Message Your Clients

Overview

You can email clients from two places in Pawgress:

Where	Best for	Fields you can use
Sessions page	Anything about a specific session or class — schedule changes, what to bring, homework	First name, pet name, session time, location
Clients page	Messages that aren’t tied to one session — check-ins, announcements, new classes	First name, pet name

Each client gets their own copy, addressed to them. Clients never see who else received the message.

Before your first messageConnect your email account — Gmail or any provider over SMTP. Messages are sent from your own address.

Messaging From the Sessions Page

Every upcoming session has a send button (the paper-plane icon) on the right of its card.

A private session

Click the send button on the session card to message that client. The message opens with the session already attached, so the session time and location fields fill in automatically.

A group class

A group class card has its own send button:

Click it on the closed card to message every participant in the class
Expand the class to tick only some participants — the button then reads Message 3 selected
Each participant row also has its own send button, to message just that one client

Sessions page with a Puppy Foundations group class expanded, all five participants ticked, and send buttons on each row — Expand a group class to choose which participants to message

Rain-out? Message the whole class in one go.Open the class, pick the Class rescheduled template, and send. Every family gets a personal email with their own dog’s name and the class time filled in. See Message Templates.

Messaging From the Clients Page

Go to Clients and make sure you’re in List view
Click Message clients, or tick the checkbox next to any client
Tick everyone you want to message — a bar appears at the bottom showing who’s selected
Click Message N clients

Animation of a trainer ticking three clients on the Clients list and clicking Message 3 clients — Pick clients on the Clients list, then click Message

Your selection is kept as you page through the list, and clears when you change the search or stage filter. You can use the filters to narrow the list first — for example, filter to Completed to reach clients who’ve finished their package.

Messages sent from the Clients page aren’t tied to a session, so session time and location aren’t available. If your message uses them, Pawgress highlights the fields and asks you to remove them before sending.

Writing Your Message

The message panel has a Write and a Preview tab.

From and To

From shows the email account your message sends from. Click Change to switch accounts on the Integrations page.
To lists everyone the message is for. Untick anyone you want to leave out.

Message panel Write tab showing the From account, the To list with an Unsubscribed badge, the subject, and a message using first name and pet name fields — Write your message, choose who gets it, and insert fields

Some recipients may carry a badge:

Badge	Meaning
No email	No email address on file — add one on their client page
Unavailable	They’re no longer your client
Unsubscribed	They opted out of promotional email (service messages still reach them)
No consent	No consent for promotional email on record

If a client has more than one dog, a picker next to their name lets you choose which pet {pet name} refers to, or All of them. When you message from a session, the session’s own dog is always used.

Kind of message

Choose Service message for updates about bookings, sessions, or training, or Promotional message if any part of it promotes classes, packages, or offers. Service is the default. See Service vs. Promotional Messages for how to choose and who can receive promotions.

Subject and message

Write your subject and message as plain text. Line breaks and blank lines are kept, and web links you type become clickable. To start from a saved message, click Choose a template or Browse. See Message Templates.

Personalize with fields

Click Insert to add a field that fills in for each recipient:

Field	Fills in with
`{first name}`	The client’s first name
`{pet name}`	Their dog’s name
`{session time}`	The session’s date and time (Sessions page only)
`{location}`	The session’s location (Sessions page only)

So “Hi {first name}, please bring a towel for {pet name}” reaches Sarah as “Hi Sarah, please bring a towel for Biscuit.”

Attachments

Drop files onto the Attachments area, click browse, or click add a link.

Files: PDFs, images (JPEG, PNG, WebP), and Word documents (.docx) — up to 10 MB each and 16 MB per message
Links: up to 10, such as a YouTube video. Links show as cards in the email; videos get a play button.

Images appear right inside the email. Documents are attached so clients can download them.

Previewing Before You Send

Click the Preview tab to see exactly what your client will receive, with every field filled in. If you’re messaging several people, use the arrows to step through each recipient’s version.

Preview tab showing an email to Alex Chen with session time, pet name and location filled in, plus a video link and a PDF attachment — The preview shows the real email, with each field filled in for that client

The filled-in fields are highlighted in the preview so you can check them at a glance — the highlight doesn’t appear in the delivered email.

Sending

Click Send to Alex (or Send to 5 clients). If some recipients can’t receive this kind of message, the button tells you — for example Send to 4 of 5. Large sends go out in the background. You can close the panel; Pawgress lets you know when it’s done:

Message sent — everyone got it
Message sent with problems — open the message to see who didn’t get it and why
Sending paused — your email provider asked Pawgress to slow down (it resumes on its own in a few minutes), or your email account needs reconnecting

Send result showing a message sent to several clients, with one recipient not sent — Pawgress tells you when a message has gone out, and who didn't get it

With Gmail, sent messages also show up in your Sent folder, just like any email you send yourself. Over SMTP, whether a copy is kept in Sent depends on your provider — many don’t keep one.

Example email: Class moved to Thursday, Oct 8, from Jamie Moreau at Sunny Side K9, with a PDF schedule attached — What your client receives — from you, with your branding and their details

“We can’t confirm these went out”

Occasionally a connection drops at the exact moment an email is handed to your provider, and Pawgress can’t tell whether it was sent. Those recipients are listed separately. Check your Sent folder first (or ask the client) — if the email went out, there’s nothing to do. Only click Send again anyway if it isn’t, or the client may get two copies.

Replies

Replies go straight to your own inbox — Pawgress never sees them. Every email ends with a note telling your client “Questions? Just reply to this email — it goes straight to Jamie” (with your first name).

Limits

Limit	Amount
Recipients per message	100
Emails per day	300 (rolling 24 hours, counted per recipient)
Attachment size	10 MB per file, 16 MB per message
Files per message	10
Links per message	10

These keep your own email account in good standing — Gmail and most providers slow down or block accounts that send in bulk.

Troubleshooting

The send button is greyed out

Check that:

At least one recipient is ticked and can receive the message
The subject and message aren’t empty
There are no highlighted session fields on a message from the Clients page
For a service message flagged as possibly promotional, you’ve ticked This message has no promotional content or switched to Promotional message

”Messaging is paused on your account”

Messaging is paused automatically if many of your messages are rejected by email providers in a short time. Contact support to restore it.

Additional Help

Email: support@pawgress.ca
In-app: Click Support in the navigation

Overview

Getting Started

Scheduling

Messaging

Integration

Billing

Overview