Reminder Settings
Settings > Reminders is where you configure the automatic reminders Conductly sends to families -- lesson reminders and past-due payment reminders -- and choose whether each goes out by email, text message, or both.
Lesson Reminders
Turn on the Send lesson reminders switch, then choose when reminders go out and how:
| Reminder | Timing options | Delivery |
|---|---|---|
| Advance | 1, 2, 3 days, or 1 week before the lesson, sent at a clock time you choose (8 AM to 8 PM, default 5:00 PM) | Email, Text, or both |
| Same day | 1, 2, 3, 4, or 6 hours before the lesson | Email, Text, or both |
The Advance reminder goes out at the time you pick, not relative to the lesson's own start time -- so a 7 PM lesson doesn't produce a 7 PM text the night before. Pick a day count from the first dropdown and a send hour from the second.
Each row has its own Email and Text toggle, so you can send the advance reminder by email only and the same-day reminder by text only, for example -- or any other combination.
If a family has more than one enrolled student with a lesson due in the same reminder, they get one text listing every lesson instead of a separate text per child. This only applies to the automatic text reminder -- email always stays one message per lesson.
Reminders are addressed to the student and their guardians. The wording is editable:
- Edit email message opens the Lesson reminder system email template (see Email Templates).
- Edit text message opens the Lesson reminder (SMS) system text template (see SMS Templates).
Conductly skips the reminder for an occurrence already given a Missed (no show) or Missed (with notice) label (see Creating Events) -- including if you label it ahead of time, such as when a family calls to say they'll miss next week's lesson. Makeup, Trial, and Attended lessons, and lessons with no label, still get reminders as usual.
Payment Reminders
Turn on the Send payment reminders switch, then choose which overdue milestones trigger a reminder -- each with its own Email and Text toggle:
- 3 days overdue
- 7 days overdue
- 14 days overdue
- 30 days overdue
Reminders only go to families for invoices you've actually sent. An invoice that was finalized but never emailed to the family won't trigger reminders, even if it becomes overdue -- Conductly won't chase a customer for a bill they never received. If a family isn't getting past-due reminders you expected, confirm the invoice was sent (its status should be Waiting for payment or later, not Open).
Payment reminder wording isn't customizable yet -- both the email and text versions use fixed copy naming the invoice and how many days it's overdue.
Most schools enable the 3-day and 14-day reminders at minimum, across both channels.
Payment Reminders don't charge anything -- they just notify. If you also want overdue invoices to accrue an automatic charge, see Late Fees (Settings > Invoices > Late fees).
Tax and the optional credit card surcharge are configured on Invoice Settings (Settings > Invoices). The payment gateway and payment toggles are configured on Payment Settings (Settings > Payments).
How Text Reminders Are Delivered
- Quiet hours -- Texts only send between 8 AM and 9 PM in your school's timezone. For lesson reminders, a text due before 8 AM waits and goes out at 8 AM instead of being skipped -- it's only dropped if there's no time left to send before the lesson starts. Payment reminders don't get this delay: one due outside the 8 AM-9 PM window is skipped for that cycle, not sent later.
- Opt-out (STOP / START) -- Every reminder text ends with a way to opt out. Families can reply STOP to stop receiving texts and START to resume. A family can also decline text messages on your registration form's Communication Preferences question. Once someone has opted out, the only ways to restore their consent are their own START reply, or an admin explicitly re-enabling SMS on their student or guardian page -- a new registration form submission can never silently re-subscribe someone who already opted out.
- No phone number on file -- Text messages need a mobile number. A family without one simply won't receive the text portion of a reminder; if you also have Email enabled for that reminder, they'll still get the email.
- Outbound only -- Like all Conductly SMS, reminder texts are one-way. Replies other than STOP/START get an automatic "this number is not monitored" response.
Recent Text Delivery
The bottom of the Reminders page shows how your reminder texts are actually landing, over the last 30 days:
- Delivered, Not delivered, and In progress counts
- A list of the most recent texts, each with the destination number, the reminder type, its status, and (for failures) an error message and code
Texts that repeatedly fail to reach every recipient usually mean carrier filtering rather than a bad phone number. If failures don't clear up, contact Conductly support.
Best Practices
- Turn on both channels for your most important reminder. An advance lesson reminder or a 3-day payment reminder reaches more families when it goes out by email and text.
- Keep phone numbers current. Text reminders only reach families with a mobile number on file.
- Check Recent Text Delivery after enabling SMS reminders for the first time. It's the fastest way to confirm texts are actually reaching families rather than being carrier-filtered.