Overview
Boulevard’s pre-built, always-on automated campaigns work behind the scenes to boost bookings, improve client retention, and keep revenue steady. They take just minutes to set up, require minimal maintenance, and run in the background—automatically sending texts and/or emails to clients most likely to book.
Simply choose which campaigns you’d like to turn on, add your custom branding and messaging, and our intelligent algorithms will do the targeting and sending for you—taking the guesswork out of marketing automation.
FAQ
Automated campaigns: the basics
Q: What is an automated campaign?
An automated campaign is an ongoing, always-on campaign that runs in the background based on preset targeting, triggers, and content. The campaign targeting and send cadence is pre-built, so once they're set up, they'll keep running in the background. While you can start and stop automated campaigns at any time, their set-and-forget nature of them makes them a powerful marketing tool because once configured, they require minimal maintenance and do the heavy lifting in the background.
Q: Why use automated campaigns?
Effortlessly boost bookings, improve engagement & retention, and keep revenue steady month after month without lifting a finger. We'll reach clients most likely to book, who may not have booked otherwise, and nudge them to come in.
Save time and stress—we take the guesswork out of marketing automation, which requires expertise and maintenance. A dedicated marketing automation resource is a job in itself, and we offer a built-in solution that does the heavy lifting for you Simply choose your campaigns based on your business goals—we'll target clients most likely to book and automatically send texts and emails on your behalf who may not have booked otherwise.
Q: What kinds of automated campaigns come with Boulevard Marketing?
Fill Slow Days: Promote open slots in the coming 7 days and nudge clients to book.
Last-Minute Openings: Offer clients first dibs on last-minute openings in the next 2 days.
Reminder to Book: Remind recent visitors to book their next appointment, X days after their last service.
Rescue Lost Clients: Win back inactive clients with a friendly reminder that they’re missed.
Birthday Message: Send clients birthday wishes on their special day and encourage them to book.
For more details on campaign types, see this article.
Q: If a client responds to an automated campaign, where is the response sent?
When a client responds to an automated campaign, their reply is directed to the email address associated with the location that sent the email.
Automated campaigns: Availability & access
Q: Are automated campaigns available on all plan types?
Yes, automated campaigns are available for all plan types. They're free to send via text and/or email, and you only pay when you get results in the form of completed appointments. Pay $2 per completed appointment resulting from automated campaigns.
Q: Who has access to create/edit automated campagins?
Campaign creation/editing access can be managed from within the General Settings in Boulevard, in the Privilege Groups settings. Here, you can specify which team members/privilege groups can have access to create and edit email campaigns within your Marketing Suite.
Only users who have at least one Marketing Privilege set to Enabled are able to see and access the Marketing tab. To access, navigate to the Privilege Groups section of your Manage Business settings. Enable the privileges under the “Marketing” section.
Q: Who sees the Marketing tab?
Only users who have at least one Marketing Privilege set to Enabled are able to see and access the Marketing tab. To access, navigate to the Privilege Groups section of your Manage Business settings. Enable the privileges under the “Marketing” section.
Automated campaigns: Audiences
Q: How do campaign audiences work if it’s your first time using Marketing Suite?
Because our targeted algorithms target clients most likely to book, our eligible audience is based on client data containing appointment history and product purchase history.
Q: Is a primary location required for a client to receive automated campaigns?
Yes, in order to be eligible to receive automated campaigns, a client does require primary location assignment. Birthday campaigns are the exception.
Q: What determines the eligible audience for an automated campaign?
All automated campaigns require either a direct opt-in, appointment or purchase history, including the Birthday campaign. Automated campaigns will only be sent to clients who have opted in to receiving text and/or email communications from your business. Check out our Marketing Consent FAQ for more details on how consent is captured. Our intelligent algorithms target clients who are most likely to book, and who don't have an upcoming appointment scheduled.
Q: Can I customize the audience of an automated campaign?
Because Boulevard’s automated campaigns were carefully crafted with specific goals and functions in mind, they are already highly targeted based on email and text marketing best practices, industry standards, spam safeguards, and research. Figuring out which audience to send a text or email campaign can be one of the biggest challenges when it comes to marketing automation, and we do this part for you. While you can customize some automated campaigns based on location and specific campaign triggers, the actual audience filtration and targeting within our automated campaigns are pre-configured for you.
Q: How do I know I’m not spamming or over-saturating my clients with text and email communications?
Boulevard’s automated campaigns are built with anti-spam safeguards in place. Not only are they hyper-targeted to only reach a very specific audience, but rest assured your clients do not receive more than 1 automated text or email within 7 days, at most. In addition to this, if a client wanted to stop getting texts or emails emails, they have the option to unsubscribe at any time (from the footer of every email, and from every text).
An exception to this cadence is the Birthday message campaign.
In addition, when you send a text or email blast (independent of automated campaigns) - you can exclude clients who have recently received a text or email marketing message.
Q: In the Reminder to Book Campaign, can I tie the audience target segment to a specific service?
No, not at this time – but it’s on the product roadmap for future improvements.
Q: Do Blocked Clients get email and text campaigns?
Blocked Clients are removed/filtered out from all Marketing Suite campaigns, both Automated and Blast.
Automated campaigns: Customization
*For information about automated campaign types and what they do please see this article.
Q: Can I choose whether each automated campaign is sent via text or email?
Yes! Each automated campaign can be sent through text, email, or both. Client communication/marketing consent preferences will be respected. Within each campaign, you can select whether you'd like that campaign to reach clients via email, text, or both.
Q: Can I customize the triggers for when an automated campaign gets sent?
Each campaign offers a trigger/threshold that you can customize based on each campaign goal. For example, for Reminder to Book, you can customize the setting so that clients get a text or email X days after their last appointment. See this article for trigger setting options per campaign type.
Q: Can I customize the content of the emails and texts for each automated campaign?
Yes! We provide default verbiage for emails and texts specific to each campaign type, but you can always customize the messaging and aesthetic to fit you brand. We also offer the ability to preview your text or email campaign prior to launching it, to make sure everything is to your standards before you push it live. For more training materials on the marketing suite, take a look at our Academy, and as always feel free to reach out to Support with questions!
Q: Is there a character limit for my emails or an image size limit?
There is not currently a limit on character count or image size, but generally, when it comes to email marketing, the best practice is to keep it relatively short and sweet – super text-heavy emails don’t typically get fully read, and don’t get quite as much engagement as visually enticing, succinct email communications.
Q: Is there a character limit for my texts?
Yes. In total, your automated text can contain up to 480 characters. Default content like opt in language and business name cannot be modified.
Q: Can I include an image or GIF in my automated texts?
No. Automated texts are plain texts only. Use text blasts to send targeted, eye-catching text campaigns with images and GIFs instead!
Automated campaigns: Pricing & Billing
Q: How are automated campaigns priced?
Automated campaigns are free to send via text or email, and you only pay once a client actually comes in and completes an appointment that resulted from an automated campaign. See pricing.
For example:
Client is sent an automated text or email campaign
Client books within 7 days of getting the automated text or email
Client completes the appointment
The location at which the appointment was completed is then charged $2 for the completed appointment.
Q: How will automated campaigns show up on my invoice?
If there is a charge, it shows on the invoice as a line item that will be titled:
Automated Campaigns: Email Marketing
You are charged $2 for each completed appointment resulting from automated campaigns. For example:
An automated email/text is sent to a client in November
The client completes the appointment in December
The charge for that completed appointment will appear on your December invoice.
Currently, the marketing reports available show you the completed appointments associated with campaigns sent within a certain date range.
Q: Can I prepay for Automated Campaigns costs?
No, Automated Campaigns are performance-based pricing, so you are charged based on the performance of the automated campaigns (based on how many completed appointments they yield for you).
Q: What happens if a client books more than 7 days after they were sent an automated campaign text or email?
You are not charged, because the completed appointment was not booked within a 7 day window.
Q: What happens if a client books within 7 days of being sent an automated campaign text or email, then cancels or no shows their actual appointment?
Because we are charging the $2 attribution fee when an attributed appointment is successfully completed, you are not charged the $2 fee for appointments that are booked, but ultimately canceled.
Q: If the client was sent a text or email and didn't open it -- then still booked within 7 days, will I get charged?
Yes. If a client was in the target audience for an automated campaign send, was sent the email, then booked within 7 days of the email having been sent to them, the $2 is still charged when their appointment is completed. A client does not have to physically engage with the email for the booking to be charged. Often, simply seeing a notification for a text or email from your business is enough to get a client to book.
Q: Am I billed the $2 for the booking if the client opens or clicks on the text or email?
No. You are only billed the $2 if the client ends up booking (through any booking method) and completing their appointment.
Q: Am I billed usage rates to send automated texts and emails?
No. Unlike text blasts or two-way texting in Messages, and unlike email blasts, automated texts and emails are free to send. You only pay for each completed appointment resulting from the automated campaign.
Q: What if a client books multiple appointments/services individually within that 7-day window?
There is a $2 charge per appointment booked in that 7-day window of the automated text or email being sent to the client. So if the client books 2 appointments, that will be two $2 attributions. It’s paying for the total performance of the campaign, not the per-client performance.
Q: What if a client gets an automated campaign text or email and then books a recurring appointment? How is the customer charged?
You are only charged for the first completed appointment of the recurring set.
Q: Can you add a separate payment card for marketing costs (i.e. Franchises, Multi-locations)?
Currently, the card on file for monthly subscription fees is the card that will be used to bill for marketing as well.
Automated campaigns: Reporting
For an overview of reporting available for automated campaigns, see this article.
Q: What reporting is available to me to understand the effectiveness of campaigns run through Marketing Suite?
Automated campaigns dashboard in your Marketing tab summarizes performance across all of your active campaigns for your selected location and date range. In this view, you can also see how each campaign performed within that date range.
The Reports Tab within the main Boulevard dashboard.
Marketing Campaign Performance- can customize to measure by Campaign, Location, Client, and Sent Date. Columns show 14 options; Use Filter to view individual campaigns. This dissects the “performance” of the campaign.
Marketing Generated Appointments- focus more on a detailed list of “who” booked and completed with “how much" from each automated campaign.
Unsubscribe Info
Q: Is it required to keep the unsubscribe link in the footer of every email?
Yes. Legally, clients must be given the option to unsubscribe from email communications, so this cannot be removed from the footer.
Q: Is it required to keep the opt out language in every text?
Yes. Legally, clients must be given the option to unsubscribe from text communications, so this cannot be removed from the text.
Q: What if a client unsubscribes, but didn't mean to? Is there a way to re-subscribe?
Clients can manage their communication preferences at any time through the "Communication Preferences" link in any appointment reminder or confirmation email, or from within Client Portal.