Email Integration & Templates

ClientFlow can email your clients from your own mailbox — reminders, invoices, estimates and more — and gives you reusable message templates with client details filled in automatically. This guide covers connecting your email, message templates, automatic messages and what you can see about delivery.

Overview

Email is one of the channels ClientFlow uses to reach your clients. Depending on what you set up, it sends appointment reminders, payment reminders, and documents such as invoices, estimates, credit notes and receipts (each has its own Send action).

Key email capabilities:

• Your own mailbox — Connect Gmail, Outlook, iCloud, Yahoo or any SMTP account so emails come from your address
• Message templates — Write reusable messages, with a subject line for email, using variables such as {{name}}
• Client language — Reminders and documents use the client's preferred language, or yours when none is set
• Brand colors — The colors you choose in Settings → Branding appear in invoices, emails and other documents
• Blocked-address list — See which addresses cannot receive your emails

Email Configuration

Emails to your clients — invoices, estimates, payment reminders — are sent from your own email account, so they come from your address and replies reach you. Connect it under Settings → Integrations, in the Email card. Use Connect Gmail or Connect Outlook to sign in with one click, or choose manual setup with an app password for Gmail, iCloud or Yahoo, or custom SMTP for any other provider. Until an account is connected, ClientFlow does not email your clients: documents and reminder emails are not sent, and there is no shared fallback address.

Connecting Your Email

1. Go to Settings → Integrations and find the Email card
2. Choose your provider
3. For Gmail or Outlook, sign in and authorize access. For manual setup, enter your email address and an app password (not your regular password); for custom SMTP also enter the server and port. iCloud requires two-factor authentication on your Apple ID and an app-specific password
4. Optionally set Sender Name and a Send From address
5. Click Verify Credentials, then Connect Email
6. Use Send Test Email to check that it works

Sender Identity

Configure how your emails appear in client inboxes:

1. Go to Settings → Email
2. Under How your emails are signed, set your From display name (Gmail truncates longer names)
3. Set your Reply-To address — where client replies land. It defaults to your login email
4. Click Save

The same page shows which address you are currently sending from and lets you add your own sending domain: publish the DNS records it lists at your DNS provider, then use Verify now. Your brand colors are set under Settings → Branding; uploading your own logo there is a Team plan feature.

Message Templates

Message Templates (in the sidebar) are reusable messages for WhatsApp and email, with client details filled in automatically. Profession Setup offers starter templates for your line of work. How many templates you can keep depends on your plan; the page shows how many you have used.

Creating a Template

1. Go to Message Templates in the sidebar
2. Click New Template
3. Enter a Template Name (for your own reference) and choose the Template Type
4. Choose the Channel: WhatsApp, Email or All Channels
5. For email, write the Subject line
6. Write the Message (at least 10 characters). Click Insert Variable, or type {{ to pick a variable
7. Check the Live Preview, which uses sample data
8. Click Create Template

You can also organize templates into categories, duplicate them, and export or import them.

Available Variables

Variables use double curly braces and are replaced with real data when the message is sent:

Variable	Description	Example Output
{{name}}	Client's name	John Smith
{{phone}}	Client's phone number	+1 555-0123
{{email}}	Client's email address	john@example.com
{{business_name}}	Your business name	My Business
{{amount}}	Payment amount	$150.00
{{currency}}	Currency code	USD
{{month}} and {{year}}	Payment month and year	December, 2024
{{due_date}}	Payment due date	December 15, 2024

Template Best Practices

• Keep subject lines short so they read well on a phone
• Address the client by name with {{name}} for a personal touch
• Include a clear call-to-action (e.g., "Confirm your appointment")
• Check your template in the Live Preview before saving
• Avoid excessive images — some email clients block them by default

Checking Delivery

ClientFlow has no email log screen for account owners. What you can see:

• Reminders → Reminder History — each payment reminder shows its status (for example Pending, Sent or Failed), and failed ones can be retried
• Settings → Email → Blocked email addresses — addresses that will not receive emails from you
• Send Test Email in the Email card — confirms that your connected mailbox can send

Handling Bounces

Addresses that bounce, report your email as spam or unsubscribe end up in Blocked email addresses, with the reason and the date, and later emails to them are skipped. After you have corrected an address, search for it in that list and click Re-allow. Some blocks apply across ClientFlow and cannot be overridden from your account; those are marked Global.

Automatic Messages

ClientFlow has no separate "Email Automation" settings page. Messages go out automatically from three places:

Where Automatic Messages Come From

• Appointment reminders — One per appointment, set on the appointment itself: tick Reminder, choose when it is sent (5, 10, 15 or 30 minutes, 1 hour or 1 day before) and the channel (Auto, WhatsApp Only, Email Only or WhatsApp + Email)
• Automations — Eleven fixed, ready-made automations (welcome, booking confirmation, payment reminder, no-show follow-up, rebooking nudge, session thank-you, birthday, package expiring, form submitted, form abandoned and review request). You switch each one on with a toggle and edit its message under Automations. They are tied to your plan: Free and Starter include the welcome and booking confirmation automations, Starter and above add the payment reminder, and the other eight need PRO or above. Each message goes to the client by the channel set for them, email or WhatsApp
• Payment and invoice reminders — You can send payment reminders yourself from Reminders. Reminders for unpaid invoices are sent by email 3, 7, 14 and 30 days after the due date; these timings are fixed and nothing is sent before the due date

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Problem	Cause	Solution
Emails going to spam	Sending address or sender name not recognized	Connect your own mailbox, use a recognizable From display name, and ask clients to add your address to their contacts
Variables showing as raw text	Incorrect variable syntax or an unknown variable name	Use double curly braces and a name from the list above: {{name}}, not {name} or {client_name}
Client not receiving emails	Address blocked or mistyped	Check Settings → Email → Blocked email addresses; verify the client's email address
Appointment reminder email not sent	Reminder switched off, channel is not email, or the monthly reminder limit is reached	Open the appointment and check the Reminder box and channel; check the Reminders Sent usage under Settings → Subscription
Logo not appearing	Custom logos are a Team plan feature, or the email client blocks images	Check your plan; image blocking by the recipient's email client is normal behavior
Wrong language in email	Client language preference not set	Set the client's Preferred Language in their profile

Email Deliverability Tips

• Always use a recognizable sender name (your business name)
• Keep your contact list clean — correct or remove invalid addresses promptly
• Avoid spam trigger words in subject lines ("FREE", "ACT NOW", "URGENT")
• Send consistently — sudden spikes in volume can trigger spam filters