Note: SimpleConnect is currently in Beta, and we're not adding more stores at this time. Watch the What's New section at the top of SimpleConsign for updates on availability.
Applies to: SimpleConsign accounts with the SimpleConnect add-on. US customers only. SimpleConnect is not available for customers located in Canada or other countries at this time.
SimpleConnect is the marketing and reputation tool built into SimpleConsign. It uses the customer, consignor, and inventory data already in your store to send email campaigns, send and receive text messages, and collect and manage your online reviews, all from inside your existing SimpleConsign account.
There is nothing to migrate. You do not create a separate login and you do not import your customer list. You reach SimpleConnect from inside SimpleConsign, and your data flows in automatically through the integration.
New to marketing your store? Once you've read how SimpleConnect is set up, jump to Marketing 101 below for real examples of campaigns that work, and how to get the most out of every text, email, and review request.
In this article
- What's included
- Plans and pricing
- Getting access
- Who can use SimpleConnect
- What data syncs from SimpleConsign
- Marketing and transactional messages
- Communication preferences
- Messaging a customer from their profile
- Marketing 101: getting results with SimpleConnect
- Where to go next
- Frequently asked questions
What's included
SimpleConnect has three parts. Every plan includes all three. Plans differ only in how many emails and text segments you get each month.
| Tool | Where to find it | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| SnapSMS System | Marketing menu | Two-way SMS. Hold individual conversations, send to groups, send outbound marketing blasts, schedule messages, and build mobile landing pages. |
| Pistachio Email Marketing | Marketing menu | Build segmented lists from your store data, design emails from pre-built templates, and send one-off campaigns or behavior-triggered automations. |
| Reputation Management | Its own menu | Request reviews after checkout, bring your Google, Yelp, and Facebook reviews into one dashboard, respond manually or automatically, and embed approved reviews on your website or social posts. |
Alongside those you will find Clients, Team, Setup, and Billing and Top-ups in the navigation.
Plans and pricing
SimpleConnect comes in three plans. All three include SnapSMS, Pistachio Email Marketing, and Reputation Management. The only difference is how many emails and text segments you get each month.
| Plan | Monthly price |
|---|---|
| Essentials | $49 |
| Growth | $69 |
| Pro | $79 |
Pricing is per location and is added to your existing SimpleConsign bill. An active SimpleConsign subscription is required.
Your monthly allowance and how much of it you have used is shown in the upper right of each platform: an email count in Pistachio and a segment counter in SnapSMS. If you run out before the month ends, you can buy a one-time top-up without changing plans:
| Top-up | Amount | Price |
|---|---|---|
| 500 additional emails | $1.25 | |
| 1,000 additional emails | $2.50 | |
| SMS | 500 additional segments | $4.50 |
| SMS | 1,000 additional segments | $9.00 |
See SimpleConnect Billing and Top-ups for how usage is counted, how to track it, and who on your team can purchase a top-up.
Getting access
SimpleConnect is added to your SimpleConsign subscription as an add-on. Once the add-on is active, a SimpleConnect button appears in SimpleConsign for users who have permission to use it. Clicking it signs you straight in. There is no second account and no second password.
The first few minutes after you sign up
When your add-on is activated, your store data begins syncing so that SimpleConnect has your customer and consignor list ready to go. This usually takes a few minutes.
If you open SimpleConnect right away and see a message saying your data is still syncing, that is expected. Give it a few minutes and try again. You do not need to manually upload your client list.
Who can use SimpleConnect
Access follows the same permission structure as Store Insights in SimpleConsign.
| Role | SimpleConnect access |
|---|---|
| Admin | Always has access. This cannot be removed. |
| Manager | Can be granted access by an admin. |
| Cashier | Cannot be granted access. |
Because only admins can grant manager access, an owner who wants to keep marketing in a small number of hands can do that by controlling which managers receive the permission.
Purchasing top-ups is separate. Only users who have billing permissions in SimpleConsign can buy additional email or SMS top-ups.
What data syncs from SimpleConsign
SimpleConnect brings in and keeps current:
- Your client and consignor list, including names, email addresses, and phone numbers
- Whether each phone number is a mobile number
- Opt-in status for both email and text
- Purchase and consignment history, which powers list building and automations, including spend totals, brands bought, reward points, store credit, last transaction date, and last consignment date
- Your store details, including business name, business email, and location coordinates, which are used in signatures, templates, and map links
SimpleConsign is the system of record. Information flows from SimpleConsign into SimpleConnect. The only thing that flows back the other way is opt-in status. If a customer's name, email address, or phone number needs to change, change it in SimpleConsign.
Marketing and transactional messages
SimpleConnect separates your communications into two kinds, and the distinction runs through the whole product.
| Marketing | Transactional | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Messages designed to promote, upsell, or encourage a new purchase or visit | Messages needed to complete or service a transaction or account the contact already has with you |
| Examples | Rewards, promotions, new arrivals, sales, events | Account creation notices, receipts, one-to-one replies to a customer's question |
| Consent | Requires a marketing opt-in, and always includes an unsubscribe option | Separate from marketing consent |
Text messages send from two different numbers. Your location is assigned a transactional number and a marketing number during onboarding, and both are shown in SnapSMS under Settings on the General tab.
Keeping them separate keeps the two kinds of consent separate. Someone can opt out of your promotional texts while continuing to receive the service messages they want, and opting out of one does not affect the other.
When you build a group in SnapSMS you choose whether it is a marketing or a transactional group, which determines which number it sends from. Marketing sends are outbound only, and replies collect under Marketing Replies. See Snap SMS Messaging for the detail.
Communication preferences
Every customer and consignor profile has communication preferences controlling whether they can receive marketing email and marketing text messages from you. SimpleConnect only sends marketing to people who are opted in.
Where you can set them
- Customer profile. In the detail view, under Communication Preferences.
- Consignor profile. Same location.
- When adding a new customer at the terminal. The preferences appear as part of the new customer form.
- At checkout. When a customer is attached to a transaction, their preferences open automatically so they can be confirmed or updated as part of the conversation. Your cashier can collapse this section to get it out of the way.
- Consignor Access. Consignors and vendors can log in and manage their own preferences.
How opt-in works when you add contact information
These two behave differently on purpose:
- Adding an email address opts the customer in to marketing email automatically.
- Adding a phone number does not opt them in to marketing text messages. Someone has to select that option deliberately. This is a legal requirement, because SMS marketing consent has to be given rather than assumed.
If a customer opts out
- Email. They click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any campaign. No action is needed on your end. They are marked as unsubscribed automatically.
- Text. They reply STOP or OUT to any message. Every message you send includes the reply STOP instruction automatically.
- Either one. They update their own preferences in Consignor Access.
To opt back in to text messages, the customer has to text the word START to your assigned texting number from their own mobile device. That is the only reliable path, and it has to come from them.
Anyone at cashier level or above can update opt-in preferences in SimpleConsign, and changes are recorded with a last-updated timestamp.
Messaging a customer from their profile
On customer and consignor profiles, the email address and phone number are clickable. Click either one and SimpleConnect opens in a new tab with a message to that person ready to compose: an email if you clicked the email address, a text if you clicked the phone number.
This is the fastest way to send a one-off message to a single person without building a list first.
Marketing 101: getting results with SimpleConnect
The tools are easy to learn. Knowing what to send, and to whom, is what makes them pay off. This section walks through the basics, with examples you can borrow for your own store.
Start with two questions: who and what
Every message you send, text or email, comes down to two questions:
- Who is my audience? Everyone, or a specific group like consignors who haven't been in lately?
- What do I need to send? A quick reminder, a promotion, new arrivals, a request for a review?
For simple one-to-one messages, like letting a consignor know their items are ready for pickup, there isn't much to plan. Find the person, type your message, and send it.
Group messages and marketing campaigns take a little more thought. The closer your message matches the people receiving it, the better it performs.
Why "send it to everyone" usually isn't the answer: people who keep getting messages that don't apply to them stop opening them. With email, that can also push your messages into promotions or spam folders over time. A smaller, well-matched audience almost always gets a better response than a big blast.
Text or email?
Both tools work the same basic way, so the choice often comes down to your data and your message.
| Text (SnapSMS) | Email (Pistachio) | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Short, timely messages people read right away | Longer content, images, and designed campaigns |
| Length | Short. Every 160 characters is one segment toward your plan | Room for images, buttons, and multiple sections |
| Who you can reach | Contacts with a mobile number who are opted in to marketing texts | Contacts with an email address who are opted in to marketing email |
| Example | "Your items sold! Your payout is ready. Stop by anytime this week." | A seasonal newsletter showing new brands, with a link to your consignment guidelines |
Look at what you actually have on file. Some stores collect more phone numbers, others more email addresses, and some customers will share one but not the other. If you collect both, you can choose the best channel for each message.
Build a targeted audience
Both SnapSMS and Pistachio include a List Builder that pulls people straight from your SimpleConsign data, so there's no exporting or spreadsheet cleanup. Choose criteria such as rewards points, store credit, total spent, last transaction date, last consignment date, or brands bought, and the system finds everyone who matches. Opted-out contacts are left out automatically.
Your count may be lower than you expect. On top of matching your criteria, each person needs a mobile number (for texts) or email address (for email) and an active marketing opt-in. Anyone missing either is left out on purpose.
Example: a consignor "come back" campaign. This is one of the most valuable campaigns a consignment store can run. Many consignors bring in items every two to three months, so a friendly nudge at around 90 days can bring them back before they drift away:
- Audience: consignors whose last consignment date is more than 90 days ago
- Message: "The seasons are changing! Time to swap out what's not fitting or not getting worn? We'd love to see what you bring in."
Get more specific with email. In Pistachio, the Advanced option in the List Builder lets you stack conditions, for example consignors and consigned brand is Gucci and last consignment date is before a certain date. That's a precise way to ask past designer handbag consignors to bring in more.
Build a fresh SnapSMS group each time. A SnapSMS List Builder group is a snapshot of who matched at the moment you built it. It doesn't update on its own. If you want to reach "the same list" a few weeks later, build a new group first so you're working with current data.
Keep texts short and worth it
Because every 160 characters counts as a segment (including the "Reply STOP to unsubscribe" line added to every message), text length is a cost decision as well as a writing one.
- Less is more. Write something a customer can read in a few seconds and act on.
- Think about return on investment. A long, multi-segment text sent to 50 people that gets two replies uses a lot of segments for very little. A shorter message, or a link to more details, usually works better.
- Save marketing texts for things that matter. Texting your whole list every day or two wears people out. Send when you have something they'll value.
Use Page Builder when you need more room
When you need more than a text can hold, like photos of new arrivals or buttons people can tap, use Page Builder in SnapSMS. It creates a simple mobile-friendly web page (often called a landing page) with images, text, and buttons that can open a website, start a phone call, or open a social media page. No website designer needed.
Then send a short text with the page's link:
"New handbag arrivals just hit the floor! Take a look: [your page link]"
The link uses some characters, but your customer sees all of your content for the cost of a short text. Use Copy Link in the Page Builder list to grab the link.
Just pointing people to your website or social page? You don't need Page Builder for that. Paste the full link (starting with https://) into your text. Page Builder is the better choice when the content isn't already on your website or social media.
Example: an "always up to date" new arrivals page. Build one page for your newest arrivals and keep editing and saving that same page. The link never changes. Send one text like "Save this link! We'll keep it updated with our newest arrivals, so check back anytime," and customers see your latest updates every time they reopen it.
Save time with keywords, auto-replies, and templates
These SnapSMS settings keep texting consistent and take work off your staff.
- Keywords send an automatic reply when someone texts a specific word. End a marketing text with "Text SALE for details" and the number of people who text SALE back shows you how well the message worked. Keywords like HOURS or LOCATION can also answer common questions automatically.
- Auto-replies respond when you're closed or busy, for example: "We're currently closed. Someone will get back to you the next business day." They're a great idea while you're getting started and not checking messages often. If your team answers texts throughout the day, you may not need them.
- Templates save messages you send often, like a reminder that items are nearing their end date. They also keep wording consistent when several staff members send texts.
Keep in mind: keyword responses and auto-replies are texts too, so they count toward your segments.
Example: staying in the loop when you're away. Owners and managers can turn on email alerts in SnapSMS Settings > Alerts to get an email when a new text comes in, or when a conversation wraps up. It's a handy way to keep an eye on things while you're traveling, or to see how quickly your team is responding when you first start texting, without logging in.
Email basics: subject line, timing, and frequency
Email adds one more question to who and what: when. Most of the extra effort goes into three things.
The subject line. It decides whether an email is opened or deleted, and on most phones people only see the first few words.
- Keep it short and clear.
- Skip all capitals and extra punctuation. Those raise your spam score.
- Stuck? The built-in AI subject line tool offers suggestions.
- Check your spam score before you send. Lower is better. Green means you're good to go, yellow or orange means reconsider your wording, and red means the email will likely land in spam.
The timing. Think about your customers and your store's traffic. Some stores send just before their busiest days, others send during slower stretches to draw people in. When you schedule a campaign, the AI suggestion recommends a send time based on when people tend to open their email.
The frequency. When people keep deleting your emails without opening them, providers like Gmail and Outlook start treating them as promotions, and eventually as spam. Send fewer, better emails.
Before you send, test it. The template audit flags problems as you build, like a button with no link. On the final step, send yourself a test email and click every button to make sure it works.
Let automations do the reminding
Pistachio Automations email customers for you based on their behavior. Once one is turned on, the system checks your data every day and emails anyone who newly meets the criteria. Pre-built options include We Miss You, Refer a Friend, Review Us, Amount Spent, Retail Purchased, Reward Points, Store Credit, Days Last Purchases, and Days Last Consignment.
A few ways stores put automations to work:
- Put the consignor "come back" reminder on autopilot. Instead of building the 90-day consignor list by hand every few weeks, set up a Days Last Consignment automation at 90 days. Each consignor gets the reminder right when they hit that mark.
- Remind customers about money they already have with you. A Store Credit automation can nudge customers once their credit reaches an amount you choose, like "You have store credit waiting! Come find something new."
- Celebrate your best customers. Amount Spent or Reward Points automations can send a thank-you or special offer when someone reaches a spending or loyalty milestone.
- Win back quiet shoppers. We Miss You reaches customers who haven't made a purchase in 30, 45, 60, or 90 days, which is a good moment to highlight new arrivals.
An automation keeps sending until you turn it off, so check in on yours from time to time and update any template that mentions a season, sale, or price that's no longer current.
Plan ahead with scheduling
Both SnapSMS and Pistachio let you write messages now and schedule them for later. A good habit: set aside one day to build your marketing for the next two or three months, then schedule it all. You can still edit or delete a scheduled message any time before it sends.
Check your results
- Email: check open rate, click-to-open rate, delivery rate, bounces (addresses that couldn't receive the email), and opt-outs. The numbers keep updating as people open the email, so look again a day or two later. If opens are low, try a different send time or subject line next time.
- Text: SnapSMS reports show messages sent and received, opt-ins and opt-outs, and any texts that couldn't be delivered, with the reason. The duplicate phone number report flags numbers shared by more than one customer, like family members, so you can clean up your records in SimpleConsign.
Turn happy customers into reviews
Reviews are marketing too.
- Make it easy to leave one. Reputation Management can send a review request by email or text after checkout, with an automatic follow-up. To review you on Google, a customer needs a Google account, and the same goes for Facebook and Yelp. Plenty of customers use Outlook, Yahoo, or work email addresses, so a Google-only link leaves them out. Your own review form lets anyone leave a review.
- Respond quickly, even when you're busy. A negative review that sits for days can do real damage. Set up automatic responses for positive and negative reviews, with the AI agent or your own wording, so every reviewer hears back by email right away.
- Show off your best reviews. Share your reviews page link on your website or social media ("See what our customers and consignors are saying!"). Mark reviews Approved or Disapproved to choose which ones appear there.
- See what people are saying. AI-Powered Feedback shows your positive, neutral, and negative sentiment and the words customers mention most, so you can see what they value about your store.
Quick recap: Decide who you're sending to and what they need to hear. Use the List Builder to target the right people, keep texts short and link to a Page Builder page when you need more room, give emails a clear subject line and a smart send time, and let automations and scheduling handle the reminders. Then check your results, ask for reviews, and respond quickly.
Where to go next
- Snap SMS Messaging, for contacts, groups, messaging, marketing replies, and Page Builder
- Pistachio Email Marketing, for lists, templates, campaigns, and automations
- Reputation Management, for review requests, responses, and your review dashboards
- SimpleConnect Billing and Top-ups, for plans, usage, and buying more sends
- SimpleConnect FAQ: How do I...?, for quick step-by-step answers to common questions
Frequently asked questions
I'm not receiving SMS texts. Why is that?
Start with the customer's profile in SimpleConsign. Open Communication Preferences and confirm the customer is opted in to marketing SMS. Adding a phone number to a profile does not opt someone in by itself, so this is the most common cause.
If they are opted in and still not receiving messages, check two more things:
- The number on file needs to be a mobile number. The sync checks this, and a landline will not be textable.
- Run the SMS error report in SnapSMS for the day you sent. If a message to that number failed, the report shows the reason, such as an unreachable handset or a number no longer in service. This report does not run on its own, so you have to open it and run it.
What does it look like when a customer opts out?
When a customer replies STOP or OUT to a text message, they are automatically opted out in SnapSMS and stop receiving messages. In SimpleConsign, the marketing SMS preference on their profile turns off, with a last-updated timestamp.
You can see your opted-out contacts at any time. In SnapSMS, go to Contacts and Groups, where the tiles across the top show your total contacts, your opted-in count, and your opted-out count. The tiles are clickable. You can also export your opt-out list as a CSV if you need to cross-reference it.
Email unsubscribes appear the same way in the Pistachio audience area.
If a customer asks to opt back in:
- Give them your assigned texting number and ask them to text the word START from the mobile phone they want to receive messages on.
- Once that text arrives, it re-triggers their opt-in and they can receive texts again.
- Confirm the change under your opted-in contacts, or by checking Communication Preferences on their profile.
The customer has to send that text themselves. Importing them again will not bring them back in, because the system cross-references your import against existing opt-outs and excludes anyone already opted out.
If I delete a customer from SimpleConnect, does it delete them from SimpleConsign?
No. Deleting a contact from the texting system removes them from that platform only. It does not delete them from SimpleConsign or from your software.
Only opt-in status syncs from SimpleConnect back to SimpleConsign. SimpleConsign remains the system of record for account information, so if a customer's details need to change, make the change there and it will sync across.
How do I view the SMS numbers I've purchased for SimpleConnect?
Both numbers are shown in SnapSMS, under Settings, on the General tab. You will see your assigned transactional number and your assigned marketing number listed there.
These are individual to your location and are assigned during onboarding, so they are not editable.
Your transactional number is the one customers reply to in a two-way conversation, and the one they text START to if they want to opt back in.
Why do I have a separate SMS number for marketing and transactional messages?
Separate numbers keep the two kinds of consent separate. A customer may want transactional messages about their account without wanting promotional messages, and separate numbers allow for that. Someone can opt out of marketing texts while continuing to receive the account notifications they asked for, and opting out of one does not affect the other.
What counts as a marketing email or SMS message?
Anything designed to promote, upsell, or encourage a new purchase or a new visit. Examples include rewards and loyalty messages, promotions, sales and discount offers, new arrival announcements, and event invitations.
Marketing messages require a marketing opt-in and always include an unsubscribe option.
What counts as a transactional email or SMS message?
Anything necessary to complete or service a specific transaction or an account the contact already has with you. Examples include account creation notices, receipts and transaction confirmations, and one-to-one messages in response to a customer's question.
Transactional messages are not promotional. They tell the customer something about business they are already doing with you.
Do I need to import my customer list?
No. Your customer and consignor list syncs from SimpleConsign automatically and stays current. You can import a list if you have one from an outside source, such as a sign-up sheet from an event, but it is not required to get started.
Can I use SimpleConnect instead of a separate email platform?
Yes. Email, text, and reviews all live in one place, billed on your SimpleConsign account, using data that is already in your point of sale. For most stores it covers what a standalone email tool was doing.
Can I use just one part of it, such as email but not text?
Yes. All three tools are included in every plan, but nothing requires you to use all of them. Many stores start with reviews or email and add text later.
What is a segment?
A segment is how mobile carriers count text messages: 160 plain-text characters, including punctuation and spacing. A message longer than that uses more than one segment.
Both directions count. Outbound messages you send, inbound messages customers send you, and any automated replies all draw on your segment allowance.
What happens if I run out of emails or segments mid-month?
You can purchase a one-time top-up at any time without changing your plan, or move up to a higher plan if you are consistently running out. See SimpleConnect Billing and Top-ups.
Can my team see who sent a message?
Yes. In SnapSMS you can turn on show sent-by name in chat, which displays the logged-in user's name on each sent message inside your threads. This is visible to your team only. Customers never see it.
Where do replies to my marketing messages go?
- Text: replies to a marketing text land under Marketing Replies in SnapSMS, not in a regular conversation. To keep talking with that person, search for them in Messages and start a one-to-one conversation.
- Email: replies go to the reply-to address on the campaign, which is your store's business email.
Will my customers see the names I give my lists, groups, campaigns, and templates?
No. List names, group names, campaign names, and template names are all for your reference.
Can a customer and a consignor be the same person?
Yes, and that person may appear in more than one list. When you send an email campaign to multiple lists at once, duplicates are filtered out so nobody receives the same campaign twice. The same applies to duplicate phone numbers in a texting group.
Can I test SimpleConnect before sending to real customers?
Yes, and it is worth doing. You can send yourself a test email from inside any template, from the review request settings, and from the final step of campaign creation. For text, send a message to your own phone.
Is my sending domain set up correctly?
Yes. Your business email is assigned during onboarding and is used as your from address. You do not need to do anything on your domain.
Do I have to connect Google, Yelp, and Facebook to use Reputation Management?
No. Connect only the platforms that matter to you. Many stores connect Google only. You can still send review requests through your own review form and manage everything that comes back.
Does SimpleConnect post to Google, Yelp, or Facebook on my behalf?
No. Reputation Management brings your reviews in so you can see and manage them in one place, and responses you send go to the reviewer by email. If you need to post a public reply on Google, Facebook, or Yelp, or dispute a review, you still do that on the platform itself.