Making the most of email notifications in Zoho Bookings

Making the most of email notifications in Zoho Bookings

Email notifications are one of the most versatile tools in Zoho Bookings.


We've beautified and translated them. Now, let's see what other steps we can take to further stretch their use.


In this guide, we'll use email notifications to:
  1. Create product awareness
  2. Market other services
  3. Show social proof
  4. Thank customers
  5. Collect feedback
  6. Win repeat business and more
Check out the table below to see how you can pack more value into your outgoing emails.

Email Notifications


Booked
Rescheduled
Canceled
Completed
No-show
Reminders
Agenda and meeting prerequisites






Case studies






Customer testimonials






Staff credentials






Post-appointment instructions






Data gathering






"Book another appointment" button






Service promotions







Yes, customer testimonials, case studies, and other value additions can be shared through social media. But think about this: Brands spend billions of dollars for customer attention, whereas on the other end, customers are overloaded with information. It's difficult to reach your customers amidst this chaos.

Even if you pack valuable content into your social posts, your customers are likely distracted and their attention fragmented.



But when you leverage email notifications in Zoho Bookings, you get more targeted customer attention with very little effort from your side. Above all, it is FREE.How?

Because even when faced with hundreds of emails, customers will open Zoho Bookings messages to view valuable information like appointment times and meeting links.



Plus, as customers often forget these details, they're likely to open your email notifications more than once. This means you get a customer's undivided attention on a recurring basis.

So why not leverage this?

You can double-down on the value you deliver to your customers during this attention window and let customers know more about what you have to offer.

This reinforces brand recall, strengthens customer trust, and increases repeat bookings, eventually leading to a boost in revenue.

Sending value packed emails

Let's explore different ways to deliver value to your customers.

1. Agenda and prerequisites

An agenda helps you set clear expectations by giving a preview of the session. This way, customers can prepare for what's to come.

Prerequisites are beneficial for both you and the customer. Say, for example, you teach students programming languages online. Your prerequisites might be a laptop, a GitHub account, and an integrated development environment such as Visual Studio.

This helps your students prepare and makes your class time more effective. It's a win-win situation.

Two ways to send an agenda and prerequisites to your customers include visuals and text.

Visuals

For more detailed agendas, you can create a private page on your website with stunning designs and include the page's hyperlink in your email. This is easily done by creating a share link through Zoho WorkDrive or Google Drive.

Here's what a hyperlinked agenda will look like:



To make things even easier for customers, you can hyperlink a downloadable agenda. The following video demonstrates how to add a downloadable file to your outgoing emails.



Text

If your agenda is short, you can write it out using bullet points directly within your emails.  We recommend having no more than six points to keep the message as concise as possible.


Text-based agenda


Text-based prerequisites

The following video shows how to add text-based agendas and pre-requisites to your emails.



2. Customer testimonials, case studies, and more

Customer testimonials and case studies help you showcase your credibility and gain trust. When your potential customers see highly rated testimonials and successful case studies, they'll put their faith in you.

It's also important to note that customers might have second thoughts about their appointment if it is far in advance. Sending these testimonials eliminates any such thought and reduces the possibility of a no-show.

Let's dive into some of the ways that you can send positive customer feedback along with your emails.

Landing pages and blog posts

Sometimes, the real estate in an email isn't sufficient enough. In those cases, you can hyperlink your testimonials or include buttons that lead to customer feedback forms.

Here's what the output will look like.



And here's how to add a button that links to any content of your choice.



Copy and paste the following code from the below snippet to add a button to your emails. In place of the blue "Button Text Here," you can add the text that you wish to see on your buttons.
  1. <button style="padding: 16px 32px; text-align: center; display: inline-block; font-size: 16px; margin: 4px 2px; background-color: rgb(80, 73, 127)">
  2. <a href="https://www.zoho.com/bookings/customers/loanstreet.html" style="color: white; text-decoration: none">
  3. <!-- Button Text Here -->
  4. </a>
  5. </button>

Videos

You can also embed your YouTube thumbnails as images in your emails and hyperlink them to the corresponding videos. We embed thumbnails rather than videos because most email clients cannot read video embeds.

We can use online image editors like Canva to create engaging thumbnails. This method intrigues your clients, increases click through rates, and enhances brand recall.

The following GIF shows how the output will look like:



Using the same technique, you can record videos of your staff speaking on camera about:
  • The agenda, to give a preview of the session
  • Any prerequisites, to prepare your customers for an engaging session
  • Their own experience in the industry, to assure customers that they're under the guidance of an expert
Check out the following video to embed YouTube thumbnails in your outgoing emails.



  1. <a href="https://www.zoho.com/bookings/">
  2. <img src="https://i.imgur.com/JieK.png" alt="HTML tutorial" style="width:400px;height:250px;">
  3. </a>

4. Adding value after an appointment

It's best to go the extra mile and send thank you emails to your customers post-appointment. You can also send resources that may be helpful to them.

For example, a marketing team that does product demos could send out a PDF that contains help documents, support contacts, and other useful details. A solopreneur who teaches programming languages online might send a study plan and some words of encouragement.



All these steps show that you care about your customer's progress. This leads to increased trust, recurring bookings, and growth in revenue.

Depending upon the size of these instructions, you can choose to include them in the body of the email itself, or within a downloadable PDF, videos, hyperlink, or a button.

5. Collecting feedback

Both satisfied and dissatisfied customers add value to a business, and forms work well when you wish to gather their feedback. This comes in handy for cancellation and no-show emails as well because it allows us to find out why our customers have cancelled. You can also send forms along with your completed emails to find out what went well.

Here's what a hyperlinked form will look like:



Notes

1. Zoho Bookings offers five types of email notifications and three types of reminders. Not all content works with every email, and our table at the beginning of the article can help you decide on which to use. Depending upon your businesses, you can choose to stick with one or more value additions.

2. Be sure that your reminders are spaced out well. For example, if you have an appointment scheduled two weeks from now, you can send three reminders. However, if the appointment were just two days away, you would likely just want to send one reminder. This will also vary depending upon the industry you're in, so we recommend you use your best judgment.

Suggested flow ideas

So far, we've seen the content that works for different types of emails. But what should your ideal flow be?

Don't worry, we've got your back.

Here are some sample flows that you could emulate.
  • Marketing team that offers product demo calls
    • Booked email + agenda
    • Reminder 1 + staff experience
    • Reminder 2 + customer testimonial
    • Completed email + post-appointment instructions
  • Solopreneur who teaches programming languages
    • Booked email + pre-requisites
    • Reminder 1 + staff experience
    • Reminder 2 + agenda
    • Reminder 3 + case study
    • Completed email + post-appointment instructions
In this article, we've pushed the boundaries of email templates in Zoho Bookings. We've also discussed different ways that we can group together email notifications and create flows that maximize value for your audience.

If you have any questions, drop them in the comments or email us at hello@zohobookings.com. We'll be happy to help you out.


      Zoho Campaigns Resources


        • Desk Community Learning Series


        • Digest


        • Functions


        • Meetups


        • Kbase


        • Resources


        • Glossary


        • Desk Marketplace


        • MVP Corner


        • Word of the Day


        • Ask the Experts


          • Topic Participants

          • Siva

          • Sticky Posts

          • Zoho Bookings know-how: A hands-on workshop series

            Hello! We’re conducting a hands-on workshop series to help simplify appointment scheduling for your business with Zoho Bookings. We’ll be covering various functionalities and showing how you can leverage them for your business across five different sessions.
          • Announcing: custom color palette + free workshop

            Hello everyone, We're excited to share new feature in Zoho Bookings—a color palette within booking page themes. You'll find this option under Manage Bookings > Workspaces > Booking Page Themes. You can customize the color of every element in your booking page and even alter the transparency of your background image. Please note that this is a paid feature included in the Basic and Premium plans. At the moment, it's available only under the Modern Web theme. This means you can create billions (7,
          • Complete walk-through of Zoho Bookings (video)

            Save time for both you and your customers. Use Zoho Bookings, the appointment scheduling app from Zoho, to free yourself from email and paper-based scheduling. Zoho Bookings can give you a common calendar by syncing multiple calendars, including yours and your staff's. Your customers can book a time convenient for them, and pay for services, through your website or the customizable webpage features available in Zoho Bookings. They'll also get emails reminding them about their appointments and any
          • New Features: Service Availability and staff booking page themes!

            Dear All,  Want a dedicated schedule for your one-on-one services? How would it feel to have one-on-one services open for consultations only during certain times? You need a superpower to make that happen and we give it to you - Service Availability is
          • Zoho Bookings has a new pricing - Pay per user

            Dear customers, Businesses around the world use Zoho Bookings. Customers have booked 1.5 million appointments and over 200K online meetings using Bookings. We are only set to cross more milestones, thanks to your support. We are excited to introduce to

          Zoho CRM Plus Resources

            Zoho Books Resources


              Zoho Subscriptions Resources

                Zoho Projects Resources


                  Zoho Sprints Resources


                    Zoho Orchestly Resources


                      Zoho Creator Resources


                        Zoho WorkDrive Resources



                          Zoho CRM Resources

                          • CRM Community Learning Series

                            CRM Community Learning Series


                          • Tips

                            Tips

                          • Functions

                            Functions

                          • Meetups

                            Meetups

                          • Kbase

                            Kbase

                          • Resources

                            Resources

                          • Digest

                            Digest

                          • CRM Marketplace

                            CRM Marketplace

                          • MVP Corner

                            MVP Corner




                            Zoho Writer Writer

                            Get Started. Write Away!

                            Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.

                              Zoho CRM コンテンツ








                                ご検討中の方

                                  • Recent Topics

                                  • Send Email Directly to Channel

                                    Hi, We are coming from Slack. In Slack each channel has a unique Email address that you can send emails too. I currently forward a specific type of email from my Gmail InBox directly do this channel for Verification Codes so my team doesn't have to ask
                                  • Secure your external sharing process with OTP Authentication

                                    For any business, it's crucial to share files externally in a way that is both secure and controlled. Let's say you want to share confidential data with your partners and vendors. You must ensure that only your intended recipients can access the shared
                                  • Items attribute questions

                                    Many of my items have attributes, such as size and color. How can I add new fields to the "New Items" screen to capture that in my Purchase Orders, Items, and Sales Order pages? I only see these attribute fields when adding an Item Group. Also, on the
                                  • Is there a way to search mail for items you haven't yet responded to?

                                    I'm trying to create a search to show emails that haven't been responded to and that have also been assigned a tag or label. Is there a way to search for the inverse of replied?
                                  • Zobot and Sales IQ

                                    What will happen to the Zoho Sales IQ being integrated to the website after creating the Zobot on the website too
                                  • Subtotals per Header

                                    Hey, we would like to display subtotals per header in our invoices:
                                  • upgrade storage

                                    how to upgrade my storage
                                  • Linking items from books and subscription

                                    Linking books and subscription It is a pity that it is not possible to associate with a product an article present in ZohoBooks This would make it possible to manage products composed of a nomenclature of articles of books
                                  • Add the ability to view number of hours planned for a workorder while in the Dispatch Console

                                    Hi Zoho, When dispatching a work order through the Dispatch Console, there's currently no way to view the number of planned hours for the service tasks associated with that specific work order. Having to click into the details each time to check planned
                                  • Uploading Files from uploads api

                                    I tried uploading the image from the API call but its giving me unauthorized error even i have given valid token in header. After uploading i need that id to pass in create ticket api uploads but its not uploading that file. Please help me out in th
                                  • Categorize Items with Item Headers

                                    Hello customers, Did you ever want to classify items based on specific categories to help your customers understand your invoice better? With the new Item Header feature, you can easily categorize items in your invoices and estimates and give them a common title.  Item Headers are available in the Invoices, the Recurring Invoices and the Estimates module. It can be carried forward from estimates to invoices at the time of converting the estimates.  To add an item header: Go to the Estimates, Invoices
                                  • URLs being masked despite disabling tracking

                                    Hey, We had disabled click tracking from an email update we are sharing with our users. Despite this, the URL the end user is receiving is masked, and looks like "https://qksyl-cmpzourl.maillist-manage.net/click/1d8e72714515cda6/1d8e72714515ca70" instead
                                  • Change format of quantity format

                                    Hi,  I would like to change the qunatity format from 1,00 to 1.  Is this possible?   thanks!
                                  • square up and Zoho books

                                    Since we set up the app connection between square up and Zoho books we have realised that when the amounts are getting transferred Zoho is adding VAT again making the numbers 20% more than they should be. We have checked our settings and they VAT/ Tax
                                  • How to provide Access rights to specific Bank accounts

                                    We have several bank accounts. I want to provide certain members access to only 2-3 accounts. It appears that when I give permissions, they are for ALL bank accounts. How do I do that?
                                  • Errors Getting a Bank Transaction

                                    Using Postman(for testing), I am receiving errors when attempting to get a single bank transaction. I am able to receive the list of bank transactions with https://www.zohoapis.com/books/v3/banktransactions/?organization_id={org_id} but when I try to
                                  • Subscriptions Plans and CRM Products Integration?

                                    Is there any way to set up plans and pricing in Zoho Subscriptions and have those available as Products in the CRM? We are trying to set up the CRM and the Products seem to be more geared toward selling products that are not subscription based.  So if we sell annual or monthly contracts which are $10/seat/month, I can set this up as a plan in Subscriptions, but how can I set the same thing up in the CRM for the salespeople to sell/quote? What is the best practice for setting up the CRM Products to
                                  • Mapping Zoho Subscription Plans and Products to CRM and Books

                                    We have products that are one time products and subscription products.   1) We would like to have the ability to create an opportunity in CRM that includes both one-time charge products and subscription products.  Currently the only way of creating a subscription product is by defining a "Product->Plan" hierarchy in Zoho Subscription.  It appears that the only SYNC between Subscription and CRM is around contacts and the Product->Plan hierarchy doesn't sync to CRM, thus, you would need a duplicate
                                  • Zoho People Attendance Module - Split Shifts

                                    Hello, Our business employs a number of college students who often split their workdays between work hours and class schedules, resulting in split shifts. For example: Employee 1 works 9am to 11:30am and then leaves for class, returning to work at 3pm
                                  • Bulk update fields based on date

                                    Hi! I need all the quotes with "Quote Stage" set to "Next Year" to update to "Draft" every January 8 (every year). Can you help?
                                  • Target for a campaign

                                    Hi, Hope you can help me. I need to create a report (for a marketing campaign) that combines Deals and Contacts to export all the contacts with closed deals. I can easily do that, what I cannot do is to remove from the target the contacts that have more
                                  • Zoho Desk + Jira integration - Email notifications and comments posted by administrator instead of real user

                                    Dear All, I set up the integration under my admin account, and now when users leave comments in Jira (to created tickets in Zoho Desk), the email notifications show that the ‘Administrator’ left a comment, not a real user. The same happens in the ticket
                                  • Celebrating the power of visuals

                                    On World Photography Day, we would like to highlight the power of visuals in customer service. Visuals promote learning and understanding in less time. A photograph can rekindle a memory, convey more than words, and give a fresh perspective. How does
                                  • Customer address in Zoho Bookings

                                    Hello,  Is it possible to add customer address information to the Zoho bookings appointment screen? Or have it pull that information automatically from the CRM? We are wanting to use this as a field management software but it is difficult to pull the address from multiple sources when it would be ideal to have a clickable address on the appointment screen that opens up the user's maps.  It would also be advantageous for the "list view" to show appointment times instead of just duration and booking
                                  • Blocking / black listing customers

                                    Hi, We have a situation, we observed that certain customers are blocking multiple appointments with our advsiors but not showing up. Some of these are repeat offenders. This leads to those service hours getting blocked and not available for genuine customers.
                                  • Option to block bookings from specific email address or ip adresss in zoho booking

                                    Sometime few of our client keep booking irrelevant booking service just to resolve their queries and they keep booking it again and again whenever they have queries. Currently its disturbing our current communication process and hierarchy which we have
                                  • Feature Request: Email Templates for notifications accross all services

                                    Currently in Zoho Bookings, email notifications (such as booking confirmations, reminders, and cancellations) must be customized individually for each service. This becomes time-consuming and error-prone when managing multiple services that require consistent
                                  • Allow customers to choose meeting venue and meeting duration on booking page

                                    My business primarily involves one-to-one meetings with my clients. Given the hybrid-work world we now find ourselves in, these meetings can take several forms (which I think of as the meeting "venue"): In-person Zoom Phone call I currently handle these
                                  • Approval-based booking with Zoho Creator and Zoho Bookings

                                    Hi community members, We have developed a workaround for approval-based booking using Zoho Creator and Zoho Bookings! This provides a temporary solution as we work on the native feature, and it's useful for anyone needing an approval workflow when confirming
                                  • Member Accounts in Related List

                                    Hi Team, Currently, when a parent account is associated with an account in FSM, there is no related list displaying the associated member accounts under the parent account’s related list section. To view member accounts, I have to manually search using
                                  • how do i remove a specific Zoho Service from my account

                                    I no longer need Zoho CRM, ZRM Assist nor ZRM BugTracker. How do I remove them from the list of apps for my account?
                                  • I Want migarte all invoice details to zoho sheets

                                    I want to migrate all existing invoice details to Zoho Sheet, and automatically update the sheet whenever a new invoice is created.
                                  • were can i find my invoices i need this for my accountant

                                    were can i find my invoices i need this for my accountant, how can i get id direct to my email?
                                  • ONLY email field not populating Writer fillable document (randomly)

                                    I have a Zoho Writer fillable document that has pulled all my data from my Zoho Sheets file, EXCEPT the email column. It pulled every data before and after that column with no issues. Screenshots attached. It's not my first time using the app or the feature,
                                  • My number is marked as spam

                                    Hello Zoho Mail Support, My phone number was incorrectly flagged as “spam” during sign-up. This is my personal number, and I have not engaged in any spam activities. Kindly review and verify my account so I can proceed with my email setup. Thanks.
                                  • Personnalisation des paramètres dans Zoho Mail

                                    Pourquoi cela compte-t-il ? La personnalisation des paramètres dans Zoho Mail permet aux administrateurs de configurer l’environnement de messagerie en fonction des besoins spécifiques de leur organisation. Que ce soit pour alléger l’interface pour certaines
                                  • How To Save Data Into Zoho CRM Sandbox

                                    Hi Community, I want to save data into my zoho sandbox , for this I am using this api endpoint - https://www.zohoapis.com/crm/v8/Patients but I am getting this error - { "success": false, "message": "Zoho API request failed", "error": { "code": "INVALID_MODULE",
                                  • Automate pushing Zoho CRM backups into Zoho WorkDrive

                                    Through our Zoho One subscription we have both Zoho CRM and Zoho WorkDrive. We have regular backups setup in Zoho CRM. Once the backup is created, we are notified. Since we want to keep these backups for more than 7 days, we manually download them. They
                                  • Question about retrieving unsubscribed contacts (outside of lists) via API

                                    Hello, I am currently using Zoho Marketing Automation and would like to integrate it with our company’s core system. For this purpose, I am exploring the API options available to retrieve contact information. Specifically, I would like to know if there
                                  • Getting “mandatory field missing: Service_Line_Items” When Creating Work Order via Zoho Flow Deluge

                                    Hi Team, I’m trying to create a Work Order in Zoho FSM with only a Service Line Item (no Parts). However, I keep getting this error: Work Order Response: {"code":"MANDATORY_NOT_FOUND","details":{"api_name":"Service_Line_Items"},"message":"required field
                                  • Next Page