Date automations: birthdays, anniversaries and renewal reminders

A date automation sends one text a year (or once, for a one-time date) on a date saved on each contact. For example:

• On their birthday: “Happy birthday, Maria! From all of us here.”
• On their work anniversary: “5 years with us today. Thank you, Maria!”
• 14 days before their license renewal: “Hi Maria, your license renews on March 5, 2027. Please send us the new copy.”

Date automations are for your staff, such as employees or caregivers, who agreed to get these texts. Texts to customers or clients, and deals or offers, aren’t available here yet.

Before you start

• You need a texting number that Dial Raven has turned on.
• You need a list of the staff who should get the texts. Make one on the Contacts page.
• Each person needs the date saved on their contact (see below). People on the list without a date are simply skipped.

Add the dates

Every company starts with two dates: Birthday and Work anniversary.

• One person: on Contacts, click the person’s name. In the Dates card, pick the month and day (and the year, where there’s a year box), then click Save dates.
• From a file: on Contacts → Import contacts, choose which column holds each date. See Import contacts.
• Your own dates: in the Dates card, click Manage dates. Under Add a date, type a name (like License renewal), pick the Kind, and click Add date. You can have up to 10.

The three kinds of date:

Kind	Good for
Every year, no year saved	Birthdays. Only the month and day are kept, even if you type or import a year.
Every year, year optional	Work anniversaries. Add the start year if you want the text to say how many years.
One date, with a year	Renewals and expiry dates. The text goes out once, for that date.

Saving or importing a date never sends a text.

Set up the text

1. In the menu on the left, click Automations, then click the Dates tab.
2. Click New automation.
3. Under What’s it for?, give it a name only you see, like Staff birthdays, and pick the Type of text:
   • Birthday or greeting goes out on the day itself.
   • Reminder can go out on the day or a number of days before it. Type the number under Days before the date (0 means the day itself, up to 365).
4. Under Which date?, pick the Date the text follows. The line under it says when the text goes out, like “7 days before their license renewal”.
5. Under Who gets it?, pick the number to Send from and the list under Only people on this list.
6. Under When?, pick a Send at time between 9:00 AM and 7:30 PM in your company’s time zone. Noon is the default.
7. Write the Message. Click the buttons under it to fill in each person’s details:
   • {first_name}, {last_name} and {company_name} work in every text.
   • {years} (work anniversaries) fills in how many years, when a start year is saved.
   • {date} (one-time dates) fills in the date, like “March 5, 2027”.
8. Check the Preview on the right.
9. Under Check before saving, tick the box to confirm everyone on the list is on your staff and agreed to get these texts.
10. Click Save automation.

Saving doesn’t send anything. Click Turn on at the top of the automation’s page when you’re ready.

See what’s coming and what went out

The automation’s page shows:

• Delivered and Sent for its latest 100 texts, On this list, and On the list with no date (people who won’t get it until you add their date).
• Next up (30 days): who gets a text and on which day. It’s worked out each time you open the page, so changes to the list or the dates show right away.
• Send log: each text and what happened to it, like Delivered, Waiting to send or the reason it was skipped.

Pause, change or delete

• Pause: click Pause at the top of the page. Texts waiting to go out are canceled, and days missed while it’s paused aren’t sent later.
• Change it: edit under Edit and click Save changes.
• Delete: at the bottom of the page, click Delete automation, then Yes, delete it. Texts already sent stay in your Inbox. Texts waiting to go out are canceled.

Good to know

• Texts never go out late. If a text can’t go out on its day, it’s skipped, and the Send log says why. If whole days were missed, the page shows a Some days were missed notice.
• Turning it on after today’s send time means the first texts go out tomorrow.
• One text per person, per date, per year, even if you correct their date or import them again.
• Born on February 29? Their birthday text goes out on February 28 in other years.
• Opt-outs: “Reply STOP to opt out.” is always added, and people who opted out never get these texts.
• Monthly limit: each text counts toward your plan’s monthly texts. If you reach your limit, a text waits until the end of its day and is then skipped.
• No health information: don’t put health details, diagnoses, care plans, medications or visit information in these texts. Texting isn’t HIPAA compliant.