Configuring options for email notifications

Explore the options available for setting up email notifications to ensure your communication is timely, relevant, and aligned with your workflow.

Learn how to set up email notification options, including how to add the subject, name the notification, select the type, deliver the email, specify the from and to address, choose the recipient, add iCal requests, format the message, select the items/products it sends for, and add notes and images.

New to Email Notifications? Read the first article in this series for an introduction to the Email Notifications feature.

Accessing the features mentioned in this article

Where can I find this feature using the top menu?

• Manage > Notifications > Email > Email Notification
   

What more do I need to use this feature?

• Admin permissions or restricted permissions to Manage Notifications.
   

Which Checkfront version supports this feature - classic items, classic products, or both?

• This feature is available in both our classic items version (Inventory > Items) and our classic products version (Inventory > Products).  → Learn more about products

In the previous article, we introduced you to Email Notifications. Now, let's look at the configurable options available to you. Click the name of any email notification within the Notifications list to access the Email Notification settings page.

Specify the email Subject with this setting. The field is editable so that you can enter a custom subject.

The subject line can include standard system email or custom variables you may have created in the field editor.

For example, you may wish to input a subject such as: Booking Receipt For {$BOOKING_DATE} ({$BOOKING_ID}). Adding this variable automatically inserts the booking date and ID into the email's subject field.  

Enter the Name of your email notification in the field provided. This value is an optional internal name field to help Staff identify notifications.

The system displays the name as a column within the Notifications table (Manage > Notifications).

The field supports up to 100 characters.

This setting lets you select the Notification Type you wish to configure: Booking Status, Inventory Level, or Gift Certificates. 

This setting specifies the Booking Status that triggers the notification. This option is useful if you need to configure notifications associated with the booking status. You can create multiple notifications for each status.   

Notifications trigger when the booking status changes, for example, to PAID or CANCELLED.

Learn more about statuses For a detailed look at Booking Statuses, check out the following article series: Introduction to booking statuses

Specify the Item Quantity Threshold with this field. This option lets you set the system to email you when your item/product availability reaches a certain level. 

Once the Inventory Level option is enabled, you can choose the Item Quantity Threshold. This value is the quantity to which the system notifies recipients on the recipient list when an item's/product's available quantity drops below the threshold.

There is no requirement to use such notifications; however, some business owners prefer a quick heads-up when their items/products are sold out or are close to being sold out.

You can also use this feature to let your Customers know that a tour has reached a certain booking level and is proceeding as planned (or cancelled if the product does not reach certain participation levels). These email notifications are a great way to inform those who have already booked about the tour's status.

You can create multiple notifications for the same item/product as the inventory drops from one level to the next.

Choose the Gift Certificate option to send notifications to the gift certificate Recipient and/or Staff after purchase.

Learn more about gift certificates For a detailed look at Gift Certificates, including setting up notifications, check out the following article series: Introduction to gift certificates

By default, the system delivers notifications as soon as an event is triggered (Immediately). The triggering event could be a booking, a refund, a cancellation, or another event. You can also schedule email notifications, as detailed below. 

 

Scheduling an email notification

Would you like to schedule the notification for a later time? Follow these steps:

1. Select the Scheduled radio option from the Deliver setting. Choosing this option reveals the Schedule setting.
2. From the Schedule setting, specify when you want the system to send the notification.
   1. Specify the number of days, hours, weeks, or months.
   2. Select whether to send notifications Before booking or After booking by choosing the appropriate option from the drop-down menu.
   3. Select the appropriate option from the drop-down menu to send the notification on the start, end, and creation dates.

Scheduled email notification delivery The system delivers email notifications you have scheduled to send days, weeks, or months before or after the booking at the same hour the system creates them. For instance, if the system creates a booking at 11 a.m. on Tuesday and the scheduled notification is two days before the booking, it is sent at 11 a.m. on the scheduled day.  Occasionally, mail can be delayed due to volume (including unscheduled mail), but it generally aligns with the above time frame.

Scheduled notification and existing bookings A new scheduled notification still applies to and is sent for existing bookings if the booking status matches the one set in the notification.

Scheduling per hour notifications You can only schedule per hour notifications for up to 48 hours before or after a booking. These notifications use the midnight of the scheduled date to trigger emails for day and night inventory.

Checkfront blog post Read the following blog post to learn how setting up follow-up email notifications can get you better reviews on Trip Advisor: The Secret to Improving Your Tripadvisor Ranking

Scheduling email notifications Find our step-by-step instructions for scheduling email notifications here: How do I schedule an email notification?

The From setting allows you to change the from address for email notifications. By default, the email address linked to your Checkfront account (Manage > Company > Contact Info > Email Address) is the address used to send your notifications. 

Select Change to set up a custom from address on outbound email via our integration with Postmark.

Specify the Reply to address for the notification using this setting. This value is the email address to which email recipients can reply if they have questions or comments for your organization. 

If not customized here, this defaults to the Current Reply-To email setup in the Postmark integration. 

With this feature, you can configure email notifications to use a unique Reply-to address.

With the Recipient setting, you can determine who receives the email notification.

• To send the notifications to the Customer, select Customer.
• To deliver the message to your Staff, select one of the available accounts or All Staff to reach everybody with a Staff account.

Check the Attributed Partner checkbox to send a copy of the message to Partners who have made the bookings.

The notification can be sent to Staff members, Partners, and the Customer simultaneously.

Saving a copy of notifications To save a copy of your notifications to Customers, you can include an Admin or Staff member's email from the recipient list. You can also view a record of sent notification emails from the Log tab of the Booking Invoice or the Account Activity report.

Learn more about user accounts For a detailed look at Staff and Partner accounts, check out the following articles: Introduction to Staff accounts Introduction to Partner accounts

If you want to attach an iCal event request to the notification email, check the Attach an iCal event request to this email check box.

When Customers receive the email, they can click on the included iCal link and add the booking to their calendars.   

iCal event notification The iCal event notification option is only available if enabled by the iCal integration (Manage > Integrations).

With the Message Format setting, you can send text and HTML emails.

If you provide both options, the Recipient's mail client determines which format to display based on their preferences.

HTML Email

HTML email lets you add rich content to your receipts and notifications.

We recommend using the HTML email option when embedding an invoice or requiring special formatting.

We also recommend sending text and HTML, so your message is readable.

While editing an HTML email, you can switch between the text editor and source mode by clicking the < > button in the toolbar.

If you wish to override the default CSS included with outgoing email in Checkfront, include a tag in your notification. You can also include some default styling.

Text Email

Text emails cannot contain formatting elements such as bold, colours, or HTML. If the Customer has set their email client to prefer text, they see this version.  

The Apply To field lets you create notifications for specific items/products. This option is convenient for businesses that need to send out different information depending on the item(s)/product(s) the Customer has booked.

For example, once a tour booking has been completed and updated to PAID status, you can provide details about the tour and its meeting location. You may then have a different email for a hotel room booking updated to PAID. You don't need any information about tour meeting places, etc.; rather, you need directions to the hotel and information about the check-in process.

You can select an entire category or click the arrow to the right of each category to slide out a list of individual items/products (see above). You can choose items/products individually, allowing you to create notifications per item/product.

The Email section is where you input the body of your email. You can type whatever you like here, including email variables (described in the following article). Using a standard text editor, you can use the editor to format your text with bolding, italics, etc.

You can configure both HTML and plain text notifications in this section.

Use the tabs at the top to switch between the two views.  

Pasting existing text The system sometimes carries over when pasting existing text into the text editor. There are two ways to remedy this: When you copy text from a different document, paste it into an external text editor, and then paste this "plain text" into the Checkfront editor, you remove any font types or size styles attached. You can remove carried-over text styles from within your current editor by directly editing the HTML as needed from the editor's < > menu button.

Checkfront blog post Do you offer a tour or event where you want your Customers to know the itinerary? An email notification is a great place to add a detailed itinerary or link to a downloadable itinerary PDF! Looking for some inspiration? Read our related blog article: How To Write a Tour Description (Step-by-Step Example)

The optional Internal Notes field allows Staff to input a short description of the notification, which you can configure to display within the notifications table if needed.

This field supports up to 280 characters.

The system does not display the recipient's internal notes.

Different items/products with various notifications When different items/products, with various notifications, are added to the same booking, the Customer receives an email for each item/product rather than one notification containing all the information.

Learn more about push notifications For a detailed look at receiving push notifications in your account when new bookings come in, check out the following article: Subscribing to booking push notifications

To add an image to a notification, you need to host the image elsewhere online and add an image tag to the HTML of your email that points to the image's address.

The following is an example of how you incorporate images hosted elsewhere (e.g., where your website images are stored). 

1. Access the Notifications area (Manage > Notifications).
2. From the Email tab, click + New Notification or click on the Subject to edit the notification.
3. Next, scroll down to the Email section and choose to edit the source code (< >) from the HTML tab.
4. Here you can paste an image tag into your code, which points to where you host the image.
5. Align the image left, right, or center using standard HTML code in the editor.
6. Then, scroll down and click the Save button to save your changes.
7. You can view a Live Preview of the notification in the left-hand menu.

In the following article, we look at the available email variables and how to use them.

< Introduction to email notifications     |     Working with variables in email notifications >