How to Schedule a Text or Email for Later

The customer said call me Thursday. Write the message now, pick Thursday at ten, and move on to the next customer. The CRM sends it on time.

1. Open the customer's conversation

   For a text, click Messaging in the main menu and open the customer's thread. For an email, open the Email Inbox from the Email menu and open the customer's conversation. You can also start from the lead and open its text or email thread from there.

2. Click the schedule button in the conversation header

   In a text thread, click the clock button marked TEXT, whose tooltip reads Schedule TEXT Follow-up. In an email conversation, click the clock button marked Email, whose tooltip reads Schedule Email; on the single email view the same button reads Schedule Email Follow-up. A scheduling window opens with the customer's number or address already in To.

3. Write the message

   Pick a saved template to fill the message, or type your own. For an email, fill in the Subject as well. The vehicle button drops a unit from your inventory into the message with its photos and price, and the AI writing assistant can draft or tidy the wording for you.

4. Choose the date and time

   Click into Schedule and pick the day and time the customer should receive the message. Use the time the customer asked for when they gave you one, and a reasonable hour of their day when they did not.

5. Save and schedule it

   Click Save and Schedule. A confirmation appears and the window closes. The message waits and goes out at the time you chose, from the store's texting number or email address, and lands on the customer's thread and timeline when it sends.

6. Schedule a voicemail the same way

   In a text thread, click the phone button marked Voicemail, whose tooltip reads Schedule Voicemail. Choose one of your recorded voicemails, set the time in Schedule:, and click Save and Schedule. The recorded message is left for the customer at that time.

You need a login to the desktop LeadLocate CRM and a customer with a mobile number for a text, an email address for an email, or both. Scheduling works from the same conversation screens you already use: the two way texting inbox under Messaging and the email inbox and composer under Email. For a scheduled voicemail, record your voicemail first in the Voicemail Drop library so it is ready to choose; how to drop a voicemail covers the recording.

Saved templates make scheduling faster. If your store has written its follow up messages as templates, pick one in the scheduling window and adjust a word or two. The car sales follow up templates for call, text and email page is a good place to borrow wording from.

In LeadLocate CRM, yes, and it is built into the conversation rather than hidden in a separate tool. A rep who hears try me Thursday morning schedules the text while the customer is still on the line, and it goes out Thursday morning whether the rep is at a desk, on the lot or off that day. Texts, emails and voicemails can all be written now and scheduled for a later date and time.

Scheduling a message for one customer is different from a drip that runs on every lead. For a multi step sequence by lead type, use Follow Up Processes; for the text that fires the moment a lead arrives, use Automated Templates, both described on the Text Automation page. Use a scheduled send when a person promised a person something at a particular time.

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Prefer to talk right now? Call or text 844-376-2274.

After Save and Schedule, a short confirmation appears and you are back in the conversation. When the scheduled time arrives, the message goes out and appears in the thread like any other message you send: a text with its delivery status under the bubble, an email in the email conversation. It also lands on the lead's communication timeline, so anyone who opens the lead sees what was sent and when. If the customer replies, the reply arrives in the same thread and your normal reply alert tells you.

Check the number and address in To before you save. The window fills them from the conversation, so starting from the right thread is the whole trick.

Pick a time the customer will welcome. The time the customer asked for is always right. Otherwise choose a normal hour of their day, and remember that a customer in another time zone reads the message on their clock.

Give emails a subject. A scheduled email with a clear Subject gets opened; one that says follow up gets filed.

Keep the message current. Prices and availability can change between today and the send date. Mention the vehicle and invite the conversation, and let the rep who answers the reply confirm the numbers. For anything else, our support team can open the same screen with you and sort it out on the call.

Sending a text right now is covered in how to text a customer, and a vehicle in a message in how to send a vehicle in a text. Messages to a whole list at once are covered in how to send a bulk text and how to send a bulk email. Managers who want the phone side flagged as well can set call alert keywords. Every other guide is in the Help Center.

Can you schedule a text message in LeadLocate?

Yes. Open the customer's thread in Messaging, click the clock button with the tooltip Schedule TEXT Follow-up, write the message, pick a date and time and click Save and Schedule. It goes out at that time from the store's texting number.

How do I schedule an email to send later?

Open the conversation in the Email Inbox and click the clock button with the tooltip Schedule Email. Add a subject and message, choose the date and time in Schedule, and click Save and Schedule.

Can I schedule a voicemail too?

Yes. In a text thread, click Schedule Voicemail, choose one of your recorded voicemails, set the time and click Save and Schedule. The recording is left for the customer at that time.

Where does a scheduled message show after it sends?

In the customer's text or email conversation, like any message you send, and on the lead's communication timeline, so the whole team sees what went out and when.

Scheduled texts, emails and voicemails come with LeadLocate CRM on a month to month plan. Watch the recorded demo and schedule a message the way your reps will.

Prefer to talk right now? Call or text 844-376-2274.