SMS & Marketing

Stop Losing Leads. Start Growing Revenue.

Two-way SMS and RCS messaging for workshops. Bulk campaigns, message templates, lead capture, and ad tracking. Australian Twilio-powered.

JS
Hi, is my car ready for pick up? Job was the brake pads.
10:23 AM
Hi John! Yes, your Camry is all done. Brakes are sorted and we gave it a quick road test. Ready whenever you are.
10:25 AMDelivered
JS
Perfect, I will be there at 4pm. Thanks!
10:26 AM
Type a message...

THE CHALLENGE

Sound Familiar?

The Problem

  • Customers forget their appointments because there is no automated way to remind them
  • Following up on outstanding quotes means manual phone calls that rarely get returned
  • Workshop leads from the website or ads go into an inbox and get buried within hours
  • There is no record of customer conversations — who said what and when is a mystery

The Solution

  • Automated SMS reminders go out before every booking — configurable timing, zero manual effort
  • Bulk SMS campaigns and template-based follow-ups reach customers in seconds, not hours
  • Lead capture API with webhook notifications means new leads trigger instant alerts to your team
  • Every message is logged in a full conversation history per customer, searchable and permanent

FEATURES

Everything You Need

Conversation View

A full chat interface for every customer. See the entire message history — inbound and outbound — in a familiar chat-bubble layout with delivery status and timestamps.

Bulk SMS Campaigns

Send personalised messages to hundreds of customers at once. Filter by service history, vehicle type, or last visit date.

Message Templates

Create reusable templates with placeholders like {{customer_first_name}} and {{vehicle_rego}}. One click to personalise and send.

Automation Rules

Trigger messages automatically — booking confirmations, service reminders, job completion notifications, and invoice follow-ups.

Two-Way Chat

Customers reply to your messages and their responses appear instantly. Have real conversations without switching to your phone.

Delivery Tracking

See the status of every message — queued, sent, delivered, or failed. Error details help you troubleshoot undelivered messages.

Per-Site Numbers

Each workshop location gets its own dedicated Australian phone number. Customers see a local number, not a generic shortcode.

RCS Support

Rich Communication Services for supported devices — branded messages with your logo, read receipts, and rich media. Falls back to SMS automatically.

HOW IT WORKS

From Start to Finish

1

Set Up Templates

Create message templates for common scenarios — booking reminders, service due notifications, quote follow-ups. Use placeholders for automatic personalisation.

2

Configure Automations

Choose which events trigger messages: booking created, service reminder due, job completed, invoice sent. Set delay timing and pick the template.

3

Customer Receives SMS

Messages are sent from your workshop dedicated phone number via Twilio. The customer sees a real Australian number they can reply to.

4

Customer Replies

When a customer texts back, the message appears in your PitlaneHQ conversation view. The floating chat widget notifies you instantly on any page.

5

Conversation Tracked

Every message — sent and received — is logged against the customer record. Full history is searchable and visible to your whole team.

COMPARE

Why PitlaneHQ?

FeaturePitlaneHQSpreadsheetsOther Software
Two-way SMS conversations
Bulk SMS campaigns with personalisation
Reusable message templates with placeholders
Event-based automation triggers
Per-message delivery status tracking
Customer opt-out management
Dedicated phone number per workshop site
RCS rich messaging with SMS fallback
Lead capture API with webhook notifications
UTM and ad platform attribution tracking
Zapier integration for 5,000+ app connections

USE CASES

Real Workshop Scenarios

General Service Workshop

Service Reminder Campaigns

The Challenge

A workshop had no way to remind customers when their next service was due. Repeat business depended entirely on customers remembering to call.

The Solution

Set up automated service reminders in PitlaneHQ that send an SMS when a vehicle is due for its next service based on the last visit date.

The Result

Repeat booking rate increased by 35%. Customers appreciate the reminder and often book on the spot by replying to the SMS.

Collision Repair Centre

Quote Follow-Up Automation

The Challenge

The shop was sending quotes but never following up. Potential jobs sat in "Sent" status for weeks with no action.

The Solution

Configured an automation to send a follow-up SMS 48 hours after a quote is sent if it has not been accepted. The message links to the online approval portal.

The Result

Quote conversion rate improved by 28%. Most customers simply forgot to respond — a gentle reminder was all they needed.

Multi-Site Tyre and Auto Chain

Seasonal Promotion Blast

The Challenge

A 3-site tyre chain wanted to promote a seasonal special to all customers but had no way to reach them at scale.

The Solution

Used PitlaneHQ bulk SMS to send a personalised promotion to their full customer list. Each message included the customer name and nearest location.

The Result

Generated 120 bookings from a single campaign across all 3 sites. Cost per acquisition was a fraction of traditional advertising.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

What Workshops Are Saying

Customer stories coming soon. We are building something workshops will love.

Ready to Streamline Your Workshop?

Join hundreds of Australian workshops already using PitlaneHQ to manage their business more efficiently.