Follow-up messages keep you in touch with clients after an appointment without you having to remember. A few days after a visit Booklink can check in, send aftercare notes, remind the client to book again, or ask for a review. You set them up per offering, up to three each, and they go out by email and, if you choose, by WhatsApp. Follow-up messages are a Pro feature.
Setting up follow-ups on an offering
- 1
Open the offering
Go to Offerings (under Manage in the sidebar), open the offering and choose Follow-up messages in the menu on the left of the page. It has its own section, just below Booking instructions. - 2
Add a follow-up
Click Add follow-up and choose the type: Check-in, Aftercare, Rebook or Review. Each offering can have up to three follow-ups. - 3
Choose when it goes out
Set how many days after the appointment it is sent (1 to 180) and the hour of the day. The hour is in your business timezone and starts at 09:00. - 4
Write your message
Add up to 250 characters in your own words, for example how to look after a new colour or when the next service is due. Leave it empty to send the standard line shown for that type. The preview shows the WhatsApp message and the email as your client will see them. On WhatsApp the message is laid out with line breaks and the name of the offering in bold. - 5
Choose WhatsApp
Email is always sent when the client has an email address. Switch on Also send by WhatsApp to send the message there too. WhatsApp follow-ups also need WhatsApp switched on for your business (see WhatsApp notifications in Settings). The WhatsApp message carries a header image: the image of the offering when it has one and is bookable on your booking page, otherwise your booking page card with your business name, logo and brand colours. The dialog shows the credit cost and an estimate of how many clients a month it will reach. - 6
Save
Click Done in the dialog, then click Save on the save bar at the bottom of the page. A follow-up only takes effect once the offering is saved.
Only new appointments get follow-ups
Follow-ups are planned for appointments that end after you save. Earlier appointments do not get them. Classes booked through a program or course do not get follow-up messages yet. If you change a follow-up later, messages that have not gone out yet use the new wording and timing.Same follow-ups on several offerings
Use Copy to other offerings on the card to give other offerings the same follow-ups. This replaces any follow-ups those offerings already have. Save your changes first: the button is off while the page has unsaved changes.The four types
- Check-in (Service message): asks how the visit went. On WhatsApp the client can answer with one tap: All good or Not happy.
- Aftercare (Service message): care instructions or next steps after the visit. The client can reply with questions.
- Rebook (Promotional message): reminds the client to book their next visit, with a Book now button that opens this offering on your booking page. You can add one of your active coupons; its code is added to the message and filled in when they book.
- Review (Promotional message): asks for a review, with a Leave a review button. Add your review link first under Messages in the Settings section of the sidebar, in the Follow-up messages card. It can be your review page on any site, such as Google, Capterra or Hellopeter. Until a review link is set, the button opens your booking page instead.
Review requests go to every client
Review requests are not limited to clients who answered All good. Google does not allow businesses to ask only happy customers for reviews, so Booklink asks everyone the same way.When a follow-up is skipped
Booklink checks each follow-up again just before it goes out and skips it when it no longer makes sense:
- Already rebooked: a Rebook follow-up is skipped when the client already has an upcoming or newer booking for that offering.
- They came back before it went out: when the same client finishes another visit of the same offering, the follow-ups still waiting from the earlier visit are skipped and the new visit gets its own. Regular clients do not get a message after every single visit.
- The client opted out of follow-ups.
- There is no email address and WhatsApp cannot be used: it is off on the follow-up, WhatsApp is not switched on for your business, or the client has no number.
- WhatsApp was the only way to reach the client and there were not enough credits.
- The booking was cancelled, or the follow-up was removed from the offering.
- Your account is no longer on Pro, or you paused all follow-ups.
The booking shows the reason next to each skipped follow-up.
What WhatsApp follow-ups cost
Email follow-ups are included in Pro. WhatsApp follow-ups use credits from your WhatsApp balance, and the cost depends on the type:
- Check-in and Aftercare are Service messages: 1 credit (R0.30) per client.
- Rebook and Review are Promotional messages: 4 credits (R1.20) per client. WhatsApp charges businesses more for promotional messages.
If you run out of credits, the WhatsApp message is not sent and the email still goes. If WhatsApp reports that a follow-up message failed, its credits go back to your balance and show as a refund in your credit history.
Replies and Not happy alerts
When a client taps All good, they get a short thank you and the booking shows their answer.
When a client taps Not happy, the account owner gets an email and a "Client not happy" push notification in the Booklink app, the client is told you will be in touch, and the booking is marked Not happy. Get back to them quickly: a fast, personal reply often turns the visit around.
If a client types a reply to a recent Booklink WhatsApp message (within about 30 days), including reminders and confirmations, we email it to the account owner with a link to answer on WhatsApp from your own phone. Booklink does not have an inbox for replying from inside the app.
Clients who do not want follow-ups
Every follow-up email has an unsubscribe link, and on WhatsApp a client can reply STOP. Either way they stop getting follow-up messages from your business. Booking confirmations and reminders still go to them. The WhatsApp reply to STOP tells the client they can reply START to turn follow-ups back on.
A client can change their mind in two ways:
- Reply START on WhatsApp. The whole message must be START. Replying to one of your messages turns follow-ups back on for your business. A plain START turns back on the business the client stopped most recently.
- Use the link in any follow-up email. The page it opens has a Turn follow-ups back on button.
The client page shows whether follow-ups are on or off and, if they are off, when it happened and whether it was the client or your team. You can switch follow-ups off for a client yourself. You cannot switch them back on for a client who opted out themselves, only the client can. If you switched a client off yourself, the client turning follow-ups back on does not undo that.
Seeing and cancelling follow-ups on a booking
Open a booking to see its Follow-ups card. Each follow-up shows its type, the date and time it goes out, the channels, and a status:
- Planned: the appointment has not ended yet.
- Scheduled: waiting to go out.
- Sent, Delivered or Read: how far the message got.
- Skipped, with the reason.
- Cancelled or Failed.
To stop one follow-up for this booking only, click Cancel on a Planned or Scheduled row and confirm. This cannot be undone.
The Booklink mobile app shows the same list on each booking. Cancelling is done on the web.
Pausing all follow-ups
Go to Messages in the Settings section of the sidebar and find the Follow-up messages card. Switch on Pause all follow-ups to stop every follow-up from going out, for example while you are closed. Your follow-ups stay set up on each offering, and messages that fall due while paused are skipped. The same card holds your review link and lists the offerings that have follow-ups.