The Text Is Part of the Job, Not a Separate Tool
Send the estimate, send the report, get the approval, answer the "is it ready?" text, and record the call. All from Trail Hits® Hub, all on the customer's record, with nothing for the customer to download. Customers who do use the free Trail Hits® app get the same conversation in the app, with live repair status alongside it.
Start Free TrialWhat Goes Out, by Text, Email, or In the App
Transactional service messages, tied to the work order they are about. Text is the default; email works for the customer without a mobile number; and a customer on the free Trail Hits® app sees all of it in the app.
The estimate, service by service
The customer opens a link, sees what the tech found, and approves or declines each service. Approved services are what the tech works on.
The inspection report
A branded report with photos and findings, so "your pads are at twenty percent" comes with a picture of the pads.
Repair updates
Waiting on a part, ready for pickup, or a question for the customer, sent from the work order by whoever is standing at it.
One Thread per Customer, on the Customer
A texting tool that lives outside the shop system means the counter is asking "who texted Mike?" Hub keeps the conversation on Mike.
- Replies land in Hub, in the customer's thread, next to their bikes, work orders, and visits
- Anyone can pick it up. The thread is the shop's, not one employee's phone
- Sent and received on the web, from the customer record or the work order
- Text, email, or in the app. A customer without a mobile number still gets the estimate by email; a customer on the free Trail Hits® app approves, replies, and watches repair status there, in the same thread
A thread, as it looks in Hub
Hi Mike, the inspection on your Fuel EX is done. Here is the report and the estimate. Tap to approve what you want us to do.
Sent by text
Approved the brakes and the chain. Skip the bearings for now. Friday ok?
Received
Friday works. We will text when it is ready.
Sent by text
Calls and Photos, on the Same Record
The conversation about a bike is not only text. Hub keeps the rest of it in the same place.
Record the call
Record a customer call or a counter conversation from Hub and the recording lands on the customer's record, next to the texts. The next person at the counter hears what was agreed instead of guessing from a note. Set up today, rolling out shop by shop as shops sign up.
Photos both ways
A customer texts a picture of the noise, the crack, or the part they want matched. You text back a picture of the worn pads or the finished repair. Photos ride in the same thread, in both directions.
Paying for Ikeono or Podium?
This is the subscription Hub replaces for most shops. Here is the honest version of what each one does well and where Hub is different.
What Ikeono and Podium do well
Ikeono is business texting built for independent retailers, with a unified inbox, text-to-pay, Google review requests, feedback, webchat, and marketing texts, and it integrates with Lightspeed and Ascend. Podium is a messaging platform for local businesses of every kind, now led by an AI employee that answers leads and books appointments around the clock. If review requests, webchat, or text-to-pay are what you buy them for, Hub does not do those, and we would rather say so.
Where Hub is different
The text is part of the job, not a separate inbox. The estimate the customer approves by text is the one the tech built from the inspection. Photos ride both ways on the customer's record, the call is recorded to the same record, and the customer can use the free Trail Hits® app instead of texting at all. It is included in one flat price per shop, so it is one subscription you cancel rather than one you add. And if you run Ascend, whose built-in texting is send-only, Hub is the two-way conversation where the shop and the customer share photos, without a second messaging platform.
Consent Captured at Check-In, Opt-Out Always
When a customer checks in a bike, staff explain the service texts and record the opt-in, or the customer replies to an opt-in text. Messages are service notifications only, never marketing. Replying STOP ends them, and the consent record stays with the customer. The rules are written down in our privacy policy, because your customers' carriers care about them and so do we.
Common Questions
Does the customer need an app to approve an estimate by text?
No. The text carries a link to a page where they see the inspection findings and the estimate, and approve or decline each line. Nothing to download. If they do use the free Trail Hits® app, they also get live repair status and their full service history.
How is texting consent handled?
Consent is captured when the customer checks in, either verbally with the terms explained by staff or by replying to an opt-in text, and the record is stored with the customer. Messages are transactional service notifications only, never marketing, and any customer can reply STOP at any time.
Where do replies go?
Into the customer’s conversation thread in Trail Hits® Hub, on the same record that holds their bikes, work orders, and visits. Anyone at the counter can pick up the thread without asking who texted them last.
Can we record calls?
Yes. Record a customer call or a counter conversation from Hub and the recording lands on the customer’s record, next to their texts, so the next person at the counter can hear what was agreed. It is set up today and rolling out shop by shop as shops sign up.
Can customers text us photos?
Yes, both directions. A customer texts a picture of the noise or the damage; you text back a picture of the worn pads or the finished repair. Photos ride in the same thread on the customer record.
Does Trail Hits® Hub replace Ikeono or Podium?
For the service conversation, yes: estimates approved by text, inspection reports, repair updates, photos both ways, replies on the customer record, and recorded calls, all included in Hub’s flat price. Ikeono and Podium also do Google review requests, webchat, text-to-pay, and marketing texts, and Podium sells an AI employee that answers leads around the clock. Hub does not do those, so if they are the reason you pay, keep them.
Can we email, or use the app, instead of texting?
Yes. Estimates, reports, and repair updates go by text, by email, or inside the free Trail Hits® app when the customer uses it, and the customer can approve and reply from any of them. Whichever channel they pick, the conversation lands in the same thread on the customer record.
Cancel the Texting Subscription
Customer texting is included in Hub, on the customer record where it belongs.
Start Free Trial
Trail Hits® Hub
iPhone and iPad app for the bench. Hub also runs in any web browser.
