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JustBook Help

Notification channels

JustBook sends customer messages — reminders, booking confirmations, cancellations, and payment links — over three channels: email, SMS, and WhatsApp. This page explains which channels you can use, who sends them, and what has to be switched on for a message to actually reach a customer.

Choose your channels

Section titled “Choose your channels”
  1. Go to Settings → Notifications.
  2. In the Channels card, turn on Enable customer messaging. This is the master switch — with it off, no reminders or transaction notifications go out (customer verification codes are unaffected).
  3. Under Active Channels, click a channel — Email, SMS, or WhatsApp — to turn it on. Active channels are highlighted.
  4. Click Save Changes.

A channel that is off here will not send, even if an individual template is enabled.

If the master switch is on but none of your selected channels is actually usable (not set up, or not in your plan), the page shows a warning — messages would otherwise be silently skipped. While customer messaging is off, customers do not see notification preferences anywhere: not on their profile, not in your admin customer pages, and not in the booking flow.

Email is always available. SMS and WhatsApp require the Growth plan or higher. On lower plans, customer messages send by email only.

Who sends the message: the JustBook sender vs your own

Section titled “Who sends the message: the JustBook sender vs your own”

Every channel sends through the JustBook default sender unless you switch it to your own. The default is managed and branded for you — there is nothing to set up.

If you would rather send from your own number or email address, go to Settings → Integrations → Messaging & Email and turn on Use my own sender for that channel:

  • SMS / WhatsApp — add your provider credentials (account SID, auth token, and from number), then use Save & Test to confirm they work.
  • Email — either keep the JustBook address and set a custom sender name, or add your own mailbox (SMTP). See Email sender identity.

Your own sender is a Pro-plan feature. If a test fails, that channel automatically falls back to the JustBook default so your customers still get their messages.

What has to be on for a message to send

Section titled “What has to be on for a message to send”

A message only goes out if it clears every step below. If a customer isn’t receiving something, this is the checklist to walk:

  1. Your plan allows the channel. Email works on every plan; SMS and WhatsApp need Growth or higher.
  2. The sender is ready. You are on the JustBook default (and it isn’t paused for maintenance), or your own sender is configured and its test passed.
  3. Customer messaging is on. Enable customer messaging is turned on in Settings → Notifications.
  4. The channel is active. The channel is highlighted under Active Channels.
  5. The template is enabled. The specific message (for example, a 24-hour reminder or a cancellation notice) is turned on for that channel. See Message templates.
  6. The customer hasn’t opted out of that channel.

If any step is off, the message doesn’t send on that channel. Turning a channel off keeps your template settings — flip it back on and everything resumes.

Verification codes are separate. Login and verification codes (OTP) send even when customer messaging is paused — nobody can opt out of their own security code. There are two independent lists, so you can verify customers and staff differently:

  • Customers — Settings → Notifications → Customer messaging → Verification (OTP).
  • Your team’s sign-in codes — Settings → Notifications → Staff sign-in.

In both cases the person picks how to receive the code from the methods you’ve selected. SMS and WhatsApp only reach a team member who has a phone number on their profile.

Temporary “default paused” notices

Section titled “Temporary “default paused” notices”

Occasionally you may see a channel marked Default paused or a maintenance notice. This means JustBook’s shared default sender for that channel is briefly unavailable — it’s a temporary outage, not a problem with your setup, and messages resume automatically. If you send from your own number or address, you are never affected by this.

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