Notifications - Email (Booking Status): Options

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Locate: Manage > Notifications > Email
Prerequisites: Admin permissions or restricted permissions to Manage Notifications.

 

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New to Notifications? Please be sure to start with the first article in this series: Notifications (Booking Status): Introduction.

In the previous article, we introduced you to Email Notifications. Now, let's take a look at the configurable options available to you upon arriving at the Notifications screen in your Checkfront dashboard...  

 

This is the Subject of the email. The field is editable, so you can input whatever you like in there.

The Subject line can include standard system email variables or your own custom variables which 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}). This would automatically insert the date of the booking and the booking ID into the Subject field.  

 

This is an optional, internal Name field to assist with the identification of Notifications by Staff.

Name displays as a column within the Notifications table (Manage > Notifications).

The fields supports up to 100 characters.

 

This field enables you to choose the type of Notification you wish to configure. For the purpose of this guide, we are looking at the Booking Status Notification. You would choose the Inventory Level option if you were wanting to create a warning once your inventory drops to a certain level.

You would choose the Inventory Level option if you were wanting to create a Notification to inform your Staff when the availability on certain items drops below a pre-set threshold. You would choose Gift Certificates to create a Notification which can be sent to the gift certificate recipient and/or your staff members after purchase. You can, of course, create all three types of Notification, just not at the same time!  

 

 

This is the status that is required to trigger the Notification. You can create multiple Notifications for a single status.  

Notifications are triggered when the status of a booking changes, for example, PAID or CANCELLED. See booking statuses for a full list.  

 

By default, Notifications are sent as soon as the event is triggered.  

 

 

If you'd like to schedule the Notification for a later time, select Scheduled and choose either before or after the start, end or creation date of the booking. Scheduled emails will be delivered on the same hour they were created. For instance, if a booking is created at 11 am on Tuesday and the scheduled notification is 2 days before the booking, it will be sent at 11 am on the scheduled day. Please note, on some occasions, mail can be delayed due to volume (including unscheduled mail), but generally, adheres to this time frame. See: follow up emails for Trip Advisor for more information.  

 

This is the email address from which your Notifications are sent. By default, this is the Email Address associated with your Checkfront account (Manage > Company > Contact Info > Email Address).

You can Change this by setting up a custom From address on outbound email via the add-on Postmark.

Learn More here.

 

This is the email address that Email Recipients can Reply To if they have questions or comments for your organization. 

This will default to the Current Reply-To email setup in the Postmark add-on, if not customized here. This way each Notification can be configured to have a unique Reply To address if needed.

 

The Recipient setting allows you to set the Recipient of the 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.

If a partner has made the booking, you may also send them a copy of the message by checking Attributed Partner.

The notification can be sent to staff members, partners, and the customer at the same time.  

 

If you'd like to attach an iCal event request to the Notification email, then check this box.  

When the Customer receives the email, they will be able to click on the iCal link and have the booking added to their personal calendar.  

 

You have the option of sending both Text and HTML emails.  

When both options are provided, the recipient's mail client will determine which format to display based on their preferences.

 

- - HTML Emails

HTML emails allow you to provide rich content in your receipts and notifications. HTML emails are recommended when embedding an invoice or if you require special formatting. However, it's recommended that you supply both text and HTML for best compatibility. Please see tips on HTML emails below. While editing an HTML email, you can switch between Text Editor and source mode by clicking on the "<>" button in the toolbar. If you wish to override the default CSS included with outgoing emails in Checkfront, include a <body> tag in your notification. You should also include some default styling.

 

- - Text Emails

Text emails cannot contain any formatting elements such as bold, colors or other HTML elements. If your customer's email client is set to prefer text, it will see this version.  

 

The apply to field enables you to create notifications for a specific item(s) only. This is particularly handy for businesses that need to send out different information depending on the item(s) that the customer has booked. For example, when a tour booking has been completed and updated to PAID status, you may wish to send out a notification consisting of details on the tour and its meeting location, etc. You may then have a different email for a hotel room booking that has been updated to PAID. You don't need any information about tour meeting places etc, but rather directions to the hotel and information about the check-in process.  

You have the ability to select an entire category, or, click on the arrow to the right of each category to slide out a list of individual items (see above). These items can then be chosen individually, allowing you to create notifications on a per-item basis.  

 

The Email section is where you actually input the body of your Email. You can type whatever you like in here, including email variables (described below). The editor provides the ability to format your text with bolding and italics etc. using a standard Text Editor.

 

 

 You can configure both the HTML and plain TEXT notifications from this section.

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

 

The optional, Internal Notes fields allows Staff to input a short description of the Notification which can be configured to display within the Notifications table, if needed.

The field supports up to 280 characters.

Internal Notes do not display to the Recipient.

 

Please Note: When different items, with different notifications, are added to the same booking, the customer will receive an email for each individual item, rather than one notification containing all the information.

 

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