After you’ve created your vendor account, you’ll start receiving Ping requests. Need more information about what those are? … no problem, this How To will tell you all about Pings, from a Vendor perspective.
What’s a Ping?
A Ping is a request to book your services.
How do I see my Pings?
When a User submits a ping, you will receive a notification advising you that a customer has requested your services. You can view the ping’s details by tapping on the Ping menu.
Here, you will see the summary of the Ping.
The requestor’s name will appear at the top, along with the address where they will need the service performed. The bottom right shows the requested appointment time. You wlil also see the customer’s responses to any custom questions you had (these are created in your vendor profile).
Note that Users may set up pings in two different ways:
Ping ASAP – this means the user would like service as soon as possible (usually within a few hours). If you are unable to make it in time, you should reject these pings, or message the user to check on the urgency.
Ping Future – these are appointment requests for a certain date and time. The requested time is listed in the bottom right. If you are not available at the requested time, you should reject these pings.
NOTE: Users will only be able to ping vendors in the Food category if it’s a Catering request. Food vendors do not make single-order deliveries at this time.
Troubleshooting:
Not receiving push notifications on your phone? Make sure Notifications are enabled in Plethora’s Settings. If you’re still not receiving them, you may need to update your phone’s settings to “allow notifications” from Plethora. To find out how to do this on Apple, click here. For Android, click here.
Users can’t Ping you? There are a few things to check for:
1. Go to the Settings menu, then tap Availability. Make sure the ping options at the top of of the screen are set up properly. Accepting Pings will allow Users to send you Ping ASAP requests. Note that Users will only be able to submit Ping ASAP requests during your Business Hours, so make sure that those are set up correctly. Accepting Ping Appointments will allow Users to send you Ping Future requests.
2. Go to Settings and View Profile and ensure that your business is set up in the correct categories. Food vendors cannot be pinged, unless they are also in the Catering category.
Accepting or Rejecting the Pings
After you’ve looked at the user’s ping request, you should Accept or Reject the ping. Do this by tapping on the appropriate selection in the Pings screen.
We recommend that you respond to all pings as soon as you can.
Once you Accept the Ping, your appointment is officially booked – Congratulations!
Check out some other topics in our How To series: