A "thank you" email sent at the end of the online booking process (or manually sent by a member of staff for a staff generated booking.
We suggest that the basics of a confirmation email should include:
- What they have booked
- Reconfirm their contact details (so if they entered them correctly they may contact you to tell you)
- What they have paid (and therefore what remains to be paid)
This isn't legal advice however don't "accept" the customer's order in your confirmation email (otherwise if the date isn't available or it was incorrectly priced - you may have a problem)
Near the "order now" button within the online booking process, ensure that you are saying "you are making an offer to purchase goods, which, if accepted by us, will result in a binding contract". Then you don't have to accept the offer if the price is wrong.
Make it clear that just because you have taken the customer's money doesn't mean you have accepted their offer. "Your card will be debited with the sum of £200 GBP when you click the order button. This will be refunded if your offer is refused".
Ensure that in your confirmation email that you use language like "your order has been received and is being processed" (which doesn’t suggest you have agreed to the customer's offer) - rather than (in the case for physical ecommerce) - "your goods will be dispatched within 24 hours".
At a very minimum, your confirmation email would, therefore, look like this:
Dear %primary_contact_name%,
Thank you for choosing to book with INSERT COMPANY NAME.
I am pleased to confirm receipt of your booking as follows:
YOUR BOOKING DETAILS
Booking Reference Number: %b_id%
Booking Status: %booking_status%
Group: %customers_total_line_display%
YOUR TOUR DETAILS
Name: %primary_contact_name%
Address: %primary_contact_full_address%
Email: %primary_contact_email% Telephone
Number: %primary_contact_telephone%
Other Gruop Members: %other_tour_members_list%