Set up confirmations, reminders and staff emails
Choose which messages customers get when they book, when they get a reminder, and which emails your staff receive.
You decide when customers get a text message and when your staff get an email about online bookings. You can also write your own reminder text for a staff member.
For emails and texts sent when you change an appointment yourself, see Let customers know about changes.
Customer messages and staff emails
Open Notifications
In Settings, open Notifications.
Turn on the booking SMS
Under Customer Notifications, turn on Send SMS booking confirmation to your customers.
Choose reminder times
Open Sms reminder hours and pick one or more times, from 1 to 24 hours, or 48 or 72 hours, before the appointment. Each choice shows as a chip. Remove a chip to stop that reminder. Only an admin can change this. For others it is greyed out.
Set the sender name (optional)
Fill in SMS sender name. This is the name customers see as the sender. It can be up to 11 characters. Leave it empty to use the default platform name.
Choose who gets staff emails
Under Staff Notifications, open Email notification and choose Off, Staff, Manager or Everyone. This notifies staff when an online booking is created or cancelled.
Save
Save your changes. You see "Updated notification settings".
Emails for each staff member
You can also set emails for one staff member.
Open the staff member
Open the staff member (see Add staff and rooms) and go to the Notifications tab.
Enter an email address
Fill in Email Address. The switches only show once there is a valid address.
Choose the emails
Turn on what this person should get:
- Receive emails when you receive a new bookings.
- Receive emails when bookings are cancelled.
- Receive emails when you get waiting list requests.
- Receive emails when a customer checks in self service kiosk. See Self-service kiosk check-in.
Save
Click Save.
Emails about booking requests that need your answer are set in Appointment Settings on the Info tab. See Automatic confirmation and online booking limits.
Write your own reminder text for a staff member
Open the SMS tab
Open the staff member and go to the SMS tab.
Override the default text
Turn on Override default SMS reminder. If you use several languages, switch language with the flags.
Write the message
Write the text in Sms content (up to 255 characters). To add the appointment time, use Insert variable and choose Start Date. This puts {{startDate}} in the text and Dineout replaces it with the start time.
Save
Click Save.
Messages longer than 160 characters can cost more.