Cab Grid Pro allows you to compose bespoke booking acknowledgement messages that are emailed to customers when the taxi booking form is submitted. This email is completely customisable with details entered on the taxi booking form.

On the Cab Grid Pro OPTIONS tab, there is a rich-text editor (TinyMCE WYSiWYG) under ‘Email acknowledgement message‘. This allows text to be formatted and provides HTML functionality such as links. A custom message can be composed which is sent to the customer when the journey booking form is submitted (provided booking is enabled under ‘Show book button & form‘).

When the email is processed, text-substitutions replace special place-holders with details from the booking form as submitted by the customer. These can even include custom form fields.

Advanced Layout Formatting

The TinyMCE editor offers some basic formatting such as bullet point lists, bold, italic, text colour, text alignment (left, right, centre), and symbols. These can be used to format the layout of acknowledgement emails.

It might be necessary to apply further advanced formatting such as a table or custom styling. In general, these additional components can be added using the editor’s source or TEXT mode. Here, further custom HTML can be added that will format the email message.

[Currently] one caveat is that line breaks should be avoided in HTML text/source mode as these are sometimes interpreted as extra line breaks in the subsequent email message.

There are some tools/techniques that can help with advance formatting:

• The TinyMCE Advance plugin adds menus that allow advanced HTML elements such as tables to be added and edited.
• There are HTML generator services available on web sites. For example, https://www.tablesgenerator.com/html_tables will generate custom code and styling for an HTML table.
• You can hire us to create a custom email for you.

Text Substitution Format

The custom message is searched for text surrounded with three forward slashes, like this: ///price///

The text within the forward slashes can be the name of any form field on the booking form. These can be the standard fields or custom fields added in the OPTIONS tab under ‘Additional Form Fields‘.

For example, if an additional form field labelled, ‘Additional Requirements‘ has been added to the booking form, the value entered by the customer can be substituted in the acknowledgement email by including ///Additional Requirements/// in the email acknowledgment message field.

A list of the standard form fields is provided below.

Include All Booking Data

In addition to the custom message, the complete details of the booking request can be included. To enable this option, set ‘Include booking details‘ (located below the custom email text box) to ‘Yes‘.

If set to ‘no’ only the custom message will be delivered to the customer.

Standard Substitutions

///price-type///	Price variation
///price///	Quoted Price
///vehicle///	Selected vehicle
///currencyCode///	3 character ISO code
///calcMethod///	Passengers/Vehicle/Tickets/Time
///passengers///	Number of Passengers
///luggage///	Luggage Quantity
///tickets///	Number of Tickets
///time///	Number of hire time-units (hours/days/etc) entered by customer
///return///	Round Trip (y/n)
///To_Area///	Selected Origin
///From_Area///	Selected Destination
///pickupDate///	Pickup Date & Time
///returnDate///	Return Date & Time (if required)
///name///	Customer Name
///email///	Customer email
///tel///	Customer telephone
///pickupAddress///	Entered pick up address
///destinationAddress///	Entered destination address
///cabGridProDiscountCode///	Entered discount code
///cabGridProBookingID///	System booking ID (generated)
///lang///	Customer language

Including custom data (Custom Form Fields & Extras)

To substitute values for custom form fields or extras, the exact name of the field or extra must be used as the placeholder surrounded by three slashes. For example: ///my form field/// or ///my extra///

Booking Management Substitutions

These substitutions are specific to messages sent through the Booking Management Add-on.

///addDate///	Date customer made initial booking request
///paidDate///	Date booking paid for (either set by admin or when online payment completed)
///payMethod///	Payment method (as entered by admin or customer selected)
///amountPaid///	Amount already paid (if deposit or surcharge applied and checked out online)
///amountOutstanding///	Amount left to pay, if not fully paid (from CabGrid Bookings v2.7.1)
///txid///	Transaction ID
///acceptDate///	Date booking accepted/confirmed by admin
///declineDate///	Date booking declined by admin
///modDate///	Date booking last modified
///cancelDate///	Date booking cancelled
///status///	Booking status (accepted/declined/pending/cancelled)
///notes///	All notes stored against booking

Booking Reminder Substitutions

The Taxi Booking Management Add-on plugin can also send scheduled reminders to customers. This feature offers some additional text-substitutions as follows.

///leg///	Localised label: “Outbound” or “Return” (since BMA v2.2.4)
///legDate///	Localised date for the reminder leg (since BMA v2.2.4)
///legStart///	Selected start place name for this leg of the journey (since BMA v2.2.4)
///legEnd///	Selected end place name for this leg of the journey (since BMA v2.2.4)

Use these place-holders in the “REMINDER MESSAGE” box found under:
WordPress Admin > Cab Grid Pro > Bookings > Settings > BOOKING REMINDERS

Driver Assignment Notification Substitutions

The CabGrid Driver Dispatch Add-on plugin can send notifications to both customers and drivers when a driver is assigned to a job. These messages can be configured under WordPress Admin > CabGrid Pro > DRIVERS > Settings > EMAIL/SMS MESSAGES.

A range of driver-specific text substitutions are available for these notification messages. For more information see the Driver Add-on configuration guide.

 

Customising the Acknowledgment Email Subject Line

(In Cab Grid Pro v5.6.3 or higher) It is possible to change the subject line for the acknowledgment email message. This is done using either the free Defaults Add-on plugin or by editing the _settings.php file.

The variable that should be edited is ‘$cabGridProCustEmailSubject‘. For example: $cabGridProCustEmailSubject="Your booking with My Company Name";