Thank clients after a visit, ask for reviews and understand recommendations

Three things happen around the end of a visit, and this article explains what each one does and what you control.

1. A thank-you message. The first time you check out an appointment, Zelun sends the Client one thank-you message. If you give your location a Google review link, the message can carry it so happy Clients can leave you a Google review. At checkout you choose whether it does.
2. A rating form on the Client's appointment page. After the appointment is completed, the Client can give a rating and an optional comment.
3. Suggestions on the booking page. When a Client picks a service, they may see other services that Clients often book with it.

You also get a rebook button after checkout (it names the Client, for example "Rebook Ana now — same service, same staff"), so you can book the Client's next visit before they leave.

Honest limits: today the admin has no screen where you read the ratings and comments Clients leave, and no button to hide one. Ratings are stored, but there is no place to see them today, and the booking page does not show them either. That changes when the Reviews screen is released, explained in See and moderate reviews, below.

1. Check out the appointment. The thank-you message is sent from checkout, not from the end of the appointment time.
2. A way to reach the Client. The Client needs an email on file, or WhatsApp or SMS enabled on their record. See the articles on reminders and on messaging to see which channel is used and what is included in your plan.
3. Optional: your Google review link. Without it, the thank-you message is sent without a link. The branch fields live on the location's page under Setup → Branches. If you are sent to a Forbidden page, ask the account owner to set the link for you.

Add your Google review link

1. Open Branches in the Setup group of the side menu and click the location.
2. Go to Google and link in the section bar. The Reviews line there reads Review link set or No link yet.
3. Fill in Google review link. It must start with https:// and be a google.com, g.page or search.google.com link. If it is not valid, the screen refuses it.
4. Or, if you do not have a link, fill in Google Place ID. Zelun builds a review link from it. It is only used when Google review link is empty.
5. Press Save. Both fields are optional.

Choose whether the thank-you carries the review link

1. When you check out an appointment at a location that has a review link (or a Google Place ID), a box above the Checkout button reads Include a Google review link in the thank-you message. It is ticked by default. Decide it before you press Checkout, because the thank-you goes out as part of the checkout.
2. Untick it to send the thank-you without the link. The note beside it says the message sends once, on the transactional channel, and does not depend on marketing permission.
3. After checkout the green panel at the top of the sheet says either The thank-you went out with the review link. or The thank-you went out without the review link.
4. If the location has no review link, the box does not appear and the thank-you goes without one.

See and moderate reviews

When the Reviews screen is released, it will work like this:

1. Open Reviews in the Clients group of the side menu. You will see each review with its rating, comment, team member, date and whether it is visible or hidden, and the average of all of them.
2. To take an unfair review off your booking page, press Hide on its row. It stays in the list as Hidden and still counts in the average; Show puts it back on your page.
3. To show no rating and no review at all, turn off Show reviews on your booking page. Only the account owner can change it. Nothing then appears on your page or in search engines.
4. Someone with the permission to moderate reviews at a location will be able to hide and show that location's reviews, but not change that switch.

Rebook the Client after checkout

1. Check out the appointment as usual.
2. Press the rebook button in the green panel. The new appointment form opens with the same service, staff member and Client already chosen.
3. Pick the day and confirm. The booking goes through the normal availability checks, just like any desk booking.

• The thank-you message. It arrives by email when the Client has one, by WhatsApp when the Client has WhatsApp turned on, and by SMS as a fallback when SMS is not turned off. It is a message about their visit, so it does not depend on the Client having accepted rebooking reminders, which are marketing. It is sent once per appointment. Checking out the same appointment again, for example to fix a tip, does not send another one. WhatsApp and SMS follow the messaging terms of your plan; the article on included and metered messaging explains them.
• A review link in the message when you set one, otherwise the message has no link.
• "Your instructions". When the service has a material attached to go out after the visit, the same message carries one more line, "Your instructions", with a link to the visit's page. It never names the material, and it is not a separate message. The article on the materials library explains how to attach one.
• A rating form. Once an appointment is completed, the Client's appointment page shows How was your visit? with Rating (5 down to 1), Comment (optional) and Submit review. After sending they see Thanks for your feedback! Each appointment takes one review. A second one is not accepted, and too many submissions in a short time are rejected.
• A rating on your booking page. When it is released, the booking page will show the average and the number of reviews for the location and for each team member, and the 3 most recent reviews. It only appears with at least 3 visible reviews: with fewer, nothing is shown. Hidden reviews are never shown. With the switch off, nothing appears, not even in search engines.
• Suggestions while booking. After choosing a service, the booking page can show Clients who booked this also booked with services to add. They are calculated automatically from your own location's booking history, regularly, not at the moment of booking. They are not based on that Client's own history. When there is not enough history yet, nothing is shown, with no empty box and no error. You do not set them up and you cannot edit them.

• Expecting a thank-you before checkout. It is sent at the first checkout of the appointment.
• Expecting the message to depend on marketing consent. It does not, so a Client who declined marketing can still receive it.
• Pasting any web address as the review link. Only google.com, g.page and search.google.com links are accepted.
• Expecting a link when neither field is filled in. The message goes out without one.
• Looking for a screen with the ratings. There is none in the admin today, and the booking page does not show ratings either. When it is released, it will be at Clients → Reviews.
• Expecting a rating with only a few reviews. The booking page shows a rating only with at least 3 visible reviews, so a single opinion never shows as a "5.0".
• Expecting a suggestion on a new account. Suggestions need enough booking history first.

Reminders, messaging terms and rebooking nudges are explained in their own articles.