The waiting list
Salons with a Basic & PRO subscription have access to the waiting list feature. With a PRO subscription, it is also possible to customize the email that is sent, and customers are able to subscribe to the waiting list for multiple days a week, in addition to a specific date.
In this article, we will dive into automating the waiting list email: how to set it up, what the rules are, and what you should know.
To learn more about the fundamentals of the waiting list, please refer to this related article:
How do I enable the automated waiting list?
To set up the automated waiting list, you'll need a PRO subscription, and your user account needs the "Manager" or "Administrator" role. Log in to Salonized and navigate to the Email tab in the Marketing module.
In the Email tab of the Marketing module, look for the Waiting List email configuration, and click on Settings to enter the waiting list email builder.
Here, find the section called "When it should be sent" to access the configuration that determines the sending rules of the email.
You now have two options
Send the waiting list emails manually
Automatically send the waiting list emails
Set the option to Manual to retain control over the waiting list. Emails will never be sent automatically: you are in charge of when the email is sent and to which customer.
Set to option to Automatic to send the email out to waiting list entries whenever a spot is becomes available in the calendar. The rest of this article will further explain how this works.
When are automated waiting list emails sent?
Assuming you have the automated waiting list enabled, the email will be sent automatically when a spot becomes available in the calendar. This could happen after a few key events:
Appointment changes
An appointment is canceled
An appointment is rescheduled
The duration of a planned appointment is reduced
Changes in Absences or Chores
A chore or absence is canceled
A chore or absence is rescheduled
The duration of a planned chore or absence is reduced
Whenever a change like the above occurs, the system will automatically check if the change resulted in an available spot for any of the waiting list entries for that day, for the service(s), for the requested employee(s).
If the change resulted in an available spot for multiple waiting list entries at once, they will all receive an email at the same time!
How do I know whether the email was sent?
In the waiting list popup/list you will see a checkmark behind the name of the customer (in the "sent" column) if the email was sent. This checkmark appears if the email is sent manually or automatially
To access this list, visit the "Waiting list" tab in the Marketing page, or click on the waiting list item in the calendar, at the top of your day.
Rules & Conditions
To make sure that customers are not spammed and to make sure our system remains performant, we put some checks & rules in place that are good to know about.
The automated waiting list email is sent to customers max. once every 24 hours.
The check & sending of email is done with a delay of 5 minutes to avoid unwanted emails being sent; if you make a quick change in your calendar (e.g. rescheduling multiple appointments) the waiting list email won’t be sent if the end-result doesn’t result in available spots.
Changes in Recurring Appointments, Absences, and Chores are checked up to 31 days after the changed absence.
When making a change to a recurring event, and an available spot is created after 31 days of the event that was changed, the email won’t be sent.
The selected employee in the waiting list is a hard requirement for the email. If a spot becomes available for a different employee than is in the waiting list item, we will not send the email to the customer.
If a waiting list entry is made for multiple services, then the check for available spots is done for both services combined
A spot needs to be available for the combination of services, not one of the services in the waiting list request.
Known restrictions
Changes in the Roster/Timetable will NOT trigger the waiting list email to be sent
Changing your openings hours or staff planning will not trigger the automated waiting list to be sent.
Re-assigning a planned event to a different employee, room, or tool will NOT trigger the waiting list email to be sent.
If you assign a different employee to a service in a planned appointment, this could result in extra free time for another employee - but Salonized currently does not perform a check for this change event.
Declining an Appointment request will NOT trigger the waiting list email to be sent if this results in an available time slot.
Feedback? Let us know!
We are always very happy to hear your thoughts and feedback. Please get in touch with our support team to share your thoughts! We're happy to hear the good, the bad, and the ugly 😉