soon as the staff member has marked the event as complete.
For more information on this setting and how to configure it for your business, please see our help documentation here: Business Hours.
Pet Parent Onboarding
Ensuring that new pet parents have a positive and easy experience utilizing Time To Pet is critical for our team. That is why we are thrilled to announce another fantastic addition to our platform – Pet Parent Onboarding!
With Pet Parent Onboarding, you can now build your own customized onboarding experience for clients new to your business. Depending on what you require from your clients at the time of their onboarding, this process can guide your clients as they activate their account for the very first time to fill out any personal details or pet care instructions you need, add their payment information, or sign your company’s Service Agreements.
Pet Parent Onboarding can be enabled and configured in the Settings > Client Settings > Portal Settings section of your Time To Pet account.
For more information on how to enable and customize Pet Parent Onboarding for your company, please see our help article here: Pet Parent Onboarding.
New Image Gallery For The Mobile App
Our Mobile App team has been hard at work the past few months as well, and we are proud to announce that we have a new image gallery available on the app when viewing photos in a client or staff member’s conversation feed. As opposed to the previous way you could view images in the app, photos will now be displayed in a fullscreen gallery mode that includes buttons to share or download them to your device.
With this update, pet parents and team members alike will have an easier time looking back at captured moments with their favorite pets and adding them to their own collections. With an improved viewing experience, clients will be able to feel more at ease than ever to know their pets are having a blast in good, capable hands!
Multi-Event Cancellations In Mobile App (May 24th)
Another update we are excited to share for the Mobile App that will improve the client experience is the ability to request cancellations for multiple events! Previously, you had to submit a cancellation request for a single service at a time, but now clients can check off the different events they want to cancel from the Upcoming Services tab in the Schedule section of their Client App. This will also allow for you and your staff to process client cancellations more efficiently.
For more information on how clients can request cancellations through their Mobile Apps, please see our help article here: Cancelling & Changing Services In The Client App.
Payment Methods More Accessible On Mobile App
Making payments through their mobile app should be an easy process for your clients. To help streamline this process further, another update we have is for the Client App. While payment methods are available as a separate tab in the “Invoices” section of the Client App, there is now a separate section for them on the home screen of the app, as well. Bringing payment methods to the forefront of the app will make it less of a hassle for clients to locate the payment information they have on file with your company so that they can add, update, or remove details as they need.
For more information on how clients can make payments and add or remove a payment method, please see our help articles here: Paying Invoices, Leaving Tips, And Making Partial Payments & Add Or Remove Payment Method On File Using the Client Application.
New Vaccination Report Filter And Ability To Delete Vaccinations
Over the past few months, we have also made some improvements to our Vaccinations feature. One of these additions is a new filter that you can use when generating a report on pet vaccinations for your company in the Clients > Pet List > Vaccinations section of your account. It is called “Pets Scheduled” and allows you to generate a narrowed-down report for pets scheduled between the specified dates you provide. This will allow for more precise reporting and awareness surrounding what pets have up-to-date vaccinations and which pets have vaccinations set to expire soon.
Another option we have added to the Vaccination tool is the ability to either delete a vaccination or remove it from a singular or multiple pets, even if it is assigned to one more pets. This will make the process of keeping track of vaccinations for younger and older pets simpler, especially with the option to do it in bulk. To remove or delete a vaccine, navigate to the Settings > Client Settings > Vaccinations section of your account and click the “Delete” button next to that vaccine in the list.
For more information on the Vaccinations tool, please see our help article here: Pet Vaccinations.
Attach Files In Staff And Client Conversation Feeds
Have you ever wanted to attach a photo, video, or other document to a message you’re sending to a client or staff member? Or wanted your clients or staff members to have the opportunity to be able to send an attached file to you? Well, look no further! One of the other features we have added to the Time To Pet App and Portal is the ability to attach files to messages you, your clients, or your staff members are sending through the Staff and Client conversation feeds.
You can add any number of attachments you desire by clicking the "Add Attachment(s)" button that will appear when you begin typing your message. You can also remove already attached files by clicking the "Remove Image" link under each attachment.
Whether your clients want to send you updated vaccination records, you want to send a PDF copy of an invoice to a client, or you want to send important documents to your staff, you’re all set to do so!
For more information on using the Staff and Client conversation feeds, please see our help articles here: Using The Staff Conversation Feed & Using The Client Conversation Feed.
Holiday Rate Calculator Tool
The holidays are probably the most lucrative time of year for professional dog walkers and pet sitters. They are also the most busy. It can be easy to get burnt out delivering top-notch service to your pet parents and their furry members and dealing with other holiday-related matters on top of everything else in your life. For all these reasons and more, ensuring that you and your team are being properly compensated for your time and efforts is of the utmost importance.
Within our platform, you can create and configure your own holidays as well as set your own rates for those holidays. It can sometimes be difficult to know how much to charge for this additional fee and whether or not you should charge at a flat rate or a percentage, but look no further! We’re here to help.
We have added another free tool to our site that we encourage our customers to make use of called the Holiday Rates Calculator. Our calculator tool provides the national averages for flat rate and percentage-based holiday fees for the most common U.S. holidays, and you can use that to see what others are charging in order to determine what you would like to charge for your own holiday fees.
For more information on how to decide on a holiday fee for your company, see our Complete Guide to Setting Holiday Fees for Pet Sitters and Dog Walkers.
