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Last updated:
November 20, 2024

Notifications

Notifications are crucial for the communication and management of your event. Find out everything you need to know about them here.

Screenshot of a booking confirmation and a text message.

Notifications in Oniva

What are Notifications?

Notifications are automated messages that respond to specific actions or events within the system. They are triggered by so-called triggers and sent immediately to the relevant recipients. Unlike campaigns, which are always sent to larger target groups (e.g., invitation to an event), notifications are sent individually when these triggers occur (e.g., after a guest booking or a booking cancellation).

Predefined Notifications

Predefined notifications are already set up in each event. So you don't have to do anything - we have already set up all important notifications, such as for bookings, cancellations, waitlist bookings, etc. You only need to edit these notifications if you want to customize them individually.

Customizations in the Workspace

The existing templates for each event are automatically adopted from the parent workspace and can be customized for each event. It is recommended to set up a template in your workspace that matches the wording of your organization. This way, you don’t have to adjust the notifications for each event.

How To: Edit a Notification in an Event

If you want to edit a notification, such as the booking confirmation, in your event, you can customize it directly within the event. This customization then only applies to your event. You have the option to overwrite, disable, or add new notifications.

To customize a notification, proceed as follows:

  1. Open the event settings and navigate to notifications.
  2. Find the corresponding notification. For example, you can find the booking confirmation under "Booking Created" for "User" (see below in the article for a list of triggers and recipients).
  3. Using the action menu (···), you can overwrite the existing template (or alternatively, create a completely new notification using the button at the top if you need another one).
  4. Customize the notification and save it.

Be careful not to delete the booking scripts unless you explicitly want to remove certain elements like the personal link or booking summary from your notification.

Email Sender Address

By default, Oniva has an email sender address set up per workspace for sending emails. To override this email address for individual events, the email setting must be enabled in the event settings. See How to: Set up your own email sender address for sending event communications.

Note: Setting up a custom email sender address
Contact our support team using the form at the bottom of this page if you need an additional email sender address added. Depending on the permission level, we may need to make adjustments for your events even for an already configured email address.

Action, Recipient, and Channel

Each notification has an action or trigger that triggers it, a channel, and a recipient who receives the notification. For some notifications, multiple recipients are configured per trigger. An example of this is the "Booking confirmed" notification, which is sent to both the guest (user) and the event manager. SMS notifications can also be configured based on specific actions.

Action

For special functions, such as bookings on request or waiting lists, specific notifications are available. These are only sent if the corresponding function is activated. The exact functionality is described in the respective feature articles. The most common actions for notifications are "Booking created" and "Booking canceled".

General notifications

These notifications can be triggered in all events.

  • Booking created: A guest has completed a booking.
  • Booking canceled: A guest's booking has been canceled.
  • Booking partially canceled: Part of a guest's booking has been canceled. At least one booking option is still valid.

Only for events with payment

  • Booking created (tentative): A guest has made a booking with payment, but the payment could not yet be confirmed and must be reviewed by an admin.
  • Single payment requested: An admin has triggered a payment request for an online payment (TWINT, credit card, Postfinance).
  • Single payment completed: A guest has completed their payment.

Only for events with waitlist

  • Booking created on waiting list: A potential guest has made a booking on a waitlist.
  • Booking partially created (waiting list / confirmed): A guest has made a booking. At least one part of the booking is confirmed, and at least one part of the booking is on the waitlist.
  • Waiting list invitation created: A spot has become available. A person from the waitlist is invited.
  • Waiting list invitation confirmed: A person who previously received an invitation to confirm a booking option for which they were on the waitlist has accepted the invitation.

Only for events with bookings on request

  • Booking request created: A potential guest has created a booking request.
  • Booking request confirmed by ticket coordinator: The potential guest's booking request has been approved by the responsible ticket coordinator.
  • Booking request confirmed: The potential guest's booking request has been approved by the admin and is now confirmed.
  • Booking request declined: The potential guest's booking request has been rejected by the admin or the responsible ticket coordinator.

Only for events with deregistrations

  • Deregistration created: A contact has canceled their event registration.

Only for events with comments enabled on the event website

  • Event comment added: A comment has been added to an event.

Only for events with group bookings

  • Group booking member added: A member has been added to an existing group booking.
  • Group booking member removed: A member has been removed from an existing group booking.

Only for events created by the community in parent libraries

  • Event created: A community event created in the portal has been created.
  • Event activated: A community event created in the portal has been activated.

Only for events with third-party invitations via API (Beta)

  • Guest invitation sent: The registered guest (account manager) has triggered an invitation to an accompanying person.
  • Guest invitation manually sent: The registered guest (account manager) has invited an accompanying person themselves (not via Oniva).
  • Guest invitation accepted: The received invitation has been accepted by an invited accompanying person.
  • Guest invitation declined: The received invitation has been rejected by an invited accompanying person.

Recipients

  • Team mailbox: The team mailbox specified in the email settings.
  • Event responsible: Event responsibles specified in the settings.
  • Group managers: Group managers of the user's group who executed the booking or action.
  • User: Users who executed the booking or action.
  • Invited guest: The invited guest when assigning tickets for bookings on request.
  • Account manager: The account manager of the contact specified in the contact, who executed the booking or action.

If an account manager was added during input or import of contacts, they can receive notifications when the contact makes a booking, checks in, or cancels their booking. This way, the account manager is directly informed about the activities of their guests without having to communicate directly with the event manager or open the tool.

Channel

Notifications can be sent via SMS or email. For notification via SMS, a mobile number must be known. This can be queried in the registration form or imported.

Editing and Resetting

Notifications are edited in HTML. You can customize the flow text if you want to edit the notification. The notifications can be reset to the default at any time via the action menu (···).

Design Customization

The footer and design of the notifications can be customized in the event settings. A standard design can also be set on the workspace.

Test Mail and Test Bookings

You can trigger a test email via the action menu (···). This is sent in all languages and does not include variables such as name, e-ticket, etc. To test the notification with variables, log in for your event via the event website.

Variables

General Variables

  • {user.fullName} - First and last name of the guest
  • {user.firstName} - First name of the guest
  • {user.lastName} - Last name of the guest
  • {user.additional.organization} - Organization of the guest
  • {user.additional.function} - functtion of the guest
  • {event.title} - Event title
  • {event.dateDisplay} - Event date
  • {event.venue.name} - Event venue
  • {booking.distinctBookingOperations.0.title} - Display titles of booked options
  • {booking.distinctBookingOperations.0.operationDate} - Display details of booked options
  • {event.identifier} - Event ID
  • {booking.bookingNr} - Booking number

Personalized Salutation

In the standardized templates for all notifications in Oniva, the salutation "Hello [First Name] [Last Name]" is used. This general form ensures a correct generation of the salutation, even when gender information is missing or data quality is poor.

If desired, the salutation can be customized to use specific formulations such as "Hello Mr. [Last Name]" or "Hello Ms. [Last Name]". Please note that this form of salutation only works correctly if the data is complete and accurate. In particular, the salutation must always be entered in the format "Mr." or "Ms.".

To ensure the salutation is generated correctly, it is recommended to configure a salutation selection with the options "Mr." and "Ms." in the registration form. If you want to give guests the option to select no salutation or another option (e.g., "diverse"), a fallback must be defined. In this case, the salutation will default to "Hello [First Name] [Last Name]".

To use the template, replace the existing salutation with the following:

For the gender-specific form of address in a formal language

("Dear Mr. Doe" / "Dear Mrs. Doe" / "Dear Jamie Doe")

<f:if condition="{user.additional.title} == 'Mr.">
   <f:then><p>Dear Mr. {user.lastName}</p></f:then>
   <f:else>
       <f:if condition="{user.additional.title} == 'Mrs.'">
           <f:then><p>Dear Mrs. {user.lastName}</p></f:then>
           <f:else><p>Dear {user.fullName}</p></f:else>
       </f:if>
   </f:else>
</f:if>

Display Information from Form Fields in Notifications

The following code snippet must be placed in the notification to display information from a form field configured in the registration form. Replace the word IDENTIFIER with the identifier of the desired form field.

For information from the registration form

  • <f:if condition="{user.additional.IDENTIFIKATOR}">{user.additional.IDENTIFIKATOR}</f:if><br>

For information from additional prompts

  • <f:for each="{booking.bookingOperations}" as="bookingOperation">{bookingOperation.IDENTIFIKATOR}<br></f:for>

If you have further questions or need assistance, feel free to contact us. Our team is ready to help you make the most of our notification system.


Frequently Asked Questions

  • Can I set up multiple versions of the booking confirmation, for example, depending on the booking selection or permission group?
    No. Only one booking confirmation can be set up.
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Refunds

Refunds are subject to a fee of CHF 2.50 per transaction in addition to the processing fee. Whether this fee will be borne by the guest or the organizer can be determined by you. The refund will then be processed for the full or partial amount. Ideally, you should specify this in your guest terms and conditions.
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