This article will show you how to schedule a post-appointment follow-up/aftercare email for clients after they've received a service or treatment.
Requesting Reviews
This article shows you how to send an after-care email for a specific service/treatment. If you are looking for information on how to automatically request reviews from your clients, check out this guide.
Note: This email will only be sent to clients who have opted in for email marketing. To learn more about getting marketing consent from your clients, check out this guide.
Feature Launch in Progress
The ability to send repeat campaigns in the current editor is being launched to all Phorest clients and will be available to everyone by the end of July 2024. If you do not see the option to Repeat your campaign, please see further down in this guide for information on using the Old Editor to create your aftercare email.
Creating Your Email
Go to Marketing > Compose Email > Choose a template to work with, or click Create Blank Email to start from scratch.
On the next screen, create the aftercare email you would like to send. You will need to create this email for either each Service or each Service Category.
It is recommended that you Rename your email to something familiar for future reference, in case you ever wish to edit it or stop it from sending.
Once you're happy with your email, click Preview Email.
Next, you will see a preview showing how the email will look on a desktop and mobile device.
If you wish, you can click Send a test to send yourself a test email. Then, click Select Recipients to continue.
Setting Your Filters
Next, you'll need to ensure the email is sent only to clients who have received a specific service or services from a specific service category.
First, if you have multiple locations in Phorest, choose whether to send the email only want to clients of This Location, All Locations, or Selected Locations. You will not see this option if you only have one location in Phorest.
You can choose All Locations if you are an active staff member in all of your locations. Click here to learn how to add staff to locations.
Next, select Filter Clients.
Keep the Match All Filters toggle on, and then choose Service History to indicate which specific Service or Service Category the aftercare email relates to.
For instance, the filter below will ensure that only clients who have received the Deluxe Facial will get the email.
Number of Days Since the Appointment
Next, select Visit History to choose how many days after the client's appointment the email should be sent.
Use the They have visited filter to specify how many days it has been since the client's appointment.
For example, setting the filter to In the last 3 Days AND More than 2 Days Ago will mean that the email will be sent 2 days after the client's appointment.
- To send the email on the day of their appointment, us In the last 1 Days AND More than 0 Days Ago.
- To send the email 3 days after the appointment, use In the last 4 Days AND More than 3 Days Ago.
- To send the email 7 days after the appointment, use In the last 8 Days AND More than 7 Days Ago.
- To send the email 14 days after the appointment, use In the last 15 Days AND More than 14 Days Ago.
- To send the email 30 days after the appointment, use In the last 31 Days AND More than 30 Days Ago.
- To send the email 60 days after the appointment, use In the last 61 Days AND More than 60 Days Ago. etc.
Click Save to save your Visit History filter, then click Show Matching Clients to Continue.
On the next screen, you will see a list of clients who currently match your filter. If you don't see any clients, that is OK. Click Next to continue.
Choose whether you want to include SMS fallback and then click Next.
Scheduling Your Campaign to Repeat Send
Lastly, change Schedule campaign to Yes.
Adjust the Date to choose when to start sending this email and set the Time to specify the time of day for sending the email.
If you are sending the message on the day of the appointment, make sure to set your sending Time to a time after the business closes. Otherwise, clients who have appointments after the sending Time will not receive the message.
Set Repeat campaign to Yes, set the Frequency to Daily Every 1 Day, and then set the Duration to Run continuously.
This means that your Phorest system will check for clients who match your filter at the specified time every day from the given Date onward. If matching clients are found, the email will be sent to them.
When you're ready, click Schedule Campaign to finish.
Stopping a Scheduled Email
If you ever wish to stop a scheduled email, check out this guide to find out how.
Using the Old Email Editor
Creating Your Email
Go to Marketing > Compose Email > Use old Email editor.
If you prefer to set this up as an SMS, choose Compose SMS instead of Compose Email.
On the next screen, create the aftercare email you would like to send. You will need to create this email for either each Service or each Service Category.
We recommend that you create it for each individual Service you wish to send an aftercare email for, as you can be more specific in your email with regards to the service that the client received.
If you're creating an email for a Service Category, it's recommended first to check the services that are in the category to make sure your email relates to all of those services.
After creating your email, click the Send Test Email and enter your email address to send a preview of this email to yourself. Once you're happy with your email, click Next.
Setting Your Filters
On the next screen, you will set your Filters to make sure the email is only sent to clients on the evening of the day of their appointment.
Click Advanced, make sure Match All Rules is checked, and then use the three rules below to ensure the email is only sent to clients on the day of their appointment:
If the Email is About a Specific Service
- Any Visit < (Days Ago) 1
- Any Visit > (Days Ago) 0
- Service Had [Service Name]
If the Email is About a Service Category
- Any Visit < (Days Ago) 1
- Any Visit > (Days Ago) 0
- Service Category Had [Service Category Name]
Sending the Email a Few Days After the Appointment
The above settings will send the email on the day of the appointment. However, feel free to adjust the Any Visit </> (Days Ago) filters if you prefer to send the email at a later stage, for example:
- 'Any Visit < (Days Ago) 2' and 'Any Visit > (Days Ago) 1' will be sent 1 day after the appointment
- 'Any Visit < (Days Ago) 3' and 'Any Visit > (Days Ago) 2' will be sent 2 days after the appointment etc.
Once you've set your filters, click Show Recipients, and you will see a list of clients who have an appointment relating to that service/service category today and who have also opted in to receive marketing emails. Click Next to continue.
The email will only be sent to clients whose appointments have been completed and paid for.
Scheduling your Email to Repeat Send
Next, you'll need to schedule Phorest to check every day to see if any clients match your conditions and for the email to be sent at a specific time (if clients are found).
Give your email a familiar name if you wish (helpful if you ever need to find and stop it from sending), then check the Schedule option.
Leave today's date as the start date and set the time you wish the email to be sent.
Set the Repeat option to Daily, repeat every 1 Day(s), and choose No end date.
To finish, click Send. From today, clients will now receive this email in the evening whenever they have had this Service (or a service from the Service Category if you selected Service Category in the filter).
Repeat this process for each Service or Service Category you wish to send an aftercare email for.
If you ever need to stop this email from sending, check out this guide to find out how.