Creating a Mass SMS (Text Message).

There may be multiple scenarios where you need to send a mass SMS message. This could be for upcoming appointments where you want to remind clients about new policies, to bring certain items, it could be to remind clients about possibly expired or missing required vaccinations prior to their drop-off day or more. Please see below for instructions. 

(PAID ADD-ON) - Note that this feature requires an add-on to your Kennel Connection software. Please contact our Client Success team at 888-486-4343 option 1 or by email at sales@kennelconnection.com to get setup to use this great new feature!

Once subscribed:

From your KC Cloud or Live Access portal: 

Click "Messaging"

Click "Mass Text & Marketing"

Click "Create/Send Mass SMS"

Step 1. Create your Message Content

Click to create new message header in the Message Name box then type out your message. 

Click the Add Variable to Message box if you'd like to include data tags.

You can add as many data tags as you'd like to fully customize the message for each client.

A data tag is a placeholder used within a message or template that automatically pulls in specific information from your system.

Instead of manually typing details each time, a data tag dynamically inserts the correct information when the message is sent.

For example:

• [[ClientFirstName]] will automatically insert the client’s first name.

• [[PetName]] will populate the pet’s name.

• [[InDate]] will insert the scheduled appointment date.

• [[VaccineExpiredList]] will insert a comma separated list of expired vaccines and their expiration dates.

Data tags are commonly used in emails, SMS messages, invoices, and reminders to personalize communication while saving time and reducing errors.

Step 2. Choose Which Clients to Send to 

You can choose to select individual clients by choosing manually. Hit the choose button and it will bring up a screen for you to search your client records.

Click Add and it will add this client to the selected clients section. Hit Update Selection when done.

You can also select to send to clients with appointments based on certain criteria. 

In this example I want to send this message to all boarding clients with appointments between 3/1/2026 and 3/31/26, with pets that have a vaccination staus of any missing or expired and appointment status of Not Checked In Yet.

This is a helpful way to make sure clients with upcoming appointments in the selected date range have current vaccines before their visit.

We are focusing on appointments marked Not Checked In Yet to confirm everything is up to date prior to arrival. You can also include other statuses such as waitlist, cancelled, checked in, checked out, or not confirmed, depending on your needs.

In this next example, we are filtering for appointments that do not have a Bath departure service and/or a Furminator service.

We are leaving the other filters as Any Module (boarding, daycare, grooming, special services) and a vaccination staus of Any between 3/1 and 3/31. This way we can ensure we are isolating a larger pool of clients.

We can also filter by clients who are new or havent been in recently.

The first bubble allows for filtering of clients who have not had an appointment for a particular module during a specific date range.

In this example, we are searching for clients who do not have an appointment for any module (boarding, daycare, grooming, special services) in the month of April 2026 but they have had an appointment before in the year of 2025.

Here, we are looking to send a message to new clients who have never had a grooming appointment.

In this case, we want to send a message to clients who have boarding appointments scheduled but do not currently have any daycare appointments.

This filter can be used to promote your daycare program to boarding clients and encourage them to try daycare as an additional service.

3. Review Clients that will Receive Messages

See how many clients your filter is including. It will also show if any clients do not have valid SMS numbers, have opted out of SMS, and allows you to export the client list to an Excel sheet.

4. Confirm and Send 

Click Preview and Send to send your message out.



Send Message

Quick Tip: 

You can save your templates for future use.

Once you save a template, navigate back to the Mass SMS Home page and click the Templates tab.

Here you can see any saved templates and create more.

Click into a template to edit. Update Existing Template when done.

If you'd like to use an already exiting template, go back to the home page and click Create/Send Mass SMS button.

Click Create New and view your templates from the drop down.