The "Additional recipients" module makes it possible to add further email addresses to booking notifications. By default, the calendar user (the employee to whom the booked appointment is assigned) receives an email notification for new bookings, changes or cancellations. In many organizations, however, other people or central email addresses should also be informed, such as assistants, team mailboxes, department heads or administrative staff. The module meets this need without having to set up several separate calendars or complicated forwarding rules.
Use cases
1. A central team address receives all bookings
A medical practice has several doctors, each with their own calendar. In addition, the central practice email address appointments@example.com should receive all bookings of all doctors, in order to have a complete overview and be able to coordinate when needed.
2. An assistant is notified as well
A managing director has a personal calendar, but their assistant should also be informed about all appointments in order to make preparations, have documents ready or reserve rooms.
3. Several location managers receive overviews
A company with several locations has one calendar per location. The regional manager wants to receive a copy of all bookings from all locations to monitor utilization and trends.
4. Cross-department coordination
A consulting firm has various consultants. For certain appointment reasons (e.g. "Strategy consulting"), the department head should also be informed in order to get involved if necessary or to clarify questions.
5. Backup contact
A sole proprietor wants a colleague or partner to receive all bookings as well, in case they miss the email themselves or are on vacation.
6. Accounting for incoming payments
For appointments with prepayment, the accounting department should also be informed in order to record incoming payments.
Configuration
- Globally for all calendars: One or more email addresses receive all bookings of the entire system
- Per calendar: Each calendar can have its own additional recipients
- Per appointment reason: Certain appointment reasons trigger notifications to specific additional recipients (e.g. VIP customers → management is informed)
How it works
For every relevant action (new booking, change, cancellation), the system checks:
- Who is the main recipient? (calendar user)
- Are additional recipients configured?
- Sends the email to the main recipient and all additional recipients
All recipients receive the same email with the same information.
Email types affected
- New booking: Notification to the operator for a new booking
- Appointment change/rescheduling: Notification when changed by the customer or manually
- Appointment cancellation: Notification of a cancellation
- Optional: reminders: Appointment reminders to the operator can also go to additional recipients
Data protection and permissions
Since additional recipients receive customers' personal data (name, email, phone, possibly health data), data protection aspects must be observed:
- Legitimate interest: Only people who need access to booking data for business reasons should be configured as additional recipients
- GDPR compliance: Additional recipients must be bound to confidentiality
- Documentation: The privacy policy should transparently communicate which people/departments have access to booking data
- Review access rights: Regularly check whether all configured recipients are still authorized
Advantages
- Transparency: Several people are informed, nobody is surprised
- Redundancy: If one person overlooks the email, others can step in
- Coordination: Teams can coordinate better
- Reliability: During vacation or illness, others are informed
- Central overview: Management or administration can keep track
Disadvantages and challenges
- Email flood: With many bookings, the number of emails can quickly become overwhelming
- Data protection: More recipients = more people with access to sensitive data
- Diffusion of responsibility: When many people are informed, nobody may feel responsible
Best practices
- Only add relevant people: Do not configure unnecessarily many recipients
- Use team mailboxes: Instead of many individuals, preferably one central mailbox (e.g.
appointments@example.com) that several people can access - Set up filters: Recipients should set up email filters/rules to sort notifications automatically
- Review periodically: Regularly check whether all configured recipients are still with the company and need the emails
Alternative solutions
- Forwarding at the email server level: Instead of configuring additional recipients in the booking system, the main recipient's email server can set up automatic forwarding
- CRM integration: All bookings are transferred to the CRM system, where authorized people can view them, without an email flood
- Internal Slack/Teams channel: Instead of emails, bookings can be pushed via webhooks to a Slack or Microsoft Teams channel
Technical implementation
The admin area has an input field or a list in which additional email addresses can be added:
- Input field:
additional@example.com, assistant@example.com, management@example.com - List: Each address on a separate line or with an "Add" button
For every notification, the system iterates over the list and sends the email to all addresses.
Extensions and variants
- Different recipients per event type: New bookings go to team A, cancellations to team B
- Conditional recipients: An additional recipient is only informed for certain appointment reasons or above a certain booking value
- CC/BCC mode: Additional recipients can be added as CC (visible) or BCC (invisible)
- Different email texts: The main recipient receives a detailed email, additional recipients only a short version
Combination with roles and permissions
In larger systems, additional recipients can also be combined with role-based permissions:
- Operator role: Receives emails, can view and edit bookings
- Observer role: Receives emails, can only view bookings, not edit them
- Manager role: Receives summary emails (e.g. all bookings daily), not every single one
Example configuration
Calendar: Dr. Miller (dentist) Main recipient: dr.miller@example.com
Additional recipients
reception@example.com(the front desk receives all bookings in order to greet patients)assistant@example.com(the assistant receives all bookings in order to prepare treatment rooms)
For a new booking
- Customer books an appointment
- System sends an email to:
- dr.miller@example.com (main recipient) - reception@example.com (additional) - assistant@example.com (additional)
All three people are informed and can prepare.
Distinction from other features
- Calendar user: The person who owns the calendar (main recipient)
- Additional recipients: Other people who are informed as well
- CRM integration: Bookings are transferred to the CRM, where many people can view them
- Webhook: Technical interface for automated processing
Statistics and monitoring
In the admin area, operators can see:
- How many emails are sent in total? (including additional recipients)
- Bounce rate: Are emails to additional recipients delivered successfully?
- Opt-out: Have additional recipients unsubscribed?