Appointment Updates
Appointment Updates runs when an appointment is created, changes status or is rescheduled, for example when it is booked, cancelled, marked visited or marked no-show. Use it for confirmations, reminders before the appointment, follow-ups after it and alerts to the team member.
Many businesses use the built-in appointment notifications for standard confirmations and reminders, and automation rules for anything extra.
Conditions
Conditions are optional. Click Add Condition, then pick a Field, an Operator and a value. Choose All (AND) or Any (OR) under Condition Type to decide whether every condition or just one must match.
| Condition | Operators | Values |
|---|---|---|
| Contact Group | is part of all, is part of any, is not part of all | Your contact groups |
| Appointment Status | equals, not equals | Pending, Waitlisted, Booked, Visited, Rescheduled, No-Show, Cancelled |
| Appointment Type | equals, not equals | Location Visit, Home Visit, Virtual/Online Session |
| Appointment Frequency | equals, not equals | Bulk/Repeat, Individual |
| Appointment Service | equals, not equals, includes any, does not include all | Your services |
| Appointment Reschedule Type | equals, not equals | Date & Time Changed, Staff Changed, Service Changed |
| Appointment Booked From | equals, not equals | Admin Portal, Online Portal, WhatsApp, API, Bulk Import |
| Client Tags | includes any, does not include all, is part of all, is part of any, is not part of all | Your client tags |
| Contact Tags | includes any, does not include all, is part of all, is part of any, is not part of all | Your contact tags |
| Contact Stage | equals, not equals | Subscriber, Lead, Engaged, Marketing qualified lead (MQL), Sales qualified lead (SQL), Opportunity, Follow-up Required, Customer, Evangelist, Other, Lost, Inactive |
Use Appointment Status to pick the moment (for example Booked or Visited), Appointment Reschedule Type to tell a time change from a team member or service change, and Appointment Booked From to treat online and WhatsApp bookings differently.
Actions
Click Add Action and choose from Select Action. Actions run in order; use the arrows to reorder them. To delay an action, click Add wait time (or Add wait & Schedule time on template and email actions). Wait times count from the trigger event, not from the previous action.
| Action | What it does | Wait time |
|---|---|---|
| send a WhatsApp template message | Sends an approved WhatsApp template. Works outside the 24-hour session, so use it for reminders, follow-ups and anything sent later. | Minutes to months, or before or after the appointment |
| send Customer Satisfaction Survey (CSAT) | Sends a customer satisfaction (CSAT) survey. | Minutes to months, or before or after the appointment |
| Add the Contact to Group | Adds the contact to a contact group, which you can check in later conditions. | Minutes to months, or before or after the appointment |
| Remove the Contact from Group | Removes the contact from a contact group, for example so a rule does not run twice. | Minutes to months, or before or after the appointment |
| Add Client Tags | Adds tags to the client record. Needs CRM Suite. | Minutes to months, or before or after the appointment |
| Remove Client Tags | Removes tags from the client record. Needs CRM Suite. | Minutes to months, or before or after the appointment |
| Add Contact Tags | Adds tags to the contact. | Minutes to months, or before or after the appointment |
| Remove Contact Tags | Removes tags from the contact. | Minutes to months, or before or after the appointment |
| Update Contact Stage | Moves the contact to a stage, such as Lead or Customer. | Minutes to months, or before or after the appointment |
| Assign a form and request form to be filled | Assigns a form to the client and sends a WhatsApp message asking them to fill it in. Needs CRM Suite. | Minutes to months, or before or after the appointment |
| Notify Staffs via WhatsApp | Sends a WhatsApp template message to the team members you choose. | Minutes to months, or before or after the appointment |
| Notify Associated Staff via WhatsApp | Sends a WhatsApp template message to the team member the booking is with. | Minutes to months, or before or after the appointment |
| Notify Client's Primary Staff via WhatsApp | Sends a WhatsApp template message to the client's primary team member. | Minutes to months, or before or after the appointment |
| Send Email | Sends an email to the client, team members or a custom list. Marketing emails need CRM Suite; Transactional emails do not. | Minutes to months, or before or after the appointment |
| Webhooks by Whautomate | Sends the event data to your own URL (webhook). | Minutes to months |
| Add Text Client Notes | Adds a text note to the client record. Needs CRM Suite. | Minutes to months |
| Add Document Client Notes | Attaches a document to the client record as a note. Needs CRM Suite. | Minutes to months |
| Add or Update Client Custom Attributes | Adds or updates custom fields on the client record. Needs CRM Suite. | Minutes to months |
Example
Remind clients the day before
- Create a rule with the Appointment Updates trigger.
- Add the condition Appointment Status equals Booked.
- Add the action send a WhatsApp template message with your reminder template.
- Click Add wait & Schedule time and choose 1 day(s) before appointment.
Good to know
- Appointments with Turn Off Notifications & Automations for this Appointment ticked do not run any rules.
- When an appointment is cancelled or rescheduled, its pending scheduled actions (such as reminders) are cancelled, so clients do not get reminders for the old time.
- A "before appointment" wait that is already in the past when the rule runs is skipped. For example, a 1 day reminder is not sent for an appointment booked 3 hours ahead.
- Repeat bookings made in one go can use Bulk Appointments Scheduled to send one summary instead of many messages.