When setting up your Spectora Advanced Actions, one common question is "What's the difference between inspection requested, inspection scheduled, and inspection confirmed?"
These events are based on how the inspection is booked and whether or not it is automatically confirmed.
What is an Actions Event?
Let's break down what this means! The "event" of an Action is when that Action is sent out to the recipient.
Think of it as a time frame - do you want to send the Action as soon as the inspection is scheduled or 1 hour after the inspection is requested?
You can choose from minutes, hours, days, weeks, or months before or after an event happens on your inspection. We give you the flexibility to customize when works best for you and your clients to receive these updates.
Need a Refresher on Confirmed or Unconfirmed? Click here!
Need a Refresher on Confirmed or Unconfirmed? Click here!
Confirmed inspections are hard-scheduled inspections that have a solidified date and time on your calendar. Typically, these inspections automatically send an email and/or text notification to the client that you will be there at the specified date and time.
Unconfirmed inspections are unverified inspections that have a placeholder date and time on your calendar. Unconfirmed inspections do not send notifications, as all notifications are automatically disabled. Usually, unconfirmed inspections are preferred by inspectors who may have another job, want to be more in control of their time, or by larger companies to ensure appointments don't risk overlapping.
What Does "Inspection Requested" Mean?
The event "Inspection Requested" refers to an inspection that was booked (either internally or externally), but has not been confirmed. With our scheduling tools, you can set all inspections booked to be confirmed or not confirmed automatically.
When your schedulers are set to automatically have all inspections show on your calendar as unconfirmed, the inspections would be considered a "request" for an appointment. Think of it this way - a request is a nice way of asking for something. For example, airline passengers are requested to check in two hours before the flight. You don't have to check in two hours before your flight, but the airline asks you to do so for logistical reasons.
So with an inspection requested event, the action will trigger when the client/agent fills out the scheduler and essentially asks if you're able to perform the inspection on their preferred date and time.
 💡 Quick tip: Click on the video above to expand it in another window. |
Click your profile picture in the top right corner of the Dashboard
Click "Actions" in the dropdown menu
Click to open the actions group where you'd like to add a new action
Click "+ Add Action"
Select "Inspection requested" in the third dropdown menu
This is the 'event' for your action
You can set the action to only trigger once or to send only during certain hours
Click "Next"
Click "+ Add Rule"
Set your rule
Or, skip the rules entirely to send the action for all inspections regardless of service
Click "Next"
Name your action if you'd like
This name is not visible to anyone outside of your company/team
Click "Next"
Select who the email is going to
Add a subject line
Fill out your email body and utilize the placeholders on the right to auto-fill important inspection data like address, date, and time
Click "Save"
What Happens When I Confirm an Inspection?
As we covered above, the "Inspection Request" event is used when your inspections are set to automatically show as unconfirmed on the calendar. When you confirm the inspection, you are telling the client/agent "Yes, this date and time works for me!"
When you're ready to confirm the inspection and notify the client/agent, be sure to click the "Confirm and Send Notifications" button at the top of the Inspection Details page:
This turns the notifications on for the inspection and triggers your confirmation email to the client and agent.
The confirmation email is the same Action used for "Inspection Scheduled," which we'll go over next!
⚠️ Note: If you click the "Confirm with Notifications Disabled" button instead, this will prevent your emails and text messages from going out to the client and agent! This will keep your Actions in the queue and they will need to be manually sent out instead.
What Does "Inspection Scheduled" Mean?
An inspection scheduled is one completed through the internal scheduler (with the "+New Inspection" button) or if you have your schedulers set to not require confirmation. A scheduled inspection usually is automatically confirmed, so having your Action event as "Inspection Scheduled" means the inspection has a set date and time and is fully booked on your calendar.
 💡 Quick tip: Click on the video above to expand it in another window. |
Click your profile picture in the top right corner of your Dashboard
Click "Actions" in the dropdown menu
Click to open the actions group where you'd like to add a new action
Click "+ Add Action"
Select "Inspection Scheduled" in the third dropdown menu
This is the 'event' for your action
You can set the action to only trigger once or to send only during certain hours
Click "Next"
To send the action on every inspection (regardless of service or inspection detail), leave the rules empty
To send the action for only specific services or details, click "+ Add Rule"
Set your rule(s) with the dropdown menus
Click "Next"
Name your action if you'd like
This name is not visible to anyone outside of your company/team
Click "Next"
Select who the email is going to
Add a subject line
Fill out your email body and utilize the placeholders on the right to auto-fill important inspection data like address, date, and time
Click "Save"
Interested in learning more about Advanced Actions? Check out these articles!
If you have any questions or feedback, write into our chat bubble or email support@spectora.com!
