Inquiries and emails: common questions

Short answers about website leads and the emails Renta sends. Each answer links to the full article.

Inquiries

Where do website contact-form messages go?

To Messages → Inbox in the left sidebar (the page is headed Communications, with three tabs: Inquiries, Compose and Automated messages). Each contact-form submission is a row with the sender, message and time received. See Website leads in one inbox.

What do the Inbox, Unread and Archived tabs show?

Inbox (the default) shows every lead you have not archived, read or unread. Unread shows leads you have not opened. Archived shows leads you filed away.

Where do website assistant chats go?

Only the ones where the customer asks to talk to a person. Your Website AI assistant takes their email and question and adds them to the Inbox as a lead, with the page shown as "Website chat" and the recent chat under the question. The shop's email address also gets an email ("Website chat: (name) would like to talk to someone"); reply to it to answer the customer directly.

Is there a search box on Inquiries?

No. Use the tabs to narrow the list.

How do I know which messages are new?

An unread lead has a small orange dot beside the sender's name, and opening the row marks it read. The page subtitle reads "N unread" when there are any.

How do I mark a lead unread again, or archive it?

Open the row. Mark unread appears on a lead you have already read (and have not archived), and Archive files it away. On an archived lead the button reads Move back to inbox.

How do I reply to a lead?

Open the row and press Reply by email, which opens an email to the sender in your own email app. If your Inbox is turned on, Reply in Inbox also appears and takes you to the Inbox.

Why does it say "No messages yet" on the Inbox tab?

Nothing has come in through your contact form or website assistant yet.

Compose

How do I send a customer a one-off email?

Open Compose, pick the customer (search "by name, email or phone…"), optionally pick a saved template under "Start from a template (optional)" or choose Start from scratch, write the Subject and Message, and press Send email. See Sending a one-off email to a customer.

Why is "Send email" greyed out?

One of these is true: no customer is picked, the customer has no email address, the subject or message is empty, the message uses a placeholder that needs a booking (the page warns "This message uses {{...}} — that placeholder needs a booking to fill in"), the customer has turned off booking emails ("This customer has turned off booking emails, so this message can't be sent to them"), or a send is already in progress.

What does Preview do?

It builds the email exactly as the customer will get it ("Preview — exactly what will be delivered"). The button then reads Refresh preview, and it stays off until a customer, subject and message are filled in.

Can I send a receipt from Compose?

No. A receipt lists what was charged on one specific booking, so the page tells you to send it from the booking with Send receipt instead.

Email templates

What are email templates?

The wording of the emails Renta sends for you, and saved starting points for emails you send by hand. Open Messages → Automated messages to see them. See Automated emails Renta sends for you.

What can trigger an email?

Booking Confirmed, Pre-Ride Reminder, Post-Ride Follow-Up, Booking Completion (off by default), Re-Engagement, Waiver Reminder, Review Request, three receipts (Payment Received, Refund Issued, Booking Completed), Receipt — Sent by Hand, and Unfinished Booking (off until you turn it on). "None — send by hand only" never sends automatically and just saves wording for Compose.

What do the table columns and buttons mean?

Each row shows Trigger, Subject, Delay, Status, Last sent and Actions. Preview shows the email, Clone copies the template, and Edit opens it. "Last sent" says "Never" if it has not gone out.

How do I turn an automated email on or off?

Click the Active / Inactive pill in the Status column, or open Edit and use the Active tick box. A template that is inactive does not send automatically.

What does Delay (hours) mean?

How long to wait after the trigger event before sending. 0 sends immediately. The field is hidden for "Receipt — Sent by Hand" and "None — send by hand only", which are never scheduled.

How do I create a new template?

Press + New Template, choose the Trigger, set the Subject Line and Email Body, and press Create Template (or Update Template when editing).

Who can change email templates?

Anyone who can open the page can read them, but saving needs permission to edit settings, so a view-only team member can read templates and not change them.

Why does a customer say they never got their confirmation email?

Open the customer's profile and look at the Communications tab for that email and its status (Sent, Delivered, Opened, Clicked, Bounced or Failed). Bounced or Failed means their address did not accept it. A customer who has turned off booking emails does not get booking emails. To send it again, open the booking and press Resend confirmation on the Customer card.