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Why Your Agent Sent Fewer Messages Than You Expected

Updated by Sean Daly

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An agent can say Active, show a pool full of eligible customers, and still send zero texts today. Usually that's one of a handful of limits doing its job, and this page walks through each one so you can tell which it is.

Everything here is about scheduled outreach: the campaigns that go out on set days of the week. Agents that answer something happening, such as a new lead or a missed call, don't run on a daily schedule, so most of this doesn't apply to them.

What Active means (and doesn't)

  • Active means nothing is paused. The badge next to the agent's name reads Active when none of its campaigns has been paused by you or by us, Paused when all of them have, and Mixed when some have.

  • It doesn't mean texts went out today. When a day's send is held automatically (for any of the reasons below), the badge doesn't change. It still says Active.

  • The numbers on the Performance tab tell you what actually happened. Check Sent today, not the badge. More on those numbers below.

Why an agent sends fewer than you expected

  • It hit its daily limit. Each campaign has a Max sends per day, the most customers it starts conversations with in a day. When more customers qualify than that, the campaign sends to the limit and stops. Audience ordering decides who goes first.

  • Today isn't a send day, or the send time hasn't come yet. A campaign only sends on the Days of week you've picked, starting at its Send time (your shop's local time). If you look at 9:00 am and the send time is 11:00 am, today's zero is just early.

  • The send time is 4:00 pm or later. Scheduled outreach doesn't go out late in the day. A campaign with a Send time of 4:00 pm or later is switched on but never sends. Move it earlier than 4:00 pm.

  • Customers were contacted recently. Cooldown is the minimum time before the same customer is contacted again. Anyone inside their cooldown is skipped, which can leave far fewer people than you'd guess.

  • Nobody was left to contact today. After the campaign's rules, cooldowns and exclusions are applied, the list can come back empty. When it does, that day's send is held rather than sent to no one.

  • Your ServiceTitan data isn't syncing. If the customer and contact records your agents read from ServiceTitan stop updating, we hold the send rather than text a number that may have changed. The usual fix is for your ServiceTitan admin to re-approve the UpSmith app. We'll tell you if that's what's needed.

  • There's no room on the schedule. Some booking campaigns check your schedule before they send. If there are no open slots for that campaign's job types from its target day through the coming week (seven days unless we've set yours differently), it doesn't send that day, because there'd be nothing to offer.

  • Today is a day we set to skip. If we've set certain days of the month for a campaign to skip with you, it doesn't send on those days.

Once a day's send is held, that campaign sends nothing more that day. It doesn't retry later in the afternoon. It starts fresh on its next send day. If the cause is still there (ServiceTitan still not syncing, the schedule still full), the next day is held too, which is how an agent can go a day or two without sending while it still says Active.

You can't see why a send was held anywhere in UpSmith. If an agent has sent nothing for a full send day and none of the first four reasons fits, email support@upsmith.com with the agent's name and the date, and we'll tell you what held it and what fixes it.

What the numbers on the Performance tab mean

Open the agent and go to the Performance tab. The top row has three numbers, each with a smaller line underneath. The range toggle (Today, 7d, 30d) switches them between today, the last 7 days and the last 30 days.

  • Your outcome, with "eligible in pool" underneath. The big number is the agent's result for the range: for many agents it reads Booked today. The line underneath, {n} eligible in pool, is how many customers qualified for today's send, before the daily limit was applied. It's today's snapshot whichever range you pick, so it reads 0 until today's send has run, and on days the campaign doesn't send. It's counted before the schedule check, so it can show hundreds while nothing went out.

  • Sent, with "targeted" underneath. Sent today counts only customers in sends that actually went out. {n} targeted counts every customer picked for a send in the range, including sends that were held. A gap between the two usually means a send was held (or is still going out).

  • Replies, with the reply rate underneath. Replies today is how many replies came in during the range, and {n}% reply compares that with what was sent. Replies can answer texts sent before the range, so the rate is capped at 100%.

What you can change yourself

Open the agent, go to the Settings tab and find Schedule & limits:

  • Max sends per day — the daily limit for the campaign.

  • Days of week — which days it sends. At least one day has to stay selected.

  • Send time — when it starts each send day, in your shop's local time. Keep it before 4:00 pm.

  • Cooldown — how long before the same customer can be contacted again.

  • Audience ordering — who goes first when more customers qualify than the daily limit allows. Options marked (managed by Upsmith) need us to set them up.

Click Save settings, then confirm. As the confirmation says, Changes to schedule, limits, and audience filters take effect immediately and will affect tomorrow's send. If today's send has already gone out, today's numbers won't move.

You can also stop and restart an agent with Pause sends and Resume sends in its header. See Configuring When and How Your Agents Reach Out for how resuming handles today.

What needs us

Email support@upsmith.com for any of these:

  • Why a send was held. Only our team can see the reason.

  • ServiceTitan sync problems. We'll tell you what's stuck and what your ServiceTitan admin needs to do.

  • How far ahead the schedule check looks. It's seven days unless we've set yours differently.

  • Days of the month a campaign should skip. We set these up with you.

Troubleshooting

Sent today is 0, but the pool shows plenty of eligible customers. Check the badge says Active, not Mixed or Paused. Then check Settings: is today one of the Days of week, has the Send time passed, and is it before 4:00 pm? If all of that checks out, the send was probably held. Email us with the agent's name and the date.

It sends, but fewer than Max sends per day. The daily limit is a ceiling, not a target. If cooldowns and exclusions leave fewer customers than the limit, it sends to everyone left. On some accounts the day's limit is also set lower automatically, for example when your schedule is filling up, so a day can send fewer than Max sends per day even with customers left. Email us if you want to know what set a day's number.

I changed a setting and nothing changed today. Once today's send has gone out, saved changes show up from the next send day. Check the numbers again after that.

It hasn't sent anything for two days or more. A send held for something that hasn't cleared, like ServiceTitan data that stopped syncing or a full schedule, holds every send day until it clears. Email us so we can find what's holding it.

Common questions

Is there a daily cap? Yes. Each campaign has a Max sends per day, and you can change it on the agent's Settings tab under Schedule & limits.

Can I get an alert when an agent stops sending? Not today. UpSmith has no alert that tells you an agent has stopped sending, and nowhere in the app shows why a send was held. The quickest check is Sent today on the agent's Performance tab. If it's 0 after the send time, email us.

Why does it say 0 today when the agent is Active? Active only means nothing is paused. Today may not be a send day yet, everyone may be in cooldown, or the send may have been held. The reasons list above covers each one.

I raised the daily limit. Why didn't sends go up? If today's send had already gone out, the change shows up from the next send day. After that, the limit only helps if more customers qualify than it allows. If the pool is smaller, or the schedule is full, a higher limit sends the same number.

Are the counters accurate? Yes, but they count different things. Sent is only what went out, targeted includes held sends, and eligible in pool is the qualified pool before the daily limit. Comparing the three is the fastest way to see where the day stopped.

Will a held send go out later once the problem is fixed? Not on its own. A held send doesn't retry later the same day, and the campaign picks up again on its next send day.

Where to go next