New features Part 2

Article shop widget: New, optional UX

When an article is added to the cart, you can now force the automatic opening of the article detail view:

This has the advantage that the customer sees the details and is also ‘forced’ into the cart / checkout, i.e. does not have to search for the cart icon, which is often overlooked if there are other icons such as chatbots or content banners on the website. This makes sense if customers usually only rent 1 main item and should go directly to the second booking step (accessories or contact details) after selecting it.

But beware: The feature can be a hindrance if the normal use case is that several main items are to be selected in the first booking step (this would open the detailed view for each item, which then has to be closed again to add the next item to the shopping basket.

The setting can be found here (but please test how this actually works in the online shop and whether it suits your case):

https://app.rentware.io/shop-settings/widgets

More options for automated customer communication

In addition to existing automated standard emails (booking confirmation, reminder emails, contract and invoice emails, etc.), further standard emails can now be sent automatically.

You can:

– differentiate between booked items and send different emails depending on the item

– define individual file attachments (pdf, images)

– send these emails to customers but also to any email addresses of the team or external service providers or to other software services

The sending can be triggered based on events (booking status changed, X hours or days before / after start of rental, end etc.)

This enables:

– more specific communication information to customers or third parties

– Automation of processes (e.g. forwarding data to third-party systems by reading the email content or sending a server request instead of an email)

Important: This is a premium feature and cannot be found in the normal settings. If required, please contact support@rentware.com!

Improved channel mails

Emails containing contracts and invoices can now also be sent to the rental company’s own email addresses via the email channels.

The main purpose of this is to ensure that the accounting department also receives a copy of the invoice emails to the customers and that the email can also be sent to Datev or another accounting system and automatically imported there if required.

You can find this setting here:

https://app.rentware.io/settings/channels

Versioning of protocols and contracts

New or amended versions can be generated and signed for protocols / contracts and then downloaded or sent.

You might need to reset the status of the booking via Actions to change the data, then regenerate the protocol, then re-sign it and then set the booking back to the correct status in order to change protocols and have them re-signed.