Client Notifications

Owned by David McAuley (Unlicensed)
Last updated: 14-07-2020
5 min read

Overview

RTBS allows Activity Operator users to send a reminder text or follow-up email to clients about to embark on or having recently finished a tour or experience.

What is required to use this functionality?

For reminder text messages, the Activity Operator must have a contract in place to use the SMS notification functionality, which will specify a set charge per text sent.
Standard email follow-ups can be sent without any additional requirements.
To send MailChimp email follow-ups requires an active paid MailChimp account linked to an in-credit Mandrill account (MailChimp's partner product for sending event-driven emails).

How it Works

To set up a new Notification, head to Setup Your Business → Notifications.
Click the [+] button and select from the choice of three notification types.

SMS Reminder

  • Enter a Description for the notification. This is an internal-only reference to identify it in future.

  • Use the drop list to select which Activities the notification is relevant to.

  • Set the number of hours prior to departure when the SMS reminder will be sent.

  • Use the Notification Template field to create the body of your reminder. The Booking Info Tags can be used to insert personalised booking data into the message. These tags will be replaced with the customer's real data in the notification that is sent out.

  • Once you are happy with your message, click [Save New] and the notification will be set.

Standard Email Follow-Up

  • Enter a Description for the notification. This is an internal-only reference to identify it in future.

  • Use the drop list to select which Activities the notification is relevant to.

  • Set the number of hours after departure for the email follow-up to be sent.

  • Use the Notification Template field to create the body of your email. The Booking Info Tags can be used to insert personalised booking data into the message. These tags will be replaced with the customer's real data in the notification that is sent out.

  • Once you are happy with your email, click [Save New] and the notification will be set.



MailChimp Email Follow-Up

Initial Setup
Before MailChimp emails can be sent from RTBS, the following steps must all be completed:

  1. Create a MailChimp account.

  2. Add the 'Mandrill' option to your MailChimp account.

  3. Update the Domain Name Settings (DNS) on your website.

  4. Create an API Key in Mandrill.

  5. Link your MailChimp account to RTBS.

  6. Store the Mandrill API Key in RTBS.

  7. Create email Templates in MailChimp.

  8. Send MailChimp templates to Mandrill.

1. Create a MailChimp account
Head to *https://mailchimp.com* and follow the steps to sign up for a MailChimp account.

2. Add the 'Mandrill' option to your MailChimp account
To add Mandrill, you will first need to upgrade to a monthly MailChimp account.
Once signed in to MailChimp, click your account name in the top right hand corner of the screen and select 'Account' from the drop list.

On the Overview tab, click [Upgrade Account]. Select the Monthly account option and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the upgrade process.
Once you are on a monthly plan, from the MailChimp Account page select the 'Transactional' tab and then 'Add Mandrill'.

Follow the prompts to connect Mandrill to your MailChimp account.
3. Update the Domain Name Settings (DNS) on your website
Emails sent from RTBS using Mandrill will be sent as if they have come from your own email sending domain.
To enable this you must verify ownership of the sending domain with Mandrill by updating your website DNS.
Mandrill has instructions for doing this (which may need to be done by your web developer) here: https://mandrill.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/205582247.
4. Create an API Key in Mandrill
A Mandrill API Key is required for RTBS to send emails through your Mandrill account.
In Mandrill, select Settings followed by SMTP & API Info. Click [+ New API Key], add Description "RTBS" and [Create API Key]. Make a note of the Key that is generated, as this will need to be stored in RTBS later.
5. Link Your MailChimp account to RTBS
In RTBS, head to Setup Your Business → Integrations.
Select [Settings] for MailChimp and you will be directed to a login screen for MailChimp.
Enter your MailChimp Username and Password. Once logged in, you will be automatically redirected back to RTBS.
Note: You do not need to change anything on the 'MailChimp Settings' screen that you will be returned to.
6. Store the Mandrill API Key in RTBS
In RTBS, go to Setup Your Business → Notifications.
Click [MailChimp Settings…] and a box will appear for you to enter your Mandrill API Key. Copy/paste the key from Mandrill and click [Save].
7. Create Email Templates in MailChimp
In MailChimp, select Templates and follow the on-screen prompts for creating templates.
'Merge Fields' can be added to text sections of the template that will be replaced with personalised booking data in the final email; as follows:

  • |WHEN| (Will be replaced with the date and time of their tour/experience)

  • |ACTIVITY| (Will be replaced with the Activity Name)

  • |NAME| (Will be replaced with the Guest's first and last name)

8. Send MailChimp templates to Mandrill
Once you are happy with your template, on the Templates page in MailChimp, click the [ ˅ ] button and select Send to Mandrill.

Important: Whenever the template is edited in MailChimp, it will need to be re-sent to Mandrill in order for the recipient to receive the latest version.


Create Notification
Once the steps to set up the MailChimp and Mandrill accounts and connect them to RTBS have been completed, return to Setup Your Business → Notifications.
Click the [+] button and select Create Mailchimp Email Follow Up.

  • Enter a Description for the notification. This is an internal-only reference to identify it in future.

  • Use the drop list to select which Activities the notification is relevant to.

  • Set the number of hours after departure for the email follow-up to be sent.

  • Select your choice of MailChimp Template from the drop list.

  • The MailChimp 'Merge Fields' are listed here just for reference, to use them in a MailChimp template you will need to create or edit the template in MailChimp (and then send it to Mandrill) - please see instructions in step 7 of the MailChimp Initial Setup process above).

  • Click [Save New] and the notification will be set.



Testing

To test a Notification, from the list view click the green [Test] button.

In the popup that opens, enter the recipient phone number or email address for the test alert.
You can choose to either enter your own dummy data in the fields Activity, Name and When or you can select a recent booking from the drop list and these fields will be completed automatically with data from the selected booking.

Click [Send Test] and an example of the notification will be sent to the nominated testing recipient.
Please note: Test notifications can only be triggered in the live RTBS site. In test RTBS domains, all notifications are automatically redirected to internal (WWG) recipients.