How communication works
The model behind every message Schedulinq sends — flows, steps, moments, and who a message is written for.
Schedulinq sends your customers messages: a confirmation, a reminder, an invoice. None of it is fixed — you decide what goes out, down to "business customers get this wording, consumers get that".
This page explains the model. Read it once before you change anything; every other screen in this chapter then explains itself.
You will find all of it under Communication → Steps.
The timeline reads top to bottom: each block is a moment, and inside each moment are the messages that go out then.
Three flows
Messages belong to one of three things that happen in Schedulinq. Those are the flows, and the first row of buttons switches between them.
- Flow — Appointment, Invitation or Invoice.
- Recipient — whether you are looking at what the customer gets, or what your own organisation gets.
- Appointment type — see what would actually send for one specific service.
| Flow | Is about | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Appointment | A confirmed appointment | Confirmation, reminder, cancellation, change |
| Invitation | An invitation to book a slot | The invitation itself, a reminder, its expiry |
| Invoice | An issued invoice | The invoice, payment reminders, thanks-for-paying |
Each flow has its own timeline with its own moments.
The invitation flow runs until the customer books — or until the invitation expires.
Invoices have no recipient buttons and no appointment-type filter: an invoice is not tied to a service.
A step
One message is a step. A step fixes four things, and nothing more:
When
The momentThe orange label at the top of the block — When appointment is created, 1 day before appointment. Some moments are immediate ("as soon as this happens"), others sit a chosen time before or after the anchor.
Moments with a time in them are the only ones you can move. When appointment is cancelled happens at the cancellation and nowhere else; 1 day before can become 2 hours or 3 days.
How
The channelE-mail, SMS or WhatsApp. The channel is the first thing on every message.
The channel belongs to the step, not to your organisation. So you can have the same reminder as an e-mail and as an SMS — those are two steps, and the customer gets both.
To whom
The recipientThe customer, your organisation, or the staff assigned to the appointment.
What
The contentA subject and body, per language your company supports, with details from the appointment filled in.
When a step sends
Every moment belongs to exactly one flow. These are all of them:
| Flow | Moment | When |
|---|---|---|
| Appointment | When appointment is created | As soon as the appointment is booked |
| Appointment | Around the appointment | A chosen time before or after the appointment |
| Appointment | When appointment is cancelled | As soon as it is cancelled |
| Appointment | When appointment is rescheduled | When the start time changes |
| Appointment | When appointment is edited | When something else changes: duration, service, add-ons or location |
| Invitation | When invitation is created | As soon as you send the invitation |
| Invitation | Relative to invitation creation | A chosen time after sending |
| Invitation | When invitation expires | After the last reminder has been and gone |
| Invoice | When invoice is issued | On sending, with the PDF attached |
| Invoice | Around the due date | A chosen time after issuing |
| Invoice | When invoice is paid | As soon as the invoice is marked paid |
Who a message goes to
Not every message is for the customer. The second row of buttons shows you the other side of the same flow.
Internal notifications are separate from what the customer receives. You can change them, or leave them out, independently.
- Customer — the person the appointment is for.
- Organisation — you, at your general address.
- Assigned team — the staff carrying out the appointment.
Who a message is written for
This is the part that repays the most attention, and the only part that is not obvious. A step can be narrowed in two ways, independently of each other.
By appointment type
A step covers all your services by default. You can narrow it to particular appointment types — a preparation e-mail that only belongs with an installation, for instance.
Pick a service here to view the timeline as it applies to that one service.
Filter by appointment type to see what would really send for that one service. The specific label marks a message that applies to this type alone.
By kind of customer
Independently of that, you can write a step for consumers or for business customers. Leave it unset and it serves both.
Two confirmations at the same moment. The lower one is for business customers only and therefore carries a label; the unlabelled message is for everyone.
A company and a private customer read differently. Without this split you would have to duplicate your whole catalogue just to address them differently — a duplication that has nothing to do with your services.
Which one wins
When several messages exist for the same moment, channel and recipient, the most specific one wins. In this order:
- A message for this appointment type beats one for all types.
- If they are equal there, a message for this kind of customer beats one for everybody.
Appointment type counts for more, because it decides whether a message is relevant at all. The kind of customer only decides how it is written.
What you cannot switch off
Five messages to the customer are required, and always keep at least one version that covers all your services:
- the invitation
- the appointment confirmation
- the cancellation
- the reschedule
- the change
You can edit them, switch their channel, and add specific variants alongside. You just cannot remove the last general version — that would let a customer lose an appointment without anyone telling them.
Where you change all this
Click a message to open it, or use Add message inside a moment to add one. What you find in that editor — channel, timing, wording, merge fields and attachments — belongs to the guide on editing a step.
The rest of this chapter covers the channels and the sender: connecting WhatsApp, sending from your own domain, and the branding of your e-mails.
Frequently asked questions
Will my customer now get two confirmations? Only if you have two messages that both apply to them, for example one by e-mail and one by SMS. A specific message replaces the general one, so that never produces two.
I changed a message and nothing changed. Check whether a more specific message sits above yours: a version for this appointment type, or for this kind of customer. Filter by the appointment type in question and you will see exactly what would send for that service.
Why can I not see the recipient row? It only appears when messages exist for more than one recipient. Invoices also have no appointment-type filter, because an invoice is not tied to a service.
What happens to messages that were already scheduled? If you delete a step, the reminders still queued for it are cancelled — they will not go out after all. Messages that were already sent stay as history and do not come back.