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Customer confirmation appointment

PostPosted: Tue Apr 09, 2019 4:25 am
by jffortier
Hi,

Using FMS16 and FM16 and some FMA17

I was wondering if someone has a solution for this.

We are using DayBack to schedule installations and repairs.

I would like to send an email with a calendar appointment (.ics) that our customer can add the event in their own calendar and have a reminder. This is fairly easy, I'm already using .ics file to create appointment for sales rep that sync with outlook.

What I would like to have is:
- Customers receive the email, it could be html or text with an URL inside.
- Customer confirm the appointment by clicking on the URL
- Web service sends back a confirmation that customer has accepted and confirmed the appointment

I know that is already something that some application offers, my dentist is using something similar and 2 days prior to the appointment I receive a reminder, no more staff spending hours on the phone just to make sure customers will be there.

Now is how to integrate that into my app, mixed with DayBack ?

Thanks,

Re: Customer confirmation appointment

PostPosted: Tue Apr 09, 2019 9:09 am
by kcembrey
Hi jffortier,

Something like this could be possible by creating links that use FMPXMLRESULT to create a record in a temporary holding table. Then a scheduled script would go through and parse that record to update the actual event record status to confirmed, sends out another email to the customer, or anything else you'd like to do when a customer confirms the appointment.

There's a bit involved with the whole process of setting up the new table and scripts, but it should be possible with FileMaker Server and web publishing enabled.

And if you'd like help implementing this custom feature into your solution, we offer implementation packages. Packages can be used for consulting, coaching, or modifications like these and start at blocks of 3 hrs for $190/hr. When the time comes, you can use this link and, with a day or two notice, we can schedule some time to work with you:

http://sites.fastspring.com/seedcode/pr ... onpackages

Regards,

KC

Re: Customer confirmation appointment

PostPosted: Thu May 02, 2019 6:24 pm
by jffortier
Thanks,

I found a easy way to deal with it, maybe it could help someone else:

I turn on WebDirect.

I created a server side plugin with scriptmaster (you could also use the free version and register the function) that send a HTML email so my notification looks really professional.

I made sure my mail server was setup properly to avoid been marked as spam. I host my exchanger server, so MX, DMARC, SPF, DKIM setup properly.

Subscribe to shorturl.com, cheap around 3$ per year !!! and it's the only one that I found that could use a token (path forwarding) with the short URL and it looks like this:

mydomain.shorturl.com/token
not that ugly URL
FMS_IP/fmi/webd/FileName?script=123&homeurl=http://website.com&$token=TOKEN

From that landing page, the script "123" runs and variable $token is used to target the right appointment, the customer will be direct to his account and will follow instructions and when he quits, it will send him to our website, not the FM WebDirect home page.

If anyone would like more info, I'll be happy to help.