A pre-stay e-mail is generally sent to your customers to :
reassure them of their choice: "Here's why you were right to book with us..."
tell them how much they are expected: "We can't wait to welcome you ..."
offer them new benefits (features to come at elloha)
and anything else you can think of, as long as it makes a good impression on your customers and makes them feel welcome and valued! Isn't that the best way to establish a great relationship with them?
This Pre-Stay e-mail is sent automatically to your customers - by us and under your signature - with a record delivery rate of 99.9%. Customers who have booked directly from your elloha booking engine and those who have booked through OTAs such as Booking.com or Expedia, if you have activated the channel manager function on your elloha account, will be eligible to receive this e-mail.
NB: For Airbnb customers, the platform does not send us customer emails "for confidentiality reasons". De facto, Airbnb customers do not receive these communications from elloha. This needs to be put into pace, also on Airbnb: https: //www.airbnb.fr/help/article/2897
19 STEPS
1. To create your personalised messages, go to the new menu called "E-mails" in the Marketing section.
2. You can create as many templates as you like by clicking on "Add a template". All you need to do is define whether it's a "pre-stay" message or a "post-stay" message. Don't forget to give your template a name.
3. For example, here the template will be called"Customer Welcome Message".
4. Once in the message editor, your screen is divided into two parts. On the left, you'll find your parameter fields.
5. On the right, you'll instantly see what your customers will receive.
6. Let's get started! First of all, you can customise the sender's name. You can use the name of your business or the name of one of your colleagues. For example: Cécile de élloha!
7. You can also personalise the subject of your message. For example: "Welcome to our home!" or "Only 2 days left before we welcome you!
8. Decide how soon you want your customer to receive this welcome message. In this example, it should be sent 2 days before their arrival.
9. Then indicate the time you want the message to be sent.
10. If necessary, specify the address to which you would like your customers to reply. You may wish to indicate an address other than your personal address. For example, the e-mail address of your team of receptionists.
11. Indicate whether you want to call your customer by their first name, or by their first name and surname. Or if you don't want any personalisation. If your customer file does not contain a first name, only "Hello" will be displayed in the message.
12. By default, we offer you a basic text. But you can modify it as you wish and replace it with your own text.
13. Once you have typed your new text, you can translate it into the languages of your choice.
14. This way, when your customer is identified as English, they will receive your message in their native language.
15. You can also display your own logo using the one you have saved in elloha, in the "My Account" menu.
16. You will also notice that, without any effort on your part, elloha automatically reminds your customer of their booking details.
17. Your email template is now ready. All you have to do now is save it.
18. One last detail: remember to activate this template. That way,your messages will automatically be sent to the right people throughout the year.
19. You can change the content and settings of your email template by clicking on "Edit template".
Finally, if you want to stop this message being sent during a certain period, simply deactivate it.
Here's an interactive tutorial
To create your first Pre-Stay e-mail:
Click on e-Mail in the Main Menu on the left of your screen,
Then enter the name of your e-mail template,
And indicate that it is a Pre-Stay message type,
Then click on Create,
On the next screen, at the top of the page, you will be systematically reminded of the type of message in the settings page for your e-mail template,
Your screen is divided into two parts:
on the left, your personalisation rules,
on theright, what your customer will see,
In this settings page, on the left-hand side, a text field allows you to change the name of the template; this field is mandatory,
Another text field lets you define the sender's name : by default, this field displays the name of your establishment, but you can change it (e.g. Cécile from L'Auberge du Bon Vivant!)
Finally, a text field is used to define the subject of the Pre-Stay email template. By default, this field contains the phrase We look forward to welcoming you!
For the subject of your e-mail, you can translate this text by clicking on the Translations link. A window will appear giving you the option of adding a translation of this text. This works in the same way as for text translations in the rest of the elloha account, with the option of using Google Translate for automatic translation.
You can also select one or more offers from among the others, for which your email will be sent. If you do not select an offer, the email will be sent for all bookings by default.
The next 2 fields allow you to specify when the e-mail should be sent.
The 1st field allows you to calculate the sending date by specifying the number of days before the customer's arrival before the e-mail is sent.
It should be noted that when a booking includes several file lines, the minimum start date of the stay for all these file lines is used.
On the other hand, if a customer has booked on the same day or for a period of fewer days than this, they will not receive this type of message
The second field is used to define the time at which the e-mail is sent.
A text field is used to define the e-mail address that will appear at the end of the Pre-Stay e-mail sent, so that the customer can contact you again if necessary.
This address may be different from the one you use to manage your elloha account (e.g. your elloha account contains your personal address whereas the one you enter here will be that of your receptionist)
A drop-down list allows you to choose the name used for the customer. Several values are available in this list:
First name, which will give a name like Hello John,
First name and surname, for a name such as Hello John Doe. If only the last name is entered in the booking (first name absent when a file is entered by the service provider), there is no name: simply Hello,
There is no customisation to allow the name to be simply "Bonjour".
Finally, a text field offering formatting options is used to define the body of the Pre-Stay email template.
A text is proposed by default when you create a pre-stay email template. You can, of course, personalise this text according to the information you wish to give your customer.
You can translate this text by clicking on the Translations link.
On the right-hand side of your settings page, you'll find a preview block where you can see the email that will be sent to the customer. Don't forget to save your changes so that this preview is updated.
This preview corresponds exactly to the Pre-Stay email that will be sent.
You can delete an email template by clicking on the relevant button.
A message will be displayed asking you to confirm your choice.
In addition, in the main menu of these personalised e-mail templates, you can activate or deactivate the templates of your choice, bearing in mind that, by default, a personalised e-mail template is deactivated.