vCita's Marketing Tools: Overview
vCita's built-in marketing tools are especially designed to drive more business with a minimal investment of time and effort on your part. Step-by-step templates enable you to easily create and send beautiful, mobile-friendly messages that will engage your clients and increase your revenue. No special marketing, graphic or design skills are necessary.
Since the goal is all about getting clients to interact with your business, vCita's marketing tools are built around a specific call-to-action (Book, Pay, Visit Portal, etc.). You can target both existing clients and new prospects. Supported delivery channels are email or SMS, allowing you to interact with your clients in the most effective manner. You will also be able to track results in real time, including delivery stats and client actions.
Understanding the Marketing Tools
To view and use the marketing tools, open the Marketing menu and then select the tool that you want to work with.
The options are:
- Automated Campaigns: Call-to-action messages that are sent automatically according to client life cycle events (e.g., on a client's birthday). Campaigns come with predefined messages and settings, and they require no extra configuration on your part.
- Announcements: Call-to-action messages that are sent manually to a selected client population. The message may or may not be related to a client life cycle event. For example, you can announce a holiday sale, a change in your business hours, and so on.
- Delivery History: Lists all delivered Automated Campaigns and Announcements, and allows you to access statistics about each one.
Automated Campaigns vs. Announcements: A Closer Look
The two marketing tools share several common characteristics:
- The messages have a similar look and feel.
- The goal is to drive clients to engage with your business using calls to action.
- Coupons can (and should) be used as part of the messages.
- Collection of tracking and delivery statistics is identical for each tool.
However, there are some significant differences between the tools. The main differences are summarized in the following table.
| Trigger | Delivery Schedule | Design Resources | Availability | |
| Automated Campaigns | Automatically triggered by a client life cycle event (birthday, new customer, etc.). | Automatic delivery is ongoing, according to client life cycle events. | Come pre-designed with built-in subject lines, marketing copy and visuals. |
Business: Three campaign types For details, see Automated Campaign Types (below). |
| Announcements | Automatic triggers are not supported. | Delivery is one-time and needs to be generated manually. | Subject lines, message content and visuals are not provided. | Available for all subscription types. |
For an introduction to Automated Campaigns, watch this short video:
Automated Campaign Types
The following campaign types are available for subscriptions of Business and higher:
- Birthday: Sends good wishes and a birthday bonus
- New Customer: Sends a welcome message and an invitation to visit your Client Portal
- Reactivation: Sends a message to inactive customers to encourage them to get back in touch
- Client Review Follow Up: Invites satisfied clients to post reviews on your social media. (For more information about Client Reviews click here).
The following additional campaign types are available for subscriptions of Platinum and higher:
- New VIP: Sends a thank-you message to your loyal or top-spending customers
- New Lead: Sends a message to potential customers to encourage them to connect with your business
- Client's Special Day: Sends a message of congratulations on a special occasion
For more information about Automated Campaigns and how to use them, refer to Working With Automated Campaigns.