Email and SMS That Win Repeat Work
Your past clients are the cheapest work in the business and most tradies never contact them again. Here's what to send, which channel to send it on, and the rules you need to know before you do.
Every trade business is sitting on a list of people who have already paid them, already trust them, and will need them again. Almost none of those people will think of you first, because it's been three years and they've lost your number. Email and SMS are how you stay in front of them for almost nothing — and they're also the two channels with actual legal rules attached, so it's worth doing deliberately. This guide covers what to send, when to use a text rather than an email, and how to stay on the right side of the line.
Doing this job for a living? See job management in ServiceYak.
The list you already have
Before any of this is worth doing, the list has to exist somewhere other than your phone contacts and a shoebox of invoices. A usable client list holds four things:
- Who they are — name, phone, email, address.
- What you did and when — the job, the date, and anything installed with a service life.
- Whether they're commercial or residential — because you'll send them different things.
- Whether they've agreed to hear from you about anything other than their own job.
That last one matters. There's a real difference between messaging a client about their job — which they plainly expect — and marketing to them, which needs their agreement. Keep track of which you have, because it decides what you can send.
If your client history lives in your head and your invoices, start by getting it into one place. It's the asset the rest of this depends on, and it's also what makes the difference between a generic offer and a message that names their actual system and the date you last serviced it.
Which channel for which message
They're not interchangeable. Text is immediate and intrusive; email is patient and roomy. Using the wrong one is how you end up annoying people.
| Message | Channel | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Appointment confirmation and reminder | SMS | Read immediately. This is the one that cuts no-shows |
| On my way / running late | SMS | Time-critical, and the single most appreciated message you'll send |
| Quote sent, invoice sent | Email, with an SMS nudge | The document needs email; the nudge is what gets it opened |
| Review request | SMS | One tap on the link, same day, while it's fresh |
| Payment reminder | Email first, SMS if it drags | Keeps a written trail, escalates without a confrontation |
| Service due / seasonal reminder | Either | SMS for a specific booking prompt, email if there's detail to explain |
| Newsletter or general offer | Never text these. It's the fastest way to get opted out of |
What's actually worth sending
The test for every message: would a reasonable client be glad to receive this? If it's just you wanting work, they can tell.
- Service and maintenance reminders. The best message in the trade, because it's genuinely useful and it books work. Anything with a service interval — systems, inspections, seasonal checks — belongs here.
- Ageing equipment heads-up. Your records say the hot water system you installed is getting on. A note before it fails is a favour, and it's the difference between quoting a planned replacement and missing an emergency.
- What you noticed last visit. Specific, personal, and it converts because it's obviously not a mail-out.
- New services. If you've added something — EV chargers, battery work, a new capability — your past clients are the warmest audience there is.
- A seasonal tip that saves them money or trouble. Short, practical, and it earns the right to be in their inbox.
- Occasionally, an offer. A discount for booking in a quiet month is fine. It just can't be the only thing you ever send.
What to leave out: anything about how passionate your team is, anything you'd describe as content, and monthly newsletters you won't sustain. Four genuinely useful messages a year beats twelve filler ones.
The rules, briefly
Commercial electronic messages in Australia are covered by the Spam Act, administered by ACMA, and it applies to both email and SMS. The structure is simple enough to hold in your head:
- Have consent. Either given explicitly, or reasonably inferred from an existing business relationship. A client whose job you just did is a different case from a number you got from somewhere else. Where you're unsure, ask — a single question at the end of a job settles it.
- Identify yourself. Your business name and how to contact you, in every message. For SMS that means starting with who it's from, since you won't be in their contacts.
- Provide a way to unsubscribe. And honour it promptly. For email that's a link; for SMS it's a reply instruction. This is not optional and it's the part most commonly got wrong.
- Check the current guidance. ACMA publishes practical guidance on what counts as consent and what the requirements look like in practice. Have a read before you start sending marketing messages rather than after.
Messages purely about a job the client has engaged you for — confirming an appointment, saying you're on the way, sending an invoice — are ordinary business communication rather than marketing. The line matters, and the safe habit is to keep marketing messages clearly separate from job messages.
Getting them read
- Start an SMS with your name and business. Hi Sarah, it's Dave from Dawson Plumbing. Without it you're an unknown number.
- Keep texts to a couple of sentences with one clear thing to do.
- Write emails like a person, not a brochure. A short plain email from the tradie who did the job out-performs anything that looks designed.
- Send in business hours. A marketing text at 9pm on a Sunday undoes a lot of goodwill.
- Don't double up. If it went by email, don't text the same thing.
- Proofread. Typos in a message from a business read as carelessness, and carelessness is the last thing you want associated with your work.
ServiceYak keeps the client, the job history and what's installed on one record, so a service reminder can name their actual system and the date you were last there — and the review request can go out the moment the job is marked complete rather than a week later.
Frequently asked questions
Can I text or email my past clients about a special offer?
Only with consent, which can be express or reasonably inferred from an existing business relationship — and every message needs to identify your business and include a way to unsubscribe. That's the structure of the Spam Act, administered by ACMA. Read their current guidance before you start, since what counts as inferred consent is the part people get wrong.
How often should I contact past clients?
A few genuinely useful messages a year rather than a monthly newsletter you won't keep up. Service reminders, a heads-up when equipment you installed is ageing, and an occasional note about a new service are all welcome. Filler is what makes people unsubscribe.
Should I use SMS or email?
SMS for anything time-critical or one-tap — appointment reminders, on-my-way messages, review requests. Email for documents, detail and anything that isn't urgent. Never send a general offer or newsletter by text; it's the fastest way to lose a client's permission entirely.
Do appointment reminders count as marketing?
No. Messages about a job the client has engaged you for are ordinary business communication, not commercial electronic messages in the marketing sense. Keeping the two clearly separate — job messages on one hand, offers on the other — is the simplest way to stay on the right side of the line.