What Is the Announcements Feature?
The Announcements feature lets you send bulk messages to your customers directly from Carpay. It’s the easiest way to share important information with everyone (or a select group) at once.
Common uses include:
Holiday closures (e.g., “We will be closed Thursday for Thanksgiving.”)
Updated business hours
Weather-related closures or delays
General reminders or important updates
The Announcements Dashboard
When you open the Announcements menu, you’ll land on the Announcements Dashboard. From here you can see every announcement you’ve sent or saved, and start a new one.
Each row in the dashboard shows:
ID – the announcement’s unique identifier
Message – a preview of the message content
Created – the date and time the announcement was created
Sent – the date and time the announcement was sent (blank for drafts)
Sent By – the user who sent the announcement
Status – either Sent or Draft
Customers – the number of customers the announcement was sent to
Actions – view the announcement, or edit it if it’s still a draft
Use the tabs at the top of the table to filter by All, Draft, or Sent. You can also export the list as a CSV or PDF using the buttons above the table.
How to Create a New Announcement
Follow these steps to send a new announcement to your customers.
Step 1: Click “Make Announcement”
From the Announcements Dashboard, click the blue + Make Announcement button in the upper-right corner. This opens the announcement form.
Step 2: Write Your Message
In the Message field, type the message you want to send. You have up to 1,000 characters, and the character counter below the box will help you stay within the limit.
Tip: Keep messages clear and concise. A short, direct message is easier for customers to read on their phone and is less likely to be cut off in a text preview.
Step 3: Choose How the Message Is Delivered
Decide how you want the announcement to reach your customers. You can choose one or both delivery methods:
Send via SMS – toggle on to send the announcement as a text message.
Send via Email – toggle on to send the announcement as an email.
Turning on both toggles sends the announcement through both channels for maximum reach.
Step 4: Choose Who Receives the Announcement
In the Recipients section, decide who should get the message.
Send to All Customers – toggle this on to send the announcement to every active customer automatically. The toggle shows the total number of customers it will be sent to (e.g., “Send to all 15 customers”).
Select Specific Customers – leave the “Send to All” toggle off and click Select customers to manually choose individual recipients from your customer list.
Step 5: Send or Save as Draft
At the bottom of the form you’ll see three buttons:
Cancel – discard the announcement without saving.
Save as Draft – save your work to send later. Drafts appear on the Announcements Dashboard with a “Draft” status and can be edited at any time.
Send Announcement – send the message immediately to the selected recipients through the selected channels.
Once sent, the announcement will appear on your dashboard with a Sent status along with the date, time, and the number of customers it reached.
Working with Drafts
Saving an announcement as a draft is helpful when you want to prepare a message ahead of time, for example, drafting a holiday closure notice a few days before you send it, or letting another team member review the wording before it goes out.
When you click Save as Draft, a green confirmation banner will appear at the top of the screen letting you know the announcement was saved.
Finding Your Drafts
To find an announcement you’ve saved, open the Draft tab on the Announcements Dashboard. This tab shows only the announcements that haven’t been sent yet.
You can tell a draft apart from a sent announcement at a glance:
Status column displays an orange Draft label.
Sent and Sent By columns are empty (shown as a dash) because the announcement hasn’t been delivered yet.
Actions column shows two icons — a view (eye) icon to preview the announcement and an edit (pencil) icon to open it for changes.
Editing or Sending a Draft
Click the Draft tab on the Announcements Dashboard.
Locate the draft you want to work with. You can use the search box in the upper-right corner to find it quickly.
Click the edit (pencil) icon in the Actions column to open the draft.
Update the message, delivery method, or recipients as needed.
When you’re ready, click Send Announcement to deliver it, or Save as Draft again to keep working on it later.
Tip: The Customers column on a draft shows how many recipients are currently selected, so you can confirm the audience size before sending.
Need Help?
If an announcement didn’t send as expected, or you need assistance choosing the right recipients, please reach out to Carpay Support and we’ll be happy to help.