What messages clients get automatically
Updated
On this page
Settings for all of these are on Sidebar → Business Settings → Customer Notifications. Owners and managers can change them.
Two master switches first
Nothing reaches clients until these are on:
- Email your clients (top of Customer Notifications). While it is off, clients get no email from Alaga at all: no confirmations, reminders, follow-ups, invoices or receipts. New accounts start with it off. An owner or manager turns it on.
- Text switches on the Text Messages tab. Every automatic text is off until you turn it on.
Email and text are separate. Turning on one does not turn on the other.
What goes out, and when
| Message | Text | When | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Online booking request received | Yes | No | When a client books online |
| Booking confirmation | Yes | No (coming soon) | When the appointment is confirmed (see below) |
| Appointment reminder | Yes | If Appointment reminder texts is on | About 24 hours and about 2 hours before |
| Check-in tracker link | No | If Check-in tracker texts is on | When the pet is checked in on the Live Board |
| Ready for pickup | Yes | If Ready-for-pickup texts is on | When the pet is ready (see below) |
| No-show follow-up | Yes | No | After a no-show, if Follow-up emails is on |
Emails also depend on the switches in the Client Email Notifications card: Booking confirmations, Appointment reminders and Follow-up emails. Each client's own preferences in the portal still apply.
Booking confirmations
- Online bookings arrive as requests. The client gets a "request received" email right away. When you confirm the request, they get the confirmed email.
- Bookings you make yourself email the client a confirmation when you save, as long as Email the client a booking confirmation is ticked on the booking form's last step. It is ticked by default. Untick it to book quietly. If no email can go out, the form says why instead: for example, the client has no email address, or confirmations are switched off. Booking several pets sends one email per pet. A repeating series sends one email, for the first visit. Pressing Confirm later doesn't send it a second time.
- Boarding and daycare requests get a confirmation email when you confirm the stay.
Confirmations are email only. Booking confirmation texts show as Coming soon on the Text Messages tab. A client with no email on file gets no confirmation.
Reminders
Reminders go about 24 hours and about 2 hours before the appointment. You can't change these times.
- An appointment booked less than about 23 hours ahead never gets the 24-hour reminder. It can still get the 2-hour one.
- Reminders are checked once an hour, so the exact minute varies.
- The reminder text needs Appointment reminder texts on. The email needs Appointment reminders on.
See Reminder timing and editing message templates.
Ready for pickup
The ready message goes when:
- you move the pet's card to Ready for Pickup on the Live Board (on Overview), or
- you complete an appointment that was In Progress.
The text needs Ready-for-pickup texts on. It is off until you turn it on. The email goes whenever client email is on.
Families with several pets get one message. Alaga waits until the last pet in that visit is ready, then sends one combined message.
Who messages come from
- Texts come from Alaga's shared phone number, not your business's own number. Clients may not recognize it at first. Tell them to save it. When they reply, the reply lands in Messages. See Two-way messaging with clients.
- Emails come from noreply@notifications.alaga.io with your business name. Replies go to your business email, set in Business Profile.
Rules for texts
- Consent. Texts only go to clients who agreed to receive them. A client who replies STOP gets no more texts until they reply START.
- Plan. Automatic texts need the Professional plan or higher.
- Allowance. Every text counts against your plan's monthly allowance, shown on the Text Messages tab. When it runs out, reminder texts pause until next month. Emails keep going.
See Text messages: consent, compliance and what gets sent.
Checking what was sent
The Delivery Log tab on Customer Notifications lists every email and text and whether it was sent, failed or skipped. If a client says they got nothing, start there. See Why didn't my reminder send?.