This is step two of setting up a Transactional email. Make sure you've read our introduction to Transactional email first.
Setting up a transactional email is a two-part process:
Step One - Creating an email template
Step Two - Connecting a trigger (these instructions)
What is a trigger?
A trigger tells Peptalkr when to send a transactional email, and defines who should receive it - with a high degree of specificity.
Triggers will only send email to patients when all conditions are met. This means that you can fully customise who, when, why and how frequently these emails and SMS are sent.
🚀 Creating a trigger
Head to the Triggers tab and press the 
button to add a new trigger.
The trigger wizard will you through the 6 steps of creating a trigger auitomatically:
Name this email trigger
Is this a Marketing message?
When should this email be sent?
Who should receive it?
How often should they receive it?
Which template should it send?
For detailed instructions on each step keep reading.
🪜 The trigger steps
Step One: Name & Kind
Give your trigger a name, and select whether it is:
Automated Recurring
Sends itself to a [patient/client] based on their interactions with your business and the various conditions they match.
A one off blast
Sends on-demand to a select group of [patients/clients] all at once. You can filter who receives it and schedule a send time.
Step Two: Marketing or non-marketing
Choose whether your message should only reach those who are in your marketing list, or is an important message that needs to reach all [patients/clients] you specify in compliance with your local laws.
Step Three: When should it send?
Choose which triggering event in Cliniko will set the wheels in motion for this message to send at just the right moment. In the next step, you’ll be able to get more specific about who receives it.
Guide to triggering events:
Trigger name | Description | Good for |
Before appointment | Sends before an appointment commences. |
|
After appointment (incl. recalls) | Sends after an appointment ends. |
|
Appointment created | Sends after an appointment is created. |
|
Appointment cancelled (incl. recalls) | Sends after an appointment is marked cancelled. |
|
Appointment marked DNA (incl. recalls) | Sends after an appointment is marked DNA. |
|
Invoice created | Sends after an invoice is created. |
|
Invoice paid | Sends after an invoice is marked paid. |
|
Medical alert added to a patient | Sends after a medical alert is added to the patient file. |
|
After a certain number of appointments | Sends 1 hour after a patient reaches a certain total number of appointments. |
|
Step Four: Filters to apply
Use filters to narrow down exactly who should receive this message. You can include or exclude your selections.
Choose from:
Businesses to target (if you have multiple businesses in your Cliniko account)
Cancellation reason (*only available for cancellation triggers)
Products (*only available for invoice triggers)
Billable items (*only available for invoice triggers)
Appointment categories
Appointment types
Practitioner seen/scheduled to see
Appointment count
Gender
How applying multiple filters works
Each filter selection you make within a category is treated with an 'OR' rule whereas the selections you make across filter categories is treated with an 'AND' rule. Learn more about this here:
Step Five: Frequency (automated recurring only)
Select whether a patient should receive a fresh copy of this message if the triggering event occurs again.
Step Six: Template
Select which transactional email template this trigger should send.
👉 You must have published your template before it will appear in the dropdown. If you forgot to do this, just select any template for now and change it to the correct template once you've published the right one.
Last Checks: Summary
Review your settings. If everything looks good, hit the finish button to save your trigger.
🟢 Turning on your trigger
You'll be taken to this screen:
Before you turn on a trigger, press the little email icon to send yourself a test - you;ll be able to check links, how it reads and anything else.
If you're happy, click the OFF switch to turn it ON.
Tutorials
Head here for some handy tutorials on making some of the most popular transactional emails.