Xola can automatically send emails and/or text messages (SMS) to your customers on your behalf, helping you stay connected without lifting a finger. You have full control over when and how these messages are sent by adjusting your Notification preferences in the Settings tab of your Xola account.
These automated communications are triggered at different stages of your customer’s journey — from the moment they make a reservation with you to after their experience has ended. For example, Xola can send a confirmation email immediately after a purchase is made, follow up with reminders before the experience takes place, notify guests about any changes to their reservation, and even prompt them to leave a review once their visit is complete.
This system helps ensure your customers feel informed and taken care of every step of the way.
User Access: Admin roles have access to Notification Preferences in Xola. To grant access to users, click here.
What's covered in this article:
- How to change your notification preferences
- Purchase request emails/SMS
- Purchase confirmation emails/SMS
- Purchase reminder emails/SMS
- Customer emails displayed in Google Products
- Purchase update emails/SMS
- Purchase canceled emails/SMS
- Other types of automatic emails/SMS
How to change your notification preferences
Email communications will be automatically set up the first time you create an Experience.
To set up SMS communication, you will first enable it through the App Store by navigating to App Store > Text Communication (SMS) > Click Install > Agree to the terms of service.
Note: If you need help accessing this feature, you can contact support@xola.com.
Once you have created an Experience and enabled your account for SMS, you can follow the steps below to configure automatic Email and SMS notifications.
- Navigate to Settings > Notifications.
- Under Sent to My Customers, use the toggles for confirmations and notifications you would like to send to your customers via Email and/or SMS.
You can also override the default timing on some of the notifications that go out to your customers. To learn more about this, please click here.
The remainder of the article will show you examples of each email and SMS sent to your Customers:
Purchase request email/SMS
If you have a Manual Accept Experience enabled, your Customers will receive the following email when they make a purchase:
Subject Line: Purchase Request: [Tour Name] on [Tour Date]
Purchase confirmation email/SMS
Each purchase after it is made and/or approved will be sent the following confirmation email/SMS:
Subject Line: Purchase Confirmed: [Tour Name] on [Date]([Confirmation Code ])
Purchase reminder email/SMS
Xola can be configured to send out a reminder email the day before the tour:
Subject Line: Reminder - ([Confirmation Code ])[Tour Name] on [Date]
Note: Any email sent to the tour's non-organizer will NOT include any of the payment summaries.
Customer Emails Displayed in Google Products
Xola now sends structured data in confirmation and reminder emails that Google processes to show information and actions in Google products like Gmail, Outlook, Google Calendar, etc. This may (depending on their settings) automatically add an event to your Customer's Google Calendar, generate contextual cards shown when the event is coming up, and/or appear in relevant search results.
Here is an example of how a confirmation email appears in Outlook:
Here is an example of a Google-generated calendar event based on the confirmation email:
Purchase update email/SMS
When you modify a purchase, you can choose to send your Customer a notification email and/or SMS informing them of the changes. The email below reflects the change to a reservation time.
Subject: Your purchase has been updated ([Confirmation Code ])
Purchase canceled email/SMS
If you cancel a purchase, Xola can be configured to send your Customer communication notifying them of the cancellation and any applicable refunds.
Subject line: Purchase Canceled: [Experience Title] on [Date + Time]
Other types of automatic emails/SMS
These emails are only sent if you have these features turned on in your Xola account: