7. Customer notifications

On this page: You check how booking details reach your customers. It covers showing the booking time in Shopify's order confirmation email, and using Shopify Flow for reminders and other messages.

How booking messages are sent

Marutto Booking doesn't send emails to customers itself. Booking messages go out through Shopify's notification emails and Shopify Flow.

When	Message to the customer	What you need to do
A booking is confirmed	Shopify's order confirmation email	To show the booking time in the email, edit the notification template (steps below)
24 hours before the booking	A message sent with Shopify Flow (Pro)	Create and turn on a workflow in Flow
A booking is cancelled	A message sent with Shopify Flow (Pro)	Same as above
A booking is rescheduled	A message sent with Shopify Flow (Pro)	Same as above
After the visit	A message sent with Shopify Flow (Pro)	Same as above
A waitlisted slot opens up	No automatic message	Contact the customer yourself
A customer hasn't visited for a while	Outreach using Shopify customer tags (Pro)	Turn on customer tag sync

Show the booking time in the order confirmation email

When a customer books, the order line gets a "Booking date & time" property ("予約日時" on Japanese storefronts). Shopify's standard order confirmation email doesn't show line item properties. To show the booking time, add some code to the notification template.

1. In your Shopify admin, go to "Settings" → "Notifications" and open "Order confirmation" under customer notifications

2. Click "Edit code"

3. In the template, search for {% if line.selling_plan_allocation %}. The part that lists the order lines appears several times (three times in the standard template). Paste the following code just before each match

   {% for p in line.properties %}
     {% assign first_character_in_key = p.first | truncate: 1, '' %}
     {% unless p.last == blank or first_character_in_key == '_' %}
       <br/><span class="order-list__item-variant">{{ p.first }}: {{ p.last }}</span>
     {% endunless %}
   {% endfor %}

4. Click "Save"

This code shows the line item properties whose names don't start with _. The properties Marutto Booking uses internally all start with _, so of the properties the app adds, only "Booking date & time" appears in the email.

Each language has its own notification template

If your store uses more than one language, edit the template for the language your customers receive. Editing only the English template won't add the booking time to emails sent in Japanese, and vice versa.

Use a real order to check it

The preview in the template editor uses a sample order without line item properties, so the booking time won't appear there. After saving, make a new booking, or resend the order confirmation from the timeline of an existing order.

Send messages with Shopify Flow (Pro)

On Pro, Marutto Booking sends triggers to Shopify Flow. Build workflows in Flow to automate emails, SMS, staff notifications and more.

Trigger	When it's sent	Example uses
Booking confirmed	Right after a booking is confirmed by payment or manual entry	Acknowledge the booking, let staff know
Booking cancelled	Right after a booking is cancelled from the admin, the customer's My Page or an order cancellation	Confirm the cancellation
Booking rescheduled	Right after a booking's date or time changes in the admin or on My Page. Once for every change	Confirm the new time, let staff know
24 hours before the booking	Once, 24 hours before a confirmed booking starts. The timing can't be changed	A reminder before the visit
After the visit	Once, about 2 hours after a confirmed booking ends. Not sent if the booking was marked as a no-show before then	Thank-you messages, review requests, invitations to book again

There's also a trigger for when you mark a booking as a no-show.

Each trigger includes the Shopify customer, the customer's name, email and phone, the booking time, menu, staff, location and address, a link to My Page and more. To email customers, use these triggers in Shopify's marketing automations. Triggers aren't sent for bookings that can't be matched to a Shopify customer, such as manual bookings added without choosing a customer.

How to set it up, the full list of fields and how to use marketing automations are in 9. Automate with Shopify Flow.

The 24-hour reminder is sent only while a workflow is turned on

If no workflow in Flow uses the "24 hours before the booking" trigger, or that workflow is off, no reminder is sent. You can check the status under "Shopify Flow integration" on the "Booking rules" tab in "Settings".

Contacting waitlisted customers

The app doesn't send waitlisted customers any automatic notification. Customers are told when they join: "The store will contact you if this time opens up."

When a slot opens, the waitlist entry on the Bookings page shows "Slot opened". Contact the customer and keep track with "Mark as contacted", "Create booking" and "Close" (5. Manage bookings).

Repeat-visit outreach (Pro)

On Pro, you can tag lapsed customers, customers without a second visit, regulars and customers with a no-show history in Shopify. Use those tags as conditions to reach customers through Shopify Email, customer segments or automatic discounts. The settings are covered in 6. Customers and customer records.

Point customers to My Page

On My Page, customers can check, cancel and reschedule their bookings. Put the My Page URL (https://(your store's domain)/apps/booking/mypage) in your store's menu or in emails to customers, so they can look up their bookings themselves. What customers can do there is in 4. Add the calendar to your store.

The Shopify Flow triggers include a link to My Page, so you can put it in messages you send with Flow.