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How to set up Pre-Arrival Email Forms

Learn how to request and view information from clients before their appointment with Pre-Arrival Email Forms.

You can now send Pre-Arrival Email Forms to clients! These forms will automatically send to clients via your Appointment Acknowledgement email based on rules that you set within Cloud.

You will need:

  • Shortcuts Fusion with Cloud (available on select Shortcuts Packages)
    • If you are not sure if Cloud is included in your package please contact our support team. 
    • If you are not sure how to access Cloud, visit pos.shortcutssoftware.com then use the same login details that you use to log in to your Online Console.  To setup access  to cloud for your staff, follow the steps in this video.

How to setup Pre-arrival forms

There are 3 main steps to setting up Pre Arrival Email Forms

  1. Setup Online Forms
  2. Setup rules around when the form should be sent
  3. Setup Appointment Acknowledgement emails

1. Setup Online Forms

  • Please refer to this article to learn how to setup online forms. If you don't have access to create client forms, please contact our Support team.

2. Setup Rules around when forms should be sent

You can setup rules as to when each online form will be sent out to clients. 

1. Open the Menu, select ‘Business settings’, then select ‘Customer Forms’.

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 2. Here you’ll see a list of the forms available in Console.
 
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3. Set the automatic email status to ‘Active’.
 
4. You can set up rules for each of the forms based on:
  • If a client is new, returning or if the form should go to all clients
  • Timeframe (Once, Every visit or Every X Days/Weeks/Months)
  • Services this form applies to

NOTE: Once you have completed your selections, ensure you click "Done" and then click "Save"

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3. Setup/add your online form to the Appointment Acknowledgement email

  1. Open Menu, select ‘Messages’, select ‘Appointment Acknowledgement’.
  2. Select the ‘Email’ option.
  3. By default, emails are setup with standard text and recommended settings. You can can add your own logo, and update any settings and wording to be more in line with your brand. 
  4. If you have previously activated this message, you will need to deactivate before moving onto the next step.
  5. To include online forms in this email, scroll down to the section that says ‘Forms’ and click ‘Add link to forms’.
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4. Make sure you ‘Activate’ the email, then select ‘Done’.
5. Form links will display in emails like this:
 
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Check for completed forms - available in Cloud Appointment Book only

  1. Click on a customer’s upcoming appointment.
  2. This will bring up the touch-tip with a list of forms that have been sent to a customer. Please note, all forms previously sent to the customer will be listed here. Not just the forms applicable to this appointment. 
    1. If a customer hasn’t completed the relevant form(s), the appointment will appear as yellow and the touch-tip will display a red cross beside it.
    2. If a customer has completed the relevant form(s), the touch-tip will display a green tick beside it and the appointment will turn green.
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NOTE: The Appointment won't turn yellow and forms won't show on the touch tip until they have been sent to the client. How long this takes, depends on the time you selected it to be sent after an appointment is created in the online form rules. 
 
4. You can resend forms from here by clicking on the three dots, then ‘Resend forms’.
 
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How to view forms for an appointment

A quick way to view forms for upcoming appointments is to tap on the appointment to access the Touch Tip, then click on a form with a green tick next to it. 

How to view any forms that have been completed

  1. Open the Menu, select ‘Customers’ and select the client you would like to see the details for.
  2. Select the ‘Forms’ button at the bottom.
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3. You can select either Completed or Outstanding forms. You can also view forms submitted for previous appointments here.
 
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How to check or change which employees can access Pre-Arrival Forms

  1. Open the Menu, select ‘Business settings’, then ‘Roles and permissions’.
  2. By default, employees with the ‘Site Manager’ role can configure customer forms and can view form history.
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3. Employees with the ‘Employee’ role can only view form history.
 
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4. If you need to change permissions, click on the role you need to update, then click on the ‘Permissions’ text in orange. NOTE: You need to have Site Manager access to do this.
 
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5. You will be taken to the ‘Role Setup’ page. Scroll down to the ‘Permissions’ area, then find ‘Marketing’. Here you can change what the role can do.
 
Pre-arrival email forms - roles and permissions FIXED
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Frequently Asked Questions

Question: Why are they called “email” pre-arrival forms? Can I send them via text message too?
Answer: No, pre-arrival forms can only be configured for sending by email. This is because the message content, along with having potentially multiple form links being included is not practical for SMS and can increase message size.
 
Question: How do I enable and configure email pre-arrival forms?
Answer: Email forms must be enabled and configured from within the Marketing section of Cloud. Specifically, they can be included as a part of the Appointment Acknowledgement email.
 
Question: Is this feature only used to send custom forms?
Answer: No, this feature can be used to send both standard (e.g. client information forms) and custom forms.
 
Question: I don’t use the Appointment Acknowledgement email. Can I still use pre-arrival forms?
Answer: No, the only way to trigger forms to be sent out as a part of an appointment is via this email template.
 
Question: Do I still have to go to my Console to view completed forms?
Answer: No, you will be able to access completed forms from within the Cloud application, within your client profiles.
 
Question: Do I still have to go to my Console to create or delete forms?
Answer: Yes, you will still have to do this from the Console.
 
Question: Do I need to do anything to enable configuring Pre-arrival forms rules?
Answer: No. If you already have access to the Forms functionality and Cloud, you will automatically be able to configure Pre-arrival forms in Cloud.
 
Question: What happens if I have no active forms set up?
Answer: The Forms block in the Appointment Acknowledgment email will not appear.
 
Question: Which of my employees can create rules for forms?
Answer: By default, employees with the Site Manager role can configure customer forms and can view form history. Employees cannot config customer forms, but can view form history.
 
Question: What will happen if I change an appointment?
Answer: This depends on the way you have your form rules set up. Forms won’t resend, unless in the case that services are different. If any new services that require forms are added to an appointment, these new forms will be sent to the client.  
 

Question: What will happen if I change an appointment?
Answer: If you have only changed the time of an existing appointment, then any incomplete forms at the time of re-scheduling will be re-sent. If any new services that require other forms are added to an appointment, these new forms will also be sent to the client.

Question: What will happen if I delete and re-make an appointment?
Answer: It’s a new appointment as far as form sending rules are concerned. Any forms required to be completed by the client based on your forms rules will be sent out again with the new Appointment Acknowledgement Email the new appointment will trigger.