This section describes the settings common to all Altegio category templates.
Template content
This block contains information related to the template text.
"Message" – this is where you enter the template text to be sent via channels other than WABA. In the message, you can use various formatting options, including emojis, bold, italics, and strikethrough. In addition, you can use variables.
Important: all variables must be enclosed in curly braces {}.
There are two types of variables: dynamic and static.
Static variables are those that do not change based on conditions. You can create and edit them in the "Settings" → "General" → "Working with Variables" section.
To create a new variable, click the "Add a new variable" button. This will create an empty field where you can enter a name for the variable and a value — the text that the variable will send when it is present.
When you send this template, the customer will not receive the text {My Variable}; instead, they will receive the text specified for that variable.
Dynamic variables are those directly linked to the customer and their record. You can view the full list of variables by expanding the “Add Variable” menu.
In addition, you can attach files to the message. See below for detailed requirements for uploaded files.
WABA Template – When using the WABA channel, the message text is taken from the WABA template; it is not taken from the “Message” field due to the way the WABA integration is set up. You can learn more about WABA templates by following this link.
Message for SMS – In this field, you can enter the message that will be sent via SMS. If this field is left blank, customers will receive the text from the "Message" field.
Master Selection and Other Categories
In "Master Selection," you choose which masters the template should be sent to when a booking is made. If you want the template to be sent to all technicians, select “Select all masters”. If the template should apply only to certain masters, you can select them individually.
Also, to make it easier to find the right technicians, services, client categories, etc. (referred to as “categories” hereafter for simplicity), you can filter all categories by branch. This will allow you to hide unnecessary categories and select the ones you need.
Important note: Filtering by branch does not automatically set the required categories. When updating categories (adding new ones or removing old ones), you must update the template settings if the new categories are required to be included.
In "Customer Category," you select the client categories for which templates should be sent.
The "Uncategorized" category works such that a template is sent only if the client does not belong to any category. If they have at least one category, the template will not be sent to them.
In "Service Category," you select the categories or services required for the template to function. If you do not use any services in the record, you must select either “Uncategorized” or “Select all categories.”
“Strict condition”—when this option is enabled, the template will be sent only if ALL services specified in the template are used in the record. If the entry does not include at least one of them, the template will not trigger.
Example: A branch offers services 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. There is a template with a strict condition for services 1, 3, and 4.
The template will not trigger for a record in which services (2, 3, 4) are selected, since it does not include service 1.
The template will trigger for records with services (1, 3, 4) and (1, 2, 3, 4), since both records include services 1, 3, and 4.
""Send only if all services from the record are included in the template"—this option becomes available when the strict condition is enabled. When enabled, the template will be sent only if the record contains no extra services.
Let’s consider the original example with a template that has a strict condition for services 1, 3, and 4. If you also enable this option, the template will be sent ONLY for records containing services 1, 3, and 4.
In “Record Category,” you specify the category of records for which the template will apply. If you do not use this feature in Altegio, we recommend leaving this field unchecked.
At the very bottom, you’ll find the “Additional Condition” field, which allows you to make further modifications to the template. Since there are a huge number of additional conditions available here, we won’t list them all, but we’ll cover the most common question: how do you configure a template so that it works for new customers?
To configure the template this way, we recommend using an additional condition related to the number of visits. For templates in the “Create/modify/delete a record” and “Reminder before the visit” categories, you can set the following condition:
For other templates, it will work slightly differently, since in the case of post-visit messages and review requests, the entry is already considered complete. In this case, a different condition is appropriate:
In addition, specifically for post-visit templates, there are special additional conditions that take into account the customer’s engagement with your business. When creating a template from the "Message after the visit" category, this additional condition is always added. If you don’t need it, delete it; otherwise, the template will only work if the customer hasn’t visited your business in a long time.