The Email page answers four questions in the order you'd ask them — where do my emails come from, which ones go out, exactly what do they say, and did they arrive?
Email is never the only way a visitor knows where they are. The tracking link and lobby screen always work, whatever these switches say — so nothing here can leave someone stranded.
Why keep email on
Email reaches someone who has never messaged you, so it's the useful nudge for a first-time visitor or a walk-away — and it costs a fraction of a cent to send. The words are yours, with nothing to get signed off.
It's best-effort, not a guarantee of arrival. Nobody can promise a message lands in the inbox rather than the spam folder, which is exactly why a visitor's place in the line never depends on it. In the log, "sent" means the message was accepted for delivery — not that it was read.
Your package sets a monthly email allowance. Email costs you nothing per message, but the whole business shares a monthly allowance of three emails for every visit in its package. When it is used up, visitor emails stop and WhatsApp (if you use it) and the tracking link carry on. The one exception is the code email a visitor asks for when they confirm their email on a join form: it is counted like any other visitor email but is never held back, because a visitor without the code could not join. See The email allowance.
When the allowance is reached If the business reaches its allowance, visitor emails pause until the allowance starts again. Nobody is dropped from the line — every visitor still has their free tracking link and the lobby screen.
The code email on a join form When a line asks for an email address, the visitor confirms it with a short code we email. There is a daily limit on code emails to one inbox (20 a day across all businesses), so a visitor who keeps asking for a new code is told to wait. If our email service is not answering, the visitor sees "Our email service isn't answering. Check in at the counter, or try again in a few minutes." Add them yourself with Add walk-in on the Queue page.
The three tabs and the sender card
The page has three tabs. Usage shows the emails sent this month against the allowance, the Sent, Failed and Skipped counts, and a bar showing where the emails went. Delivery shows the recent emails. Settings holds the card below, the line switches and the wording.
| On the Email page | What happens |
|---|---|
| Emails come from | The exact address your visitors see and reply to, spelled out in full — a verified sending address, set up for you and not changeable. "Replies come back to your business inbox." Replies go to the location's reply-to email address if you have set one; with none set, they go to turnda support. Your sign-in email is never shown to visitors. |
The usage meter The page shows the emails the business has sent this month against its allowance (“N of N this month”), and the date it starts again. When the allowance is used up, a note says “You have used this month's email allowance, so visitor emails are paused until” that date. A bigger package has a bigger allowance; only the owner can change package, on Billing. A business with a free monthly limit also sees a “Need more emails?” card on the Settings tab with a Set up billing button, or a note that an owner can set it up.
“Your emails are not reaching anyone”
This red banner is the most important thing on the page. It appears when email cannot reach an inbox at all, and it names which of two causes applies, because the fix is different.
| What the banner says | What it means |
|---|---|
| No email provider is connected in this environment | There's nothing to hand the message to. |
| Email sending is switched off in this environment | The service is there, and sending has been stopped. |
The gotcha — the log below still says “sent”. When nothing can leave the building, a stand-in accepts the message and the log records it exactly as it would a real send. If this banner is showing, treat every "sent" underneath it as "would have been sent" — and tell people in person.
Which lines use email
One switch per line — Email for {line}. A line you switch off never emails, and its join form stops asking for an email address at all. An off line carries a Not used here badge.
What the visitor's email looks like
Every email to a visitor has the same simple layout, so it reads at a glance on a phone. It comes as your business — your name as the sender, and your logo at the top if you have set one. With no logo, a round badge with the first letter of your business's name stands in.
From top to bottom
| Part | What the visitor sees |
|---|---|
| The header | Your logo, or the round badge with your business's first letter. It takes your accent colour if you set one. |
| The sentence | The words you wrote for that moment (for example, that it is almost their turn). |
| The number block | When the email is about a place in the line: a large block headed “Your number” with their ticket number, for example A041. |
| The button | A button reading “See your place in the line” that opens their live tracking page. On an appointment email the button reads “Open my appointment” and a reference line is added, and the review request has a “Leave a review” button. Because the button carries the link, the sentence above it does not repeat the address. |
| The footer | Why they are getting the email, an Unsubscribe link (see “If a visitor unsubscribes” below), and a small “Sent with turnda” credit. |
The button and the credit are fixed. You change the words of each email in the editor below, but not the button, the number block or the “Sent with turnda” credit. The email follows the visitor's language, like the other messages.
Writing what each email says
Below the lines is where you'll spend the most time — every moment on the left, the editor for whichever you pick in the middle, and a live preview of what the visitor receives on the right.
The parts of this screen
| Part | What it does |
|---|---|
| The list | Every moment with its number, name, and current setting — off, or on with its timing, like “3 places out” or “24 h before.” A reworded one carries an Edited badge; the review ask is marked Set per location, and is the one promotional email, off until you switch it on — in the EU and UK you may need your visitors' agreement first, so leave it off if you are not sure. |
| Wording for | The location selector — only shown with more than one location. The whole business is the default; a location can have its own words and switch back to the shared wording any time. |
| Language | A row of language tabs, one edited at a time; the preview follows it. An untouched language uses our reviewed translation. Arabic is marked Right-to-left. |
| Subject | The email's subject line, per language, email-only. Leave it empty to use ours. |
| What they receive | The message itself, with a list of merge fields underneath to click into place. Save wording keeps it; Reset to default puts our words back. If the Wording and languages page has wording for this email, a note says which of the two visitors get, and Reset to default brings that wording back instead of ours. |
| Timing | When to send it sets how close to the front someone must be before the heads-up goes, per line. When to send the reminder sets how far ahead of an appointment its reminder goes, per line. |
The switch and the words are independent. Fixing a typo never turns a message on, and turning one on never touches your wording. You can write everything up front, quietly, and switch it on when ready.
Switched off means it never even queues. The switch is re-checked at the moment of sending, so turning a moment off also stops anything already waiting to go — but a moment you switched off an hour ago can't be "re-sent" by switching it back on.
Appointments: email or nothing
Every message about an appointment is sent by email only — the confirmation, the reminder, and the notices when it's moved or cancelled.
A phone-only appointment form means no appointment messages at all. Not delayed, not shortened — none. Someone who books Tuesday for Saturday gets no confirmation, no reminder, no notice if you move the time. The same is true if the line has email switched off.
If an appointment line collects phone numbers instead of emails, plan to phone those visitors yourself the day before, and treat the reminder as something you do rather than something the system does.
Did it arrive? (Usage and Delivery)
Two tabs are your evidence. Usage carries three counts, for the same month as your allowance (they read “Sent (this month)”, “Failed (this month)” and “Skipped (this month)”, or “Sent (7 days)”, “Failed (7 days)” and “Skipped (7 days)” on a business with no monthly allowance). Delivery, headed Recent emails, lists the 100 most recent messages this business tried to send — press Didn't send to see only the ones that failed, or All recent for the lot.
| Count | Covers |
|---|---|
| Sent (this month) | Messages accepted for delivery since the allowance month began |
| Failed (this month) | Messages that didn't get through, in the same month |
| Skipped (this month) | Messages we didn't try to send, in the same month |
A Skipped row always says why underneath, in plain words. That line is usually the whole answer when a visitor says nothing arrived. Nothing appears on a new business yet.
Why a message was skipped
| What it says | What it means |
|---|---|
| This message is switched off. | The moment isn't turned on. |
| We have no phone number or email for this visitor. | Nothing was collected to send to. |
| Not needed any more. | By the time it was due, this visitor had already been served, moved to another line, or had left. |
| This business had used up the month's email allowance. | The allowance was reached before this email could go. |
There are no names, numbers or addresses in the log, ever. It's built to answer "did our messages go out?" without becoming a list of your visitors' contact details. Full detail — Did it arrive? (delivery log).
When emails fail
“Some emails didn't send” — an amber card on the Delivery tab, above the list. It tells you how many, and how many are recent enough to try again. On a healthy business this card isn't there at all.
- An owner gets a Send them again button. Pressing it sends those messages within a minute or so, and the page refreshes to show the result.
- A manager sees the same counts and is told re-sending is the owner's to do — nothing is hidden, only the button.
- If every failure is older than the repair window, there's no button — the card explains the window instead. Reach those visitors in person.
A bounced address is not a fault you can fix from here. Re-sending won't even reach the wrong address, because a hard bounce stops that address for good — the row shows as Opted out. Call the visitor by name, and take the address again before their next appointment.
Owner, manager, and what each can change
| Owner | Manager | |
|---|---|---|
| The moments and their wording | Can edit — the business switch, each location's switch and the wording | Read-only, marked Owner only |
| Usage and the per-line switches for their own location | Can edit | Can edit |
| Re-sending failed emails | Can do | Sees the counts, told it's the owner's to do |
| The delivery log | Sees the whole business | Sees the whole business — no location column yet |
Managers can be locked out of channel changes entirely. If an owner has turned that off, a note at the very top of the page says so, and the controls are read-only. It's a setting, not a fault.
Preview and reset
| What happens | What it means |
|---|---|
| Preview | Shows what the visitor will receive with your business name filled in, or says it is off. |
| Reset wording to ours | Brings back our reviewed wording for that language. Languages you have not edited use our reviewed translation. If the Wording and languages page has wording for this email, that wording is used instead. |
The code email at joining
A line can ask visitors for a code before they join. It is the line setting Ask visitors for an email code (in Visitor page & privacy), and it is off unless you turn it on. The code goes by email only, so the visitor must give an email address. It is not sent unless the line uses codes.
| Rule | What it means |
|---|---|
| The code | Six digits. It works for a short while (ten minutes), and five wrong tries on an address stop its codes working. |
| Most one inbox can be sent | A few codes in a quarter of an hour, and no more than 20 emails a day from turnda to one inbox, counted across all businesses. The same limit covers the confirmation emails that a public join or booking page queues for that address. Past it, the visit or booking still goes ahead, only without the email. |
| Most one business can send | A busy business has a ceiling on code emails per quarter of an hour. Past it, visitors are told to check in at the counter. |
| Joining by WhatsApp, and a paired kiosk | Neither is asked for a code. |
What the visitor reads when it cannot send
| What the visitor sees | What it means |
|---|---|
| You've asked for several codes already. Check your inbox, wait a few minutes, or check in at the counter. | That address has reached its limit for now. |
| This place can't send any more codes right now. Please check in at the counter. | The business has reached its limit for now. |
| Our email service isn't answering. Check in at the counter, or try again in a few minutes. | The email service, or the counter that guards it, is not answering. No code is sent. |
| Too many wrong codes. Ask for a new code, or check in at the counter. | Too many wrong tries on the code. |
Nobody is ever stuck: a visitor who cannot get a code checks in at the counter, and you add them with Add walk-in on the Queue page.
If a visitor unsubscribes
- It stops only your business’s optional emails, such as the review request. That visitor is not emailed those again.
- It does not stop the emails they need. Booking and visit confirmations, reminders and cancellations still reach them.
- A new join where they confirm their email lifts it. If they come back, give their email and confirm it with the code we send, they are emailed normally.
- It only ever affects your business. Unsubscribing from you never changes what any other business sends them.
- To unsubscribe, the visitor opens the link in the email footer and presses the button on the page that opens. The review request email also has your mail app’s own one-click unsubscribe button.
Related: Taking an appointment