Online Booking and Reminders
Use this page to let customers book appointments online, and to see the emails they get.
Quick steps
- Make sure Scheduling is in your top navigation and you have at least one active service. See Services and Staff Hours.
- On your storefront: a Book Now link appears in its menu and footer by itself. The booking page is your storefront address followed by
/bookings. - On your own website: open Scheduling, click Manage Services and scroll to Booking Widget. Click Copy on Inline Widget or Popup Button and paste the code into your website.
- Customers pick a service, date and time and enter their details. The booking lands on your Appointments page as Pending.
- Each morning, open Appointments and click Confirm on new online bookings. That sends the customer their confirmation email.
Customers get a reminder email in the 24 hours before their appointment, with a Manage Appointment button to reschedule or cancel themselves.
Common questions
Customers say no times are available. Check your store hours for that day and whether it's marked Closed. If they picked a staff member, check that person's hours and bookings.
Why do online bookings say Unassigned? The customer chose Any Available. Click Edit on the appointment and pick the staff member.
A customer didn't get a reminder. Reminders only go to appointments that have an email address and are still pending or confirmed.
Do customers pay when they book? Only if your storefront takes card payments through Stripe and the service has a price — the button then reads Pay & Book. Otherwise they pay at the appointment.
More detail: where customers book
Customers can book appointments themselves, any time of day. Their booking lands on your Appointments page as Pending, and they get emails to confirm, remind them and let them reschedule or cancel.
Online booking uses the same switch as appointments in the admin. See Turning It On.
Where Customers Book
Your storefront
If you have a storefront, a Book Now link appears in its menu and footer once online booking is on and you have at least one active service. The booking page is also at your storefront address followed by /bookings, for example https://yourstore.trafficstores.ca/bookings (or your own connected domain). It works even if you don't use the rest of the storefront.
Booking from your own website
You can put booking on a website you already have. Open Scheduling, click Manage Services and scroll to the Booking Widget box. Click Copy on the one you want and paste it into your website:
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Inline Widget | Shows the booking form right on the page, where you paste the code. |
| Popup Button | Adds a Book an Appointment button that opens booking in a popup. |
Under Customization options you'll find settings you can add to the popup code: your own button text (for example "Schedule Now") and your own button colour.
The Booking Widget box only shows once you've created at least one service. The code points at your storefront address, so you need to have chosen one. If you haven't, the box says so and links you to set it.
More detail: what the customer sees, and paying online
What the Customer Does
- On Book an Appointment, they choose a service. Only active services are listed.
- Pick a Date. Today is the earliest they can choose.
- Preferred Staff (optional). This appears when more than one staff member can do the service. They can pick someone or leave it on Any Available.
- Pick a Time. Only open times are shown. See How Bookable Times Are Worked Out.
- Your Information. Name and Phone are required. Email and Notes are optional.
- They click Book Appointment.
They then see Booking Submitted! with the details and a status of Pending Confirmation. They can click Book Another to make a second booking.
On your side, the booking shows on the Appointments page as Pending. If the customer picked Any Available, it shows as Unassigned, so edit it to assign a staff member. If their email matches a customer already in Brother POS, the booking is linked to that customer.
Paying when booking
If your storefront takes online card payments through Stripe and the service has a price, the button reads Pay & Book with the price. The customer is taken to a secure card payment page, with tax added at your store's tax rate. Once they've paid, the confirmation page shows Payment: Paid.
Online payment for bookings only works through Stripe. If your storefront takes cards through a different processor, customers aren't asked to pay online: the button reads Book Appointment, the page says they'll pay at their appointment, and the confirmation shows Pay at appointment.
If the customer cancels the payment on your storefront's booking page, the booking is cancelled.
For services without a price, or when online payments aren't set up, the confirmation page shows Pay at appointment. Ring the service up at the register when they come in.
More detail: the emails, and customers rescheduling or cancelling
Emails Customers Get
Emails go to the email address on the appointment, or on the linked customer. A customer with no email address gets none of these.
| When it's sent | |
|---|---|
| Appointment Request Received | As soon as a pending appointment is booked, online or in the admin. It says you'll email them again once it's confirmed. A repeating series gets one email listing all its dates. |
| Appointment Confirmed | When you click Confirm on a pending appointment, or straight away if it was booked already confirmed. |
| Reminder | Once, in the 24 hours before the appointment, if it's still pending or confirmed. A booking made less than a day ahead gets its reminder shortly after it's made. |
| Appointment Cancelled | When you click Cancel on the Appointments page, or the customer cancels. |
| Appointment Rescheduled | When the customer moves their appointment to a new time. |
The request received, confirmation, reminder and rescheduled emails include a Manage Appointment button.
Changing an appointment's time in the admin doesn't email the customer, so let them know yourself.
Customers Rescheduling or Cancelling
The Manage Appointment button opens Your Appointment, showing the service, date, time, staff member, price and status. While the appointment is pending or confirmed, the customer can:
- Reschedule: pick a new date and time from the open times. If the appointment is with a particular staff member, only that person's open times are shown. The appointment keeps its length and staff member, and they're sent the rescheduled email.
- Cancel Appointment: they're asked to confirm, then the appointment is marked Cancelled and they get the cancellation email.
Once an appointment is completed or cancelled, the page just says so.
More detail: troubleshooting and best practices
Troubleshooting
There's no Book Now link on my storefront. Online booking needs to be on and you need at least one active service. Also check the link hasn't been hidden in your storefront's navigation settings.
Customers say no times are available. Check your store hours for that day, and whether it's marked Closed. If the customer picked a staff member, check that person's hours and existing bookings.
A customer didn't get a reminder. Reminders only go to appointments with an email address that are still pending or confirmed.
Online bookings are unassigned. The customer chose Any Available. Edit the appointment and pick the staff member.
Best Practices
- Set store hours and staff hours before you share your booking page.
- Ask customers for an email address so they get reminders and can reschedule themselves.
- Check the Appointments page each morning and Confirm new online bookings. Confirming is what sends the customer their confirmation email.