Setting up the options for your online booking

There are quite a few options around online bookings to allow complete customisation and control over how your booking operates.

1. Click on Settings.
2. Under Online Booking, click on Online Booking Settings.Once you are in the Online Booking Settings on the Details tab you will see a few different sections.
   

Site Options

The first set options are the basic settings to enable your booking site and give it a name.

Enable Online Booking - If you don't want to allow online bookings by your client turn this off.

Booking Website Name - This will be the URL name for your mini-website.

Default Language - If you want to have a language other than English as the default you can choose from the available options.

Booking Options

Booking options can determine the flow and options in the booking form. 

Should clients be required to login to make bookings - It is a good idea to allow logging into the booking form by clients. This will make sure all future bookings are all linked together under the same client record in your system, avoiding duplicates. They will be able to create their own login or use a Social login such as Facebook, Twitter or Google.

Appointments will automatically be confirmed - If this is ticked when a client books it will be automatically confirmed. If you want the final say over all bookings you can untick this and online bookings will need to be manually confirmed by you when they arrive in the system.

Email/SMS staff when they get an online booking - Many staff like to be notified of each time they get a booking in the system. This will send them an email or SMS when they book depending on the option you choose.

Client can cancel their bookings online - This will allow clients to cancel online any future online bookings they may have made.

Display a note that prices are estimates and subject to change - If your prices are subject to change then you can enable this to add a note stating this.

Display staff first name only - If you don't want staff to be fully identified in the booking form you can opt to only show their first name.

Allow at home check ins to waiting list - This will allow clients to check in prior to arriving at your store.

Booking Display Fields 

When booking the client will always be required to enter some basic information such as their name and email address. But there are some other fields you can also choose to display to the user to be entered.

Client Address - If you want to give the client an option to enter an address when booking then choose this option. This would be important if your service is mobile and requires you to visit the client.

Select Staff - When booking you can give the client the option to choose their preferred staff. If you untick this then they will be allocated to the first available staff.

Promotion Code - If you have a promotion running you can send out a discount code which clients can enter when booking. This will then carry through to the sale and provide the appropriate discount to the client.

Referred By - Useful if you wish to track where your clients are coming from, add a referred by field to the booking.

Birthday - Allow the client to enter their birthday, a good way to be able to market to clients with birthday promotions.

Booking Required Fields

The booking display fields in your Online Booking Settings will let you set up the fields the client can choose from when booking, but you also may wish to make these fields required, so the client must fill them out when booking.

Client Address - If you are a mobile business you might not just want to give an option of entering an address, you might want to make it mandatory by ticking this box.

Client Postcode Only - You may have the address visible to enter but only require clients to enter a postcode, not their full address. This can be useful for working out the demographics of your clients.

Client Phone Number - The phone number field will always be visible for the client to enter, it is important if you want to send out SMS reminders. But to make it mandatory when booking tick this box.

Client Birthday - You can choose to require the client enter their birthday when booking if you wish.

Client Last Name - This will be enabled by default, but if you only require the client to enter their first name then you can untick this option.

Extra Notes - This will require your client to add extra notes to their booking. 

Booking Time Restrictions  

If you want to restrict times when clients can book online there are some options here.

Leave this much time after appointment when booking online - If you want to leave a gap at the end of any online bookings. This might be a buffer if the services they choose online are not really enough for what they need.

Booking slot interval - If you want the time slots available for the client to select when booking to be different to your default appointment slots you can set them here. Most of the time you would leave this, but for example sometimes in a salon, you might have 5-minute slots for ultimate flexibility, but then only give the clients 15-minute slots when they book themselves to not confuse them with too many time options to choose from.

No bookings can be made this long before closing - If you don't want bookings right up until closing time you can add a restriction here. For example, setting this as 60 minutes then no one will be able to make a booking that ends closer than 60 minutes to your closing time.

Booking Notice - You may not want bookings to be made online right up to the current minute, so select a minimum notice period ahead of time. What this means is if is 11:55am then maybe you don't want someone to be able to book the 12 midday slot without giving you more time.

Don't allow booking over processing time - If you don't want to allow online bookings to be booked over processing time of other appointments.

Automatically minimise gaps in the schedule - What this will do is only allow people to book next to an adjacent appointment or break. The reason for this is you have many appointments and they are booked randomly throughout the day, it may leave small gaps in the schedule that are too small to be filled. Enabling this option will ensure bookings are flush against other appointments your schedule.

Site Tracking 

Here you can enable Google site tracking for statistics and conversions.

You can select either Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager. 

Then retrieve your Site tracking code.

Deposits and Cancellation Fees for Online Bookings

In your Online Booking Settings you can set up either a deposit or cancellation fee that is required at the time of booking. The difference is that a deposit it an amount that is charged at the time of the booking and taken off the total of the sale when it is paid. If a client cancels, you can charge a cancellation fee at a later date using the client's credit card details taken during the booking process. A cancellation fee will give you a bit more discretion whether or not to charge in the event of a cancellation. 

Enable taking deposits or cancellation fees - Enable this feature on your booking site.

Allow setting deposit amounts at service level - Sometimes you might want more fine grained control over the deposits for individual appointments. To do this tick this option and when setting up each service there will be fields to enter the percentage or amount.

Deposit or Cancellation Fee - As described above, this will enable what kind of charge you want enabled on your account.

Deposit types - This can be either a percentage of the total booking price or a fixed amount. So if a booking was worth $20 and you entered this as a percentage and the Deposit Amount as 10, then the amount the client would be charged would be $2.

Deposit amount - Used in conjunction with the Deposit type, this can be either a percentage value or a fixed amount.

Minimum notice required in hours - This is the notice time that a client can cancel an appointment before they are charged a cancellation fee. So if you don't allow cancellations in the last day before an appointment set this to 24 hours.

Minimum booking value before requiring a deposit or cancellation fee - If you only want to require a deposit or cancellation fee on larger appointments you can set the minimum booking value here before it is charged.

Deposit terms and conditions to display to the client - These are some of your own terms and conditions you can display to the client when the deposit is made. So you might write a more detailed explanation of the charge and why you are taking it, here.

Gift Vouchers 

The mini-website settings in Online Booking Settings will allow you to also sell Gift Vouchers to your clients if you have it enabled.

Allow gift vouchers to be purchased online - If you want to enable selling vouchers to your clients do so here.

Allow voucher value to be entered - If you allow custom value vouchers to be sold then enable this option. Otherwise, it will only allow the predefined voucher sizes from your Manage Vouchers in Settings.

Allow vouchers to be purchased as gifts for others - This will allow your clients to purchase vouchers on behalf of others, rather than under their own name.

Disable postage option for vouchers - If ticked you will not have the option to post out a voucher card.

Shipping Cost - If you charge a price to send out vouchers to clients who purchase them online then set this postage amount here.

Store

Here you can enable and configure your online store. This will allow you to sell products online.

Allow products to be purchased online - Ticking this option will enable your online store.

Use stock control to manage ordering quantities - This will prevent clients from ordering more than you have in stock. Enable this if you do not want back-ordering.

Allow in store pickup - Enable this if you want to allow your clients the option to pick up their order from your store.

Shipping cost - The additional cost added to the order to cover shipping.

Order level at which shipping is free - If you want to offer free shipping on orders over a certain value, this is where to set it. The number entered here is the minimum order value at which shipping becomes free.

Terms and conditions to display on store/payment - Enter your specific terms and conditions here, if required.

Location to use as warehouse for stock control - This is the location from which the products will be shipped if you have more than one location. This is also the location where the stock control will be applied. If selling products is a large part of your business you might want to set up a dedicated warehouse location.

As always, be sure to Save the changes you have made.