Notifications for bookings
Set up automatic booking notifications: channels, recipients, filters, placeholders and the repeat-sending policy. Rule examples.
Notification or reminder
Booking notifications are automatic messages triggered by an event: a booking being created, changed, rescheduled or cancelled. The system reacts exactly when something happens to the booking and informs the recipient straight away.
If instead you need a message sent on a schedule (two hours before the visit, for example), use reminders.
Before you start
The section sits in the side menu under Mailings and is called "Notifications: Appointments". That is where you create and edit the rules described below.
Rules are configured per branch: the list of notifications you see belongs to the current branch, so in a company with several branches each one can have its own set of rules.
Channels and sending order
Notifications can be sent through three channels, at least one is required:
- Telegram
- SMS
The order of channels defines the order they are checked in: the system tries the first channel and moves to the next one if delivery is not possible. To optimise costs we recommend the order Telegram -> Email -> SMS.
This means the system first checks whether the client is subscribed to the Telegram bot. If so, the message goes there. If not, Email is checked. Only when neither Telegram nor Email is available does the message go out by SMS.
Recipients
In the Recipients field you choose who the notification goes to. Three options are available and they can be combined in one rule:
| Recipient | Where the contacts come from |
|---|---|
| Client | Clients -> Client details |
| Branch | Mailings -> Settings -> Recipients |
| Resource | Resources -> Information |
Make sure the chosen recipient has at least one contact channel filled in, otherwise there is nowhere to send the message.
Filters (include and exclude)
Filters narrow down the bookings a rule applies to. Every condition has an "include only" variant and a mirrored "exclude" variant:
- Include only sources - where the booking came from (online booking, administrator, an ad campaign and so on).
- Include only resources - employees, rooms or equipment.
- Include only services - the services in the booking.
- Include only statuses - for example only confirmed or only cancelled bookings.
- Include only client categories - client base segments.
The mirrored variants ("Exclude ...") do the opposite and take individual sources, resources, services, statuses or categories out of the rule. An empty filter means "no restriction".
The status filter is what most often splits rules apart: one notification for a new booking, a separate one for a cancellation, with different wording.
Message, subject and placeholders
Enter the notification text in the Message field. The Subject field only appears when Email is among the channels - Telegram and SMS have no subject.
To insert dynamic data use the Add Short code list: it drops a placeholder into the text that the system replaces with a real value on sending. Codes are grouped by data source:
| Group | Example codes |
|---|---|
| Record | number, status, source, price, payment link |
| Service | service name |
| Resource | full and short name, description, phone, email |
| Client | first name, last name, full name, phone, email |
| Time | start and end date and time, duration |
| Branch | name, email, phone, website |
| Company | name, email, phone, website |
Extra booking and client fields are also available if you have configured them.
Below the message field the system shows a character counter and, for SMS, how many messages will be used. Note that Latin and Cyrillic are billed differently. One SMS segment holds 160 Latin characters but only 70 Cyrillic ones, so the same text in Ukrainian costs more.
SMS does not support emoji. This matters when a rule uses several channels: emoji render in Telegram and Email, but the SMS sent by the same rule drops them, so the client sees a blank or an unreadable character instead. Avoid emoji altogether in text that may go out over SMS.
Advanced settings
The Advanced settings block is collapsed by default. It holds three options.
Number of notifications
Defines how many times the rule can fire for a single booking:
- Once - the notification is sent only once in the lifetime of the booking.
- For each change - the notification repeats every time a tracked field changes.
If you pick For each change, use the Check for field changes selector to choose which changes matter: start time, duration, status, price, resources, services, products. Changes to other fields are ignored by the rule.
Delay before sending
The system sends the message only after editing of the booking is finished (two minutes after the last change, for example), ignoring intermediate edits. This saves you from a burst of messages while you are actively editing a booking.
Do not send if the booking start time has already passed
This toggle decides whether to send a message about a booking that is created or changed after the event was due to start. It is on by default, so the client will not get a message about a visit that has already taken place.
Preview and save
Before saving a rule, click Preview - you will see the exact text the recipient gets, with placeholder values filled in. If everything looks right, save the notification and it will fire automatically from then on.
Example: notifying the client about a new booking
- Channels - Telegram -> Email -> SMS.
- Recipients - Client.
- Include only statuses - the status a freshly created booking receives.
- Message - text with the start date and time codes and the company name.
- In Advanced settings leave Number of notifications: Once so the client gets no repeats while you edit the booking.
Example: notifying the administrator about a cancellation
- Channels - Telegram -> Email.
- Recipients - Branch.
- Include only statuses - the cancellation status.
- Message - booking number, client, service and time, so the administrator immediately sees what has been freed up.