Setting Up Tour and Appointment Notifications: Email, In-App, Text & WhatsApp

What Are Tour and Appointment Notifications?

Keep everyone in the loop when tours and appointments are scheduled, changed, or coming up. You can send automated notifications via email, text message, in-app alerts, and WhatsApp when:

• A tour is booked
• An appointment is confirmed
• Someone cancels or reschedules
• A reminder is needed before the appointment
• A follow-up is due after the visit

Send these notifications to parents, staff members, or anyone else who needs to know—like your front desk team or admissions coordinator.

Available Notification Types

You can configure six different types of notifications for your calendar:

Appointment Booked (Unconfirmed): Sent immediately when someone books a tour or appointment that needs confirmation.

Appointment Booked (Confirmed): Sent when a tour is booked as confirmed, or when you update an unconfirmed appointment to confirmed.

Cancellation: Sent when an appointment is canceled, marked as no-show, or becomes invalid.

Reschedule: Sent when the appointment date or time changes.

Reminder: Sent before the appointment—you choose how far in advance.

Follow-Up: Sent after the appointment—perfect for checking in with families or gathering feedback.

Pro Tip: Enable internal alerts for staff when a tour is booked without a meeting link or location. Go to Settings → My Staff → [Staff Name] → Notification Settings → Calendar Notifications and turn on Notify when meeting link/location is missing.

How to Set Up Appointment Notifications

Notifications are configured individually for each calendar. Here's how to set them up:

Step 1: Navigate to Calendar Notifications

1. Go to Calendar → Calendar Settings
2. Select the calendar you want to configure
3. Click the Notifications tab

[SCREENSHOT: Calendar Settings screen showing the Notifications tab selected for a specific calendar, with the list of notification types visible]

Step 2: Customize Each Notification Type

You can customize content for different recipients: parents, guests (like grandparents), staff, or additional email addresses and phone numbers. You can also disable notifications for specific recipient types if they don't need certain alerts.

Email Notifications

Click on any notification type from the list, then go to the Email tab.

1. Turn the toggle on to enable email notifications
2. Choose an existing email template or customize the subject line and body directly
3. To remove a selected template, click None in the template dropdown
4. Send a test email to see how it looks before you save

[SCREENSHOT: Email notification configuration screen showing toggle, template selector, subject line field, and email body editor with custom values dropdown visible]

Configure Timing for Reminders and Follow-Ups

For Reminders: Set how far in advance the email should be sent (e.g., 24 hours before, 1 hour before).

For Follow-Ups: Set how long after the appointment the email should go out (e.g., 2 hours after, 1 day after).

You can add multiple trigger times for each—like sending reminders at both 24 hours and 1 hour before a tour.

Click Save when you're done configuring each notification type.

Pro Tip: Create your email templates in Marketing → Emails → Templates using the Email Builder. Make sure every template has a subject line or it won't send.

In-App Notifications

In-app notifications appear right in Enrollio for your staff—great for keeping your team informed without cluttering their inbox.

1. Select a notification type and go to the In-App tab
2. Turn the toggle on
3. Choose which staff members should receive the notification
4. For Reminders and Follow-Ups, set when the notification should trigger
5. Click Save

[SCREENSHOT: In-App notification settings showing user selection checkboxes, timing configuration for reminders/follow-ups, and toggle switch]

Default Settings: For Event Calendars, account admins receive notifications by default. For other calendar types, the assigned staff member receives them.

Text Message (SMS) Notifications

Text messages are great for last-minute reminders and quick updates that parents are likely to see immediately.

1. Select a notification type and go to the SMS tab
2. Choose recipients: parents, assigned staff, or additional phone numbers
3. Select an existing text message template, edit it, or create a new one
4. Send a test message to see how it looks
5. For Reminders and Follow-Ups, configure when the message should send
6. Click Save

[SCREENSHOT: SMS notification configuration showing recipient selection, template dropdown, message preview with character count, and timing settings]

Important: Always include country codes for phone numbers (e.g., +1 for US numbers). Text messages are billed per segment, so keep them concise to manage costs.

WhatsApp Notifications

If you use WhatsApp Business, you can send appointment notifications through WhatsApp as well.

1. Select a notification type and go to the WhatsApp tab
2. Turn the toggle on
3. Choose recipients: parents, assigned staff, or additional numbers
4. Select an approved WhatsApp template for this notification type
5. Use Send Test WhatsApp Notification to preview the message
6. Click Save

[SCREENSHOT: WhatsApp notification settings showing toggle, recipient selection, approved template dropdown, and test notification button]

Requirements:

• Your WhatsApp Business Account must be connected and verified
• Only approved WhatsApp templates can be used
• Use Fetch New Templates to refresh available templates
• Always test templates before enabling them

Additional Configuration Options

Guest Notifications

If you've enabled the Add Guest function and included a custom form, you can send that form to guests (like grandparents or other family members attending the tour).

Enabling this option sends an automated email to guests with a link to complete the custom form once their appointment is confirmed.

Important: To prevent duplicate emails, make sure you don't have a separate confirmation email already set up for guests. Check this in the Notifications tab under Confirmation Notification.

Additional Recipients

Additional Emails: Add any extra email addresses (like your front desk or regional manager) who should receive notifications.

Additional Phone Numbers: Add any extra phone numbers for text message notifications. Always include country codes.

Personalizing Your Notifications

Use custom values to automatically insert appointment details into your messages. For example:

• {{contact.name}} — Parent's name
• {{appointment.start_time}} — Appointment start time
• {{appointment.calendar_name}} — Calendar name
• {{appointment.address}} — Appointment location

This makes every notification feel personal and includes all the details parents need.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can I send different notifications to parents versus staff?
Yes. You can customize content for each recipient type—parents, guests, staff, and additional contacts can all receive different messages for the same event.

Q: Can I personalize text messages with appointment details?
Absolutely. Use custom values like {{contact.name}} or {{appointment.start_time}} to automatically insert details into your messages.

Q: Do I have to enable all notification types?
No. You can pick and choose which notifications to enable. For example, you might want confirmation and reminder emails but skip follow-ups.

Q: How do text message charges work?
Text messages are billed per segment (typically 160 characters per segment). Longer messages use multiple segments, so keep them concise to manage costs.

Q: Why aren't my WhatsApp notifications working?
Make sure your WhatsApp Business Account is connected, verified, and that you're using approved templates. Click Fetch New Templates to refresh the list if needed.

Q: Can I set up multiple reminders for the same appointment?
Yes. You can add multiple trigger timings—like sending reminders at 24 hours, 2 hours, and 15 minutes before a tour.