How to send reminders, follow-ups and "On my way" messages

Remind customers before a visit, chase quotes and invoices nobody answered, and tell a customer you are on your way.

Updated 2026-10-18

Otto can email customers on a timetable: a reminder before each visit, and a polite follow-up when a quote goes unanswered or an invoice is overdue. From a job you can also tell the customer you are on your way with one press.

Reminders and follow-ups are off until you switch them on. Nothing is sent about anything from before the day you switch them on.

They are in Settings → Rules, below the What Otto may do without asking panel. Only an owner or admin can change them; everyone else sees "Only an owner or admin can change this".

Remind customers before a visit

1. Open Settings → Rules and find Reminders.
2. Switch on Send reminders.
3. Choose when the First reminder goes, from 1 hour to 3 days before. It is 1 day before unless you change it.
4. If you want a second one, choose it under Second reminder. It has to be a different time from the first.
5. Under Wording, keep Otto's wording or pick one of your own email templates. See how to use message templates.

Each reminder goes before a scheduled job or a confirmed booking, with the time, the address, who is coming and the booking link. Reminders go by email; Send by shows "Email · text not available yet".

Chase quotes and overdue invoices

Under Follow-ups:

1. Switch on Follow up quotes and type after how many days, such as 3, 7. A quote the customer has not answered gets a follow-up on each of those days after it was sent.
2. Switch on Follow up invoices and type how many days overdue, such as 1, 7, 14.
3. Set At most per day, from 1 to 200 (20 unless you change it).
4. Press Check now to look straight away instead of waiting. Otto tells you how many reminders and follow-ups it made.

Each step goes once per quote or invoice, and stops as soon as the quote is answered or the invoice is paid. Quotes older than 60 days and invoices more than 120 days overdue are never chased.

Tell a customer you are on your way

1. Open a scheduled or started job in Jobs.
2. Press On my way.
3. Press 15 min, 30 min or 60 min, or type the minutes and press Send.

Beside the button you then see whether the customer was "Told", whether the message is "Waiting" in Reviews, or "Not sent".

Which ones wait for your yes

• Follow-ups about quotes and invoices always wait in Reviews. You read each one, change it if you like, and approve it before it is sent. This cannot be changed.
• Reminders and On my way messages go out straight away, because the customer expects them. To check each one first, set Sending appointment reminders and “On my way” messages to Ask in the What Otto may do without asking panel. They then wait in Reviews like the follow-ups. See how Otto asks before acting.

A follow-up still waiting in Reviews is withdrawn by itself if the quote is answered or the invoice is settled first.

Good to know

• Otto never writes to a customer with no email address, or one who unsubscribed or whose address bounced.
• Everything here is decided by dates and switches: no AI writes these messages.

If it doesn't work

• "Give the days as a list, like 3 and 7."
• "The daily limit is a whole number from 1 to 200."
• "The second reminder needs a different time from the first."
• "Say how many minutes away you are, from 1 to 240."
• "They have no email address. Nothing was sent." — add their email on their contact card.
• "They unsubscribed." or "Their address bounced." — Otto will not email them.
• "Jobs are switched off for this business. Someone who manages it can switch them on under Settings."