Automated workflows

Set up automated email and SMS workflows triggered by booking, membership, and payment events.

Workflows let you automate email and SMS communications based on events in Sailia. Instead of manually sending reminders, follow-ups, or thank-you messages, you configure triggers and let Sailia handle the rest.

How workflows work

A workflow consists of:

1. A trigger — the event that starts the workflow (for example, a booking confirmation or an activity date approaching)
2. A delay (optional) — how long to wait after the trigger before sending
3. A message — the email or SMS sent to the customer or staff member

When the trigger fires, Sailia queues the message and sends it at the configured time.

Workflow emails are tracked as workflow-email-sent events in meter usage tracking, so you can monitor how many automated emails are being sent.

Time-based triggers (such as Course starting, Session starting, or Group booking reminders) evaluate their send windows in your business timezone. For example, a workflow set to send 24 hours before a session uses the tenant-local time of that session, so customers receive reminders at the expected local time regardless of where Sailia runs.

Available triggers

Sailia provides 30+ triggers across bookings, courses, memberships, instalments, accounts, waivers, waitlists, qualifications, and staff events. You can attach one or more workflow communications to any trigger.

See the workflow triggers reference for the complete list with descriptions and common use cases.

Key trigger categories include:

• Booking — booking confirmed, basket created/expired, invoice pending/overdue
• Course and session — course starting/ending, waiver reminders, instructor notifications
• Group booking — new group booking, participant detail reminders
• Membership — requested, started, renewal, cancelled, past due, payment info required
• Instalment — due, paid, plan started/completed/abandoned
• Account — new client or staff account
• Waiver and waitlist — pending waivers, waitlist spots available
• Qualification — qualification expiry reminders for staff
• Staff — instructor assigned, availability requests, timesheet invoices

Common workflow examples

Trigger	Use case
Booking confirmed	Send a welcome email with what to bring and where to meet
Course starting	Send a reminder 24 or 48 hours before the first session
Course ending	Send a thank-you email with a link to rebook or leave a review
Course start waiver reminder	Remind customers to complete their waiver before the course
New group booking	Prompt the group organiser to fill in participant details
Instalment due	Remind customers about upcoming instalment payments
Membership renewal	Notify members before their membership renews
Membership past due	Alert members when a payment fails and prompt them to update their payment method
Qualification expiry	Remind staff to renew qualifications before they lapse

Create a workflow

1. Open the workflows section

   Navigate to your workflows dashboard and select Create Workflow.

2. Choose a trigger

   Select the event that starts the workflow. See available triggers for the full list.

3. Set the timing

   Choose when the message should be sent — immediately after the trigger, or after a delay (for example, 24 hours before the activity).

4. Write the message

   Compose the email or SMS content. Use merge fields to personalize the message with the customer’s name, activity details, and booking information.

5. Activate

   Enable the workflow. It runs automatically for all future events that match the trigger.

Merge fields

Workflow messages support merge fields to personalize content. Available fields depend on the trigger, but common fields include:

Merge field	Description
Customer name	The customer’s full name
Customer first name	The customer’s first name. Falls back to the full name if no first name is recorded.
Customer last name	The customer’s last name. Falls back to the full name if no last name is recorded.
Customer email	The customer’s email address
Transaction details	A summary of items in the booking
Total paid	The total amount charged
Checkout link	A link for the customer to complete payment (for pending baskets)
Waiver link	A link for the customer to complete outstanding waivers
Receipt breakdown	An itemised breakdown of the booking

Use Customer first name for friendlier greetings — for example, “Hi user_first_name,” instead of using the full name. If a contact only has a single name on file, the first and last name fields safely fall back to the full name so the greeting is never blank.

Membership merge fields

Membership triggers provide additional merge fields specific to the member’s subscription:

Merge field	Description
Membership name	The name of the membership
Membership plan	The name of the membership plan
Billing cycle start	The start date of the current billing period
Billing cycle end	The end date of the current billing period
Participant names	The names of all users on the membership

These fields are available across all membership triggers, including the Membership past due trigger. Use them to include billing dates and plan details in renewal reminders or past-due payment notifications.

Qualification merge fields

Qualification triggers provide merge fields specific to the staff member and their qualification:

Merge field	Description
Staff name	The staff member’s name
Staff first name	The staff member’s first name (falls back to the full name if not recorded)
Staff last name	The staff member’s last name (falls back to the full name if not recorded)
Staff email	The staff member’s email address
Staff phone	The staff member’s phone number
Qualification name	The name of the qualification
Qualification expiry date	The qualification’s expiry date
Qualification certificate number	The certificate number, if recorded

These fields are available on the qualification expiry trigger. Use them to include specific qualification details in renewal reminders sent to staff or admins.

Business merge fields

You can also use merge fields that pull in your business details. These are available across all triggers and are automatically populated from your account settings:

Merge field	Description
Tenant name	Your business name
Tenant logo	Your business logo URL
Tenant subdomain	Your Sailia booking page subdomain
Admin email	Your primary contact email address
Admin phone	Your primary contact phone number

Business merge fields are useful for adding consistent branding to your communications — for example, including your logo in email headers or your contact details in footers.

The exact merge fields available are shown in the workflow editor when you select a trigger. When you send a test email, business merge fields are populated with your real business details so you can preview exactly how they appear.

Email and SMS

Workflows support both email and SMS as delivery channels. When creating a workflow, choose the channel that best fits the use case:

• Email — best for detailed messages with booking breakdowns, links, and attachments
• SMS — best for short, time-sensitive reminders like session start times

Booking confirmation workflows automatically attach a PDF receipt when sent by email.

Managing workflows

From the workflows dashboard, you can:

• Enable or disable a workflow without deleting it
• Edit the message content or timing
• View send history to see which customers received the message
• Monitor volume through the workflow-email-sent built-in meter

Disabling a workflow stops future messages from being sent but does not cancel messages already queued. If a message is scheduled to send in 24 hours and you disable the workflow now, that message may still be delivered.

Groups

You can scope a workflow to a specific group so that it only fires for a subset of your activities or memberships. This lets you send different messages for different contexts — for example, a kayaking-specific welcome email for kayaking bookings, or a renewal reminder that only applies to your premium membership.

Product groups

Product groups apply to booking and session triggers. A product group can contain individual activities, shop products, or a mix of both.

When you create a workflow for a booking or session trigger, you can select a product group to limit which bookings fire the communication. If no group is selected, the workflow applies to all activities.

Membership groups

Membership groups apply to membership triggers. A membership group can contain individual memberships, specific membership plans, or a mix of both.

When you create a workflow for a membership trigger, you can select a membership group to limit which memberships fire the communication. If no group is selected, the workflow applies to all memberships.

This is useful when you have multiple membership tiers and want to send different communications for each — for example, a welcome email with tier-specific benefits or a renewal reminder that only targets annual plans.

Managing groups

You can create, rename, and delete groups directly from the workflow editor. To add items to a group, open the group and use the item picker to search for activities, products, memberships, or membership plans depending on the group type.

Related guides

Workflow triggers reference

Complete list of all available triggers with descriptions.

Waivers

Set up waivers and automate reminders for incomplete submissions.

Notifications and emails

Understand the automatic emails Sailia sends.

Meter tracking

Monitor workflow email volume through built-in meters.