The mail assistant for appointments

Updated on 2026-10-22

Mails van klanten over hun afspraak worden nagekeken. U krijgt een voorstel en een antwoord; u bevestigt, en het antwoord verstuurt u zelf of laat u HairConnect versturen. (Mails from customers about their appointment are checked. You get a proposal and a reply; you confirm, and you send the reply yourself or let HairConnect send it.)

Instellingen → Koppelingen → Communicatie → Mailassistent voor afspraken → Instellen (Settings → Integrations → Communication → Mail assistant for appointments → Configure). Only the owner can do this.

What it does

A customer mails "I have to cancel my appointment tomorrow, could it be next Tuesday or Wednesday?". The mail assistant:

1. finds the customer by her email address, and her upcoming appointment;
2. reads what she asks: cancel, reschedule, a new appointment, or something else;
3. when rescheduling: looks for a free moment on the requested days. The haircut stays with whoever does it now; a colouring may go to any employee who can do it. If those days are full, it proposes the first free moment after them;
4. prepares a proposal and a draft reply under Klanten → Mails over afspraken (Customers → Mails about appointments).

Nothing changes in the calendar and nothing is sent until an employee presses Bevestigen (Confirm). After confirming, the button Antwoord openen in uw mailprogramma (Open reply in your mail program) opens the reply in your own mail program; you send it yourself, from the salon's mailbox. If you let HairConnect send the reply (see below), it leaves right after confirming.

If it is unclear what the customer asks, if no customer has that address, or if several appointments fit: there is only a notice, without a button to carry anything out.

Letting HairConnect send the reply

The Instellen (Configure) window has the switch Antwoord versturen vanuit HairConnect (Send reply from HairConnect). By default it is off: then everything works as described above.

When it is on, pressing Bevestigen (Confirm) does this:

1. the confirmation window shows the reply. You read it and correct it where needed; the text in the window is what is sent;
2. the calendar changes;
3. HairConnect sends the reply to whoever sent the mail, with your salon's address as sender and your salon address as reply-to address, with "Re:" before the subject, in the same thread as the customer's mail;
4. the message then appears on the customer's record under Berichten (Messages), like any other mail HairConnect sent.

The reply leaves through the mail server that is switched on under Instellingen → Koppelingen (Settings → Integrations): Mail via HairConnect or your own mail server. If neither is on, nothing is sent.

It only says sent once the mail server accepted the mail. If it fails, the change in the calendar stays, and the proposal shows Niet verstuurd (Not sent) in red with the reason. The button Antwoord openen in uw mailprogramma (Open reply in your mail program) is still there: send it from there. A reply is never sent twice, not even if someone presses Confirm twice.

This switch applies only to this reply. Confirmations, reminders, receipts and other messages to customers stay as they are set. This route never sends a text message or a WhatsApp.

What is needed

The switch only turns on when everything is there. If something is missing, the screen says what.

After switching on, the test button shows the forwarding address. In your own mailbox, set a forwarding rule from your salon address to that address. Whether that rule works, HairConnect cannot check until a mail arrives.

Still bookable after the roster

An employee's record has Na het rooster nog intern boekbaar tot (still bookable internally after the roster until). Empty means: only within the roster. If you enter, for example, 18:30 for the owner, the mail assistant may plan him until 18:30, even though his roster ends at 17:00 — not later. Online booking never looks at this: customers do not see that time.

The mail assistant does not place a colouring after the time you enter under Instellingen → Online boeken → Kleurwerk (Settings → Online booking → Colour work), not even in that extra room: that room is for the haircut.

What goes outside

The text of the mail goes to Anthropic to be read, with the key of your Assistant module. What the assistant read in it is shown with the mail; the reply is built by HairConnect itself from your calendar, not written by the language model.

Confirming does what is on the screen. If the appointment changed in the meantime or the new moment is taken, nothing happens and you see why.