Heltio emails patients on specific events: a booking confirmation, an appointment reminder, a reschedule, a portal invitation. The Settings → Email Notifications screen decides which of them go out and what their footer looks like.
There is no "write an email to a patient" box here. A hand-written message goes through messages with the patient, and a bulk one through marketing campaigns.
How to do it
Set how the message looks
The Email Branding card holds two fields:
- Custom footer text — a line under the body of every email, the clinic's full name and address, for instance.
- Reply-to email — the address patient replies go to. Leaving it empty means the clinic address.
Changes are saved with Save; Discard returns to the state before your edit. Heltio confirms with Email settings saved.
Pick the email types
The Email Types card splits them into three groups — Appointments, Bookings and Other — and gives each type its own toggle and a one-line description:
- Appointment reminder, Appointment cancelled, Appointment rescheduled
- Booking confirmed, Booking request received, Booking request approved, Booking request declined, New booking request (to clinic)
- Waitlist notification, Portal invitation, No-show notification, GDPR deletion confirmation, Assessment completed
Block sending for one patient
On the patient card, on the Communication tab, the Receive marketing e-mails toggle reads Receiving e-mails or Unsubscribed from e-mails.
Lifting the block on a patient's behalf is only right at their explicit request — note it on the card. The patient can also re-subscribe themselves, in the portal.
What you cannot switch off
Two types have their toggle permanently locked:
- Portal invitation — Always sent for security reasons. Without that email the patient has no way to create an account.
- GDPR deletion confirmation — Always sent for compliance reasons. It is the answer to a request that the GDPR obliges you to give.
The No-show notification carries the warning Consider whether this is appropriate for your practice before enabling — it is the one email a patient may read as an accusation.
When something doesn't work
Failed to save email settings
What this means: The save never reached the server, or the connection dropped.
No email on file. Edit the patient profile to add one.
What this means: The patient has no address recorded, so no email will reach them.
Unsubscribed from e-mails
What this means: The patient clicked the unsubscribe link in the footer, or someone blocked sending on their card.
Disabled by clinic administrator
What this means: The email type is off for the whole clinic, so one person's setting changes nothing.
Who has access
Clinic AdminClinic-wide email settings are changed by the owner and the admin. Blocking sending for a single patient needs the same rights — other roles see You do not have permission to change communication preferences.
Your own email notifications — the ones that come to you, not to the patient — are set separately in My notification preferences.
Related
- Transactional email — who sends, and why the messages arrive.
- Appointment reminders — three channels for one notification.
- Managing consents — the legal basis for marketing sends.
Related features
SMS to a patient
How Heltio sends SMS to patients — content and channels, message length, a custom sender name, and the STOP and START keywords.
Appointment reminders
Heltio reminds the patient about an appointment 24 hours and 2 hours ahead. This is where you set which channel carries it, and what it says.
Messages with a patient
A text conversation between you and the patient — in the dashboard, in the portal and in the mobile app. One conversation per practitioner–patient pair.
Email notifications
Heltio sends emails to patients from its own sender address. The clinic sets the footer, the reply-to address and decides which message types go out.