How to Follow Up or Send an Email to Customers Who Have Booked a Tour

When a customer books a tour, there are a few moments when a quick email makes all the difference. You want to confirm their booking right away. You want to remind them when a payment is due. And after their trip, you want to thank them and ask for a review.

You can set all of these up to send on their own. Once they are configured, you never have to remember to send them yourself.

How do I send an email after a tour is booked?

The first email your customer gets is often the most important one. A clear booking confirmation tells them their spot is reserved and sets the tone for the whole experience.

Say someone books your 5-day Himalayan trek online. Within minutes, they get an email confirming their booking, listing what is included, and telling them what to bring. That is what this trigger does for you automatically.

You can send a booking confirmation email using the New Trip Booked trigger. A trigger is the event that tells the system to send the email. In this case, the event is a new booking being completed.

That is your first automated email set up. Next, let us look at how to remind customers about pending payments.

How do I send a Due Payment Reminder?

If you let customers pay in parts (a deposit first, the rest later), a reminder email can save you from chasing people down. This email goes out automatically when a payment is due.

For example, say a customer paid a 30% deposit for your 7-day Bali tour. When the remaining balance is due, this email reminds them to pay it without you having to pick up the phone.

You can send a reminder for pending payments using the Due Payment Pending trigger.

Now your customers will get a friendly nudge when their balance is due. Next, let us set up a review request for after the trip.

How can I ask customers for a review after a trip ends?

Reviews are one of the best ways to win new customers. A good review on your trip page gives future travelers confidence to book. But asking for reviews takes time if you do it manually.

With the After Trip End trigger, you can send a thank-you email with a review link automatically, a day or two after the trip finishes. The traveler is still buzzing from the experience, and the request lands while their memories are fresh.

That covers the three most common follow-up emails. A few tips can help you get the most out of them.

What are the best practices for follow-up emails?

• Keep emails short, friendly, and clear. Your customers are busy. A few sentences are usually enough.
• Use personalization tags to make each email feel specific to the person reading it. Tags like customer name, trip name, and payment details turn a generic message into something that feels written for them.
• Schedule your emails thoughtfully:
  • Booking confirmations - send immediately. Your customer is waiting for it.
  • Payment reminders - send a few days before the due date so they have time to pay.
  • Review requests - send 1 to 3 days after the trip ends. Too soon and they are still traveling. Too late and the memory has faded.

Troubleshooting

Emails are not being sent

First, check that the Advanced Email Automator add-on is installed and activated. You can verify this in the Plugins menu on the left sidebar of your WordPress dashboard.

Next, open the notification you created and make sure it is enabled (the toggle should be on). Also confirm the correct trigger is selected.

If both of those look right, the issue may be that your WordPress site cannot send emails. This is a common problem. An SMTP plugin (a tool that sends email through a proper mail server instead of the default WordPress method) can fix this. Ask your hosting provider or try a free plugin like WP Mail SMTP.

The Due Payment Reminder trigger is not appearing

This trigger requires the Partial Payment add-on. Make sure it is installed and activated in your Plugins menu. Once it is active, go back to the notification settings and the trigger should appear in the list.

Review emails are not sending after the trip ends

Check the trip end date on your trip listing. If the end date is missing or incorrect, the system does not know when to send the email. Also check the schedule setting on your notification. If the schedule points to a date in the past (for example, if the trip already ended before you set up the notification), the email will not go out. Adjust the schedule and save the notification again.

Emails are being sent multiple times

This usually happens when you have more than one notification using the same trigger. Go to your notifications list and check for duplicates. If you see two notifications with the same trigger, turn off or delete the one you do not need.

Having a caching plugin (a tool that stores copies of your pages to make your site load faster) can sometimes cause issues with email timing. If you have a caching plugin installed, try clearing the cache and testing again.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I send different emails for different trips?

Yes. Each notification you create applies to all trips by default. If you want trip-specific emails, you can use the Per Trip Emails add-on, which lets you write a different message for each trip.

Can I turn off an email without deleting it?

Yes. Each notification has a toggle switch. Turn it off and the email stops sending. Your settings are saved, so you can turn it back on whenever you need it. This is useful during low season or when you want to pause a particular email.

How many automated emails can I set up?

There is no limit. You can create as many notifications as you need. For example, you could have one for booking confirmations, one for payment reminders, one for pre-trip packing reminders, and one for post-trip review requests.

Will the email look like it comes from my business?

Yes. The email uses your site's name and email address as the sender. You can customize the header and footer (the top and bottom of the email) to match your brand. See how to customize your email header and footer for details.

Do I need to write the emails in English only?

No. If your site uses multiple languages, you can translate each automated email into the language your customers speak. The process works the same way as translating other WP Travel Engine emails.