Decline reasons

Why they help

Saying no is the part of booking that eats your evening. You know the request is not for you within ten seconds, then spend twenty minutes writing something kind enough to send. Decline reasons are saved messages you pick from, so a no is never a blank page.

They are templates, not final answers. Choosing one drops its wording into the decline window, where you can change a line or add a recommendation before it goes anywhere.

They live where you use them, in the decline window itself. There is nothing to set up first: the defaults work on day one, and you can shape them as real requests come in.

The four you start with

Every account begins with four templates, covering the reasons that come up most:

• Not my style, a warm no that points the client towards an artist better suited to the piece.
• Fully booked, for when your diary is the problem rather than the idea.
• Budget mismatch, which leaves the door open if they want to rethink the scope.
• Other, deliberately blank, for the ones that need writing from scratch.

Rewrite all four in your own voice. They are a starting point, and a client can tell the difference between a message you wrote and one you did not. If you make a mess of it, Reset to defaults, at the bottom of the list when you tap Edit, puts the original set back.

Writing your own

In the decline window, tap Edit beside Why are you declining? The reasons turn into a list you can change. Tap one, or its pencil, to rename it or rewrite its message, and the bin to delete it. Add reason creates a new one: give it a short name, because the name is what you see on the button, then write the message underneath. Changes save as you go, and Done takes you back to the request you were declining, with your note exactly as you left it.

The quickest way is often to save as you work. Pick a reason, or start from blank, and adjust the note for this client. If the new wording is worth keeping, Save as new reason under the note keeps it for next time, and Update rewrites the reason you started from.

Use the Insert field button to drop in details that fill themselves in per client: their first name, your project title, a link back to their request. Anything you insert is replaced with the real value when the email sends, and a saved reason keeps the field rather than this client's name.

Using one on a request

Open a request, choose to decline it, and your templates appear as buttons under Why are you declining? Tap one to load its wording into the note, edit whatever you want, and tap Preview email if you want to see it as the client will. Edit, beside that heading, lets you change your reasons without leaving the window.

One switch decides whether the client hears from you. With Email on (it shows your client's name), Decline request sends the decline email, with your note in it if you wrote one. Switch it off and the request is declined without contacting the client at all: no email, and no alert in their hub. That is the right choice for spam and for requests that were clearly never serious.

Declined requests are kept in your archive, so a decline is never a delete. You can go back and read what you sent.

The email around it

Your chosen reason fills the message body. Everything around it, the subject line, the greeting and your branding, is the standard decline email. Preview email in the decline window shows the two together, exactly as the client will get them.

To change the subject line or the look, use Email appearance & wording, at the bottom of your reasons when you tap Edit. That opens the same editor as the rest of your system notifications.