Message Templates

What This Page Covers

How to create and manage message templates — the customizable content of emails and text messages sent to your customers when you send review flow requests and custom form requests.

What Are Message Templates?

Every time you send a review request or form request via email or SMS, FSRevs uses a message template to generate the content. FSRevs provides system default templates that work out of the box, but you can create custom templates to match your brand voice and communication style.

Channels

Templates exist for two delivery channels:

Channel	Used For
Email	Rich HTML emails with subject lines, formatting, and branding
SMS	Short text messages with links

Message Types (Tags)

Each template is tagged for a specific purpose:

Email Tags

Tag	When It’s Sent
Review Request	When you send a customer a review flow request via email
Review Reminder	When an automated follow-up reminder is sent for a review flow
Form Request	When you send a customer a custom form request via email

SMS Tags

Tag	When It’s Sent
Review Request SMS	When you send a review flow request via text message
Form Request SMS	When you send a custom form request via text message

Template Scoping

Templates can be scoped at three levels, from most specific to least:

Scope	Applies To
Per-Flow	A specific review flow or custom form only
Per-Location	All flows and forms at a specific location
Global	Everything — serves as the default for all locations and flows

When FSRevs sends a message, it looks for the most specific matching template. If no per-flow template exists, it checks for a per-location template. If neither exists, it falls back to the global template. If no custom global template exists, the system default is used.

Dynamic Variables

Templates use the Twig templating engine, which lets you insert dynamic content that’s automatically replaced with real values when the message is sent.

Email content uses a limited Rich Editor for emphasis, lists, and ordinary web links. It does not provide image blocks or managed Customer destinations. SMS templates remain plain text.

Available Variables

Customer

Variable	Output
`customer.full_name`	Customer’s full name
`customer.first_name`	First name
`customer.last_name`	Last name
`customer.first_initial`	First initial

Sender (person sending the request)

Variable	Output
`sender.full_name`	Sender’s full name
`sender.first_name`	First name
`sender.title`	Job title

Employee (attributed team member)

Variable	Output
`employee.full_name`	Employee’s full name
`employee.first_name`	First name
`employee.title`	Job title

Location

Variable	Output
`location.name`	Location name
`location.phone_formatted`	Formatted phone number
`location.address.street`	Street address
`location.address.city`	City
`location.address.state`	State

URLs

Variable	Output
`review_url`	The unique URL for the customer’s review flow
`form_url`	The unique URL for the customer’s form

Context

Variable	Output
`is_first_contact`	Whether this is the first message to this customer

Example Template

Hi {{ customer.first_name }},

Thank you for visiting {{ location.name }}! We'd love to hear about your experience.

Please take a moment to share your feedback:
{{ review_url }}

Best,
{{ sender.full_name }}

Creating a Template

Navigate to System Configuration > Message Templates in the portal sidebar
Click Create Template
Choose the template type (Review Flow or Custom Form)
Select the channel (Email or SMS)
Choose the tag (Request, Reminder, etc.)
Optionally scope to a specific flow or location
Write your template content using variables
Save the template

Previewing Templates

Use the Preview action on any template to see the raw content and verify your variables are correct. The preview shows the template as-is (with variables unresolved) so you can check formatting and structure.

System Defaults

FSRevs includes built-in default templates for every channel and tag combination. You don’t need to create any custom templates to get started — the defaults are designed to work well for most businesses. You can view the system defaults from the templates list to use as a starting point for your custom versions.

Email Themes

When creating email templates, you can select an email theme that controls the visual styling of the email - colors, layout, and branding elements. This ensures your emails match your business identity.

FSRevs currently provides two email themes:

Minimal HTML Format (Better Deliverability)
Rich HTML Format (More Design - Best for Transactional Emails)

The minimal format is the default recommendation for most review-request email because it is lighter and generally better aligned with straightforward follow-up messages.

The rich format may look better at first glance, but the minimal format often feels more personal, more hand-crafted, and more like one person reaching out to another. For review requests and other relationship-based follow-up messages, that can make a meaningful difference.

The rich format gives you more visual presentation and branding control, but it should be used intentionally. Heavier HTML can make an email feel more like a campaign or promotional send, which may not be ideal for every review request or reminder.

If you are deciding between them:

Choose Minimal HTML Format (Better Deliverability) when your priority is clean delivery, faster throughput, and a simple request message
Choose Rich HTML Format (More Design - Best for Transactional Emails) when the message benefits from stronger layout or branding and still fits the context of what the customer expects

For broader guidance on how theme choice, consent, and message style affect sending results, see Deliverability, Consent & Inbox Placement.