Scheduling Appointments—Made Easy
Description:
With this module, appointments can be scheduled in no time. Customers can view available time slots directly and request their preferred appointment right away. The module can notify you in advance via email about appointments and ask you to confirm them.
Depending on whether the PushPlus feature is enabled, a push notification is sent directly to the app user who made the request as soon as an appointment is confirmed or declined, allowing them to respond more quickly and request a new appointment.
Setup:
To ensure customers are offered suitable appointments, you must enter both the business hours and the services offered.
In addition, you can expand the appointment calendar to include different people. For example, a hair salon can list the available stylists, or an insurance agency can list the appropriate field representatives.
The points listed below provide more information on how to describe your selectable services and staff members or departments.
The practical steps for your business and your customers are also explained in more detail below.
Selectable Services — Appointment requests are always made for a specific reason or with a specific need in mind. This could be, for example, an initial consultation or a men’s haircut. There are approximate time estimates for all these services.
The list incorporates this information and presents it to your app’s visitors for selection. To set this up, simply enter the service name and the estimated time required for each service.
Selectable People, Departments, or Areas—This field is optional. If the available services are provided by multiple people or departments, this breakdown can be very useful for scheduling. Simply enter the name here.
Allow additional custom messages from the user (optional) – Optionally, you can allow the user to compose a multi-line custom message in addition to their name and email address before selecting an appointment. This message will then be included in the email.
Display possible days in advance (Optional) — The specified number of days to be included for the display of all available days. Days when the business is closed are excluded. Depending on the type of business and its purpose, a different number of days in advance may be more appropriate. For example, in the case of a doctor’s office.
Possible Appointment Suggestions per Day (Optional) — For each day displayed, you can specify the number of time slots to suggest.
Email for Appointment Requests - Necessary notifications and upcoming appointment confirmations are sent to the email address entered here. If this field is left blank, emails are sent to the centrally stored email address.
How to Use:
When customers or prospective clients request an appointment through your app, they are guided through a simple process requiring as little information as possible.
- After selecting a service and (optionally) a person or department, a list of available appointment times is displayed.
- To initiate the preliminary appointment booking, only the customer’s name and personal email address are required.
- You, as the app operator, will then receive an email containing all the necessary information.
- Using the links provided in the email, the unconfirmed appointment booking can either be definitively confirmed or rejected.
Note! The time slot for the appointment has already been reserved and will not be offered to others in the meantime. - Once you click, an email is sent to the person requesting the appointment. This email communicates your confirmation or rejection and reiterates the detailed appointment information.
Recommendation:
To display available appointment times and allow users to book them, the “Opening Hours” module must be set up and active.
Only with the information stored there regarding opening hours, lunch breaks, and other breaks can an optimal appointment search be performed.