The client journey

The timeline

Between a request landing in your inbox and a client walking out with a tattoo, Maelo sends a lot of email so that you do not have to. This page is the whole arc in order, so you can see what your client is getting and when, and where you can change it.

Every step below is triggered by something you or the client actually did. Nothing goes out on a schedule of its own except the reminders and follow-ups, which you can retime or switch off. All of them are edited in Settings, Notifications, Client Notifications.

The request arrives

The moment someone submits your booking form, three things happen at once. The request appears in your Inbox. A client record is created for them, or their existing one is matched by email. And a message thread is opened between you, so you can reply without setting anything up.

The client gets Request Submitted, subject "Your request to [your name] has been received", which tells them they will hear back once you have looked at it and gives them a way into their Client Hub. In the hub their request reads Under Review, and until you quote they can still edit it or withdraw it.

You quote, or you decline

Approving a request and sending a quote sends Quote Sent, subject "New Quote from [your name]", carrying the sessions and prices you set. Their request in the hub changes to "approved, ready to book" and the sessions become bookable.

Change something afterwards and the client is told what specifically changed, rather than getting a vague update. There is a separate email for a location change, for a price or deposit change, for a change to the times on offer, and for handing them your calendar to pick from. Change several things at once and they get one Quote Updated instead.

Declining sends Request Declined, subject "Update on your request from [your name]". If you picked a saved decline reason or wrote a note, that is what they read. If you did not, they get a short, polite default.

If the quote goes out and the client does nothing, Maelo nudges them. The Quote Follow-up is sent 3 days after the quote by default, and only if they have not responded. You can change the wording, change the number of days, or add a second nudge later. There is also a Quote Reminder you send by hand from the approval overview, for a client who needs a personal push rather than an automatic one.

They pick a date and pay

The client schedules from your real availability in the hub and pays their deposit by card. That single act does the rest: the session is confirmed, the appointment appears on your Calendar, and the money shows up on Financial.

They get Booking Confirmed, subject "Your booking with [your name] is confirmed", with the payment details on it, plus a receipt for what they paid. You get your own alert that the deposit landed. If you take no deposit on a session, they still get the confirmation, just without a charge.

Before the day

Two reminders run by default. An Appointment Reminder goes out 3 days before, and a second one goes out on the day itself. Both carry the date and time and a link straight to the appointment, so a client who has lost the details never has to ask.

If you require a waiver, they get a direct link to sign it, and the card on their booking reads Appointment waiver required until they do. Getting that out of the way before the day is the single biggest time saver in the chain.

When something changes

Changes to a booked session always tell the client, whichever side made them:

• Rescheduling sends Appointment Rescheduled with the new details.
• Cancelling sends Appointment Cancelled with the original booking on it.
• Moving a booked session elsewhere sends Location Changed.
• Answering a client who asked for different times sends New Times Offered.
• Messaging a client sends New Message one minute later. Delete the message inside that minute and no email goes out, and a burst of replies in the same minute is one email.

Cancellations and reschedules are sent whatever your notification settings say, because they concern work that is booked and paid for. That is deliberate, and it is why those two have no switch.

After the session

A Healing Check-in goes out 7 days after the appointment, asking how the tattoo is settling and inviting a healed photo. It is the one email in the chain that exists to bring people back rather than to move a booking along, so it starts switched off. Turn it on once you have rewritten it in your own voice.

For the editor itself, what you can change and what the variables do, see Client notifications.