Custom HTML Emails are only available to TimeZest subscribers on the TimeZest Professional plan.
With TimeZest's Custom HTML Emails, you can now completely customize the emails that TimeZest sends to your clients, changing the information and text contained in them, and completely controlling the style and layout to match your existing brand. And what's more, you can have as many email templates as you wish, and select which ones TimeZest uses for each appointment type. You can also control the subject lines in the emails sent.
You can access the email templates functionality by clicking the Email Templates in the navigation menu.
Basics
There are four types of email templates in TimeZest, which correspond to the four emails we send to your clients:
Notification Templates. When a scheduling request is first created, TimeZest sends a notification email to the client, which contains the link they can click to select a time.
Confirmation Templates. After your client has selected, and confirmed a time, we send them a second email, with details of the appointment, the time they've selected, and an iCalendar invitation which they can simply add into their calendar.
Reminder Templates. If you have reminders configured, TimeZest can use a reminder template for the email it sends to clients reminding them to pick a time.
Cancellation Templates. This email is sent to the client both when a member cancels an appointment, or to confirm a client's cancellation of their own appointment.
You can create as many of each type of template as you wish, to suit different requirements of your appointment types — e.g. to include different instructions, or to use different branding if you operate with more than one brand.
There are also two built-in templates, which are used by default for every existing appointment type. These cannot be edited or deleted, so you can always switch back to the TimeZest default templates if you mess up a custom template.
Creating a New Email Template
To create a new email template, go to Email Settings, and click the New Email Template button. You'll then be asked to select the type of template, and to give it a name. Both these fields are required.
If you wish to copy an existing template as the starting point for your new email template, you can do this by selecting the relevant option.
When you click Next >, you'll be able to edit the template itself:
The HTML is the entire email that TimeZest will send — it will not surround it with any additional content, so it needs to be an entirely valid HTML document. The subject line is sent as is.
To interpolate the information that TimeZest has into the template — for example, the URL clients need to click to schedule their appointment — there are variables you can include in the subject line and template, and TimeZest will replace them when it sends the email. These are values surrounded by two sets of curly braces — for example {{ ticket.id }}.
In notification, reminder and confirmation templates, you can use the following variables:
{{ ticket.id }}— the ID of the ConnectWise Manage ticket{{ ticket.summary }}— the summary of the ticket from ConnectWise Manage{{ appointment_type.name }}— the name of the appointment type — e.g. "Phone Call"{{ appointment.client_company }}— the name of the client's company, taken from ConnectWise Manage — e.g. "PopTech, Inc"{{ appointment.client_email }}— the email address of the client, taken from ConnectWise Manage — e.g. "[email protected]"{{ appointment.client_name }}— the name of the client, taken from ConnectWise Manage — e.g. "Erica Smith"{{ appointment.duration }}— the duration of the appointment, with units — e.g. "30 minutes" or "1.5 hours"{{ appointment.duration_as_adjective }}— the duration of the appointment, but in a form suitable to use as an adjective — e.g. "30-minute" or "1.5-hour"{{ appointment.scheduling_url }}— the URL to give to clients, which lets them select a time{{ appointment.technician_email }}— the email address of the member who was scheduled{{ appointment.technician_name }}— the name of the member who was scheduled
In notification and reminder templates only, you have the following additional variables:
{{ appointment.scheduling_url }}— the URL the client clicks to schedule an appointment{{ appointment_type.notification_message }}— the notification message set for the appointment type, if one is configured
In confirmation templates only, you have the following additional variables:
{{ appointment.agreed_time }}— the time the client has selected for the appointment, rendered with the day of the week — e.g. "3:30PM on Monday, 12 August 2019". This will be in the time zone the client selected.{{ appointment.time_zone }}— the name of the time zone the client was using when they chose the appointment time.{{ appointment_type.confirmation_message }}— the confirmation message set for the appointment type. This could be blank if not set.The values for any custom attributes you've set on your members, for the member who was actually scheduled. These will be in the form
{{ scheduled_member.attribute_name }}.
In cancellation templates only, you have the following additional variables:
{{ appointment_type.rescheduling_allowed }}— either true or false depending on if the appointment type permits rescheduling and cancellation.{{ appointment.cancelled_by }}— will be either the value"technician"or"client"and this indicates who cancelled the appointment.{{ appointment.cancellation_reason }}- When a member cancels an appointment after the client has selected a time, this will be the cancellation reason given in the pod. Otherwise, it will be blank.
Previewing the email
At any time, you can see exactly what the rendered email will be, by sending a preview to yourself. Click Send Preview and TimeZest will render a copy of the template as it currently stands, using sample data, and send it to your email address.
TimeZest will append [Preview] to the subject line of the preview emails, but this will not be in the emails sent to clients.
Important: Sending a preview email will not save the changes to the template. That only happens when you click Save Changes.
Using the Template
Once you've saved the template, it still won't affect any emails TimeZest sends. To instruct TimeZest to use the template for a particular appointment type, go to that appointment type, select the appropriate notification, confirmation or cancellation template, and save the appointment type. TimeZest will now use the selected template for all emails it sends out.
To use a reminder template, select it when you configure reminders.
