A message sitting in a crowded inbox next to forty other things has no guarantee of being opened today or this week. Watch this to see which of three channels actually fits each kind of message you send.
Every fitness, wellness, or beauty business owner already uses two or three ways to reach clients, usually without anyone explaining which one actually fits a given message. Email works well for anything a client might want to search for later, a receipt, a full schedule, a policy explanation, but it has no guarantee of being opened quickly once it's sitting in a crowded inbox.
Texting solves the speed problem. A same-day opening, a reminder that class starts in an hour, a waitlist spot about to go to someone else, these are the moments where a text actually gets seen fast, since almost nobody is sitting on hundreds of unread texts the way they are unread emails. A third channel, push notifications through a business's own branded app, goes further still: it shows up the same way a banking or social media alert does, costs nothing per message once it's set up, and is linked to meaningfully higher client retention and engagement.
None of this means abandoning email or over-relying on texting. It means matching the channel to the message, and once that's set up, a single marketing automation can send across all three at once instead of building the same campaign three separate times.
Key Moments
0:00 Intro
2:17 Email: When It Works Best
4:06 SMS: Why Texting Gets Seen Fast
6:39 Push Notifications Explained
9:02 Message Center: Two-Way SMS
13:04 White Label vs Free Client App
21:24 Customizing Your App Home Screen
25:28 White Label Pricing and Setup
30:13 Marketing Suite: One Automation
36:16 Recap and Your Next Step
What You Will Learn
Match each communication channel, email, SMS, and push, to the kind of message it actually fits best
Verify a sending domain so business emails arrive branded instead of flagged as unfamiliar
Understand why texting requires business registration before a business can send or receive SMS in the US
Set up two-way SMS so staff can have a real back-and-forth with clients instead of one-way blasts
Recognize the difference between a free client app and a fully branded app with push notifications
Customize a branded app's home screen to surface the bookings, progress, and promotions that matter most
See how a marketing automation can send a single message across email, SMS, and push without rebuilding it three times
Space out multi-channel messages so clients don't feel bombarded by the same reminder on every channel at once
The fastest way to start is to verify your email sending domain if you haven't already, since it takes only a few minutes and keeps your messages out of spam. From there, the single highest-impact next step is completing SMS registration so two-way texting becomes available, after which a branded app and multi-channel automations can be added whenever the timing makes sense.
Choosing the Right Channel for the Right Message
Email remains the best fit for anything a client might want to reference later, like a receipt or a full class schedule, but it offers no guarantee of being seen quickly in a crowded inbox. Texting solves that speed problem for anything time-sensitive, while push notifications through a branded app add a third option that shows up the same way a banking or social media alert does.
Why SMS Requires a Little Setup First
Sending text messages to clients isn't as simple as texting a friend. US carriers require a short registration process confirming a business's identity and the type of messages it plans to send, which protects clients from spam and protects the business's ability to actually reach people by text. Once approved, two-way texting becomes available through a dedicated business number.
What a Two-Way SMS Inbox Actually Changes
Replying to clients from a personal phone leaves no record and no way to hand off a conversation if a staff member changes. A proper two-way SMS system gives a business one dedicated number, a full message history per client, and the ability to assign conversations to specific staff, turning texting into a trackable business process instead of an improvised habit.
The Real Difference Between a Free App and a Branded One
Every account already includes a free client app for booking and managing a schedule, but it carries generic branding and has no push notification capability at all. A fully branded app adds a business's own logo, its own listing in the app stores, a customizable home screen, and unlimited push notifications that land directly on a client's phone with no per-message cost.
Sending Everything Through One Automation
Once SMS and a branded app are both connected, a single marketing automation can send a message by email, text, and push without building three separate campaigns. Spacing those messages out by a few hours each, rather than sending all three at the same moment, avoids overwhelming a client while still reaching them wherever they actually pay attention.