How do I add and manage Online Appointment services on my website?
This article will show you how to make the most of Website Builder’s Online Appointments service.
By allowing customers to book appointments/events directly through your website, they can browse your available slots and decide on a suitable time at their own leisure. Furthermore, since they won’t be calling you over the phone, it’ll free you up to perform other tasks and focus on your business.
Simply follow the instructions below to get started:
Please note: this article only applies to Version 9 of our Website Builder. If you’re not sure which version you have, you can find out by reading this article.
Adding Online Appointments/Events
Please note: you can only have one Appointments section throughout your entire website.
Start by logging in to Website Builder.
From there, access the page you wish to add your social media buttons to and add a new section.
Choose Scheduling from the right-hand menu, followed by Appointments & Services.
Click Add for one of the options that appears on the next page.
After a few moments, an appointments section will be added to your page. You can also change the title, layout, button and background colour of your section using the provided options within the right-hand menu.
Once you’re happy with your changes, you’ll need to add services that customers can book. Click Go to Admin within the right-hand menu (with Appointments & Services selected) to get started.
Alternatively, you can click Appointments from the main Site Navigation bar within the right-hand menu.
You will now be taken to your dashboard. From here, select Add below Services within the ‘Manage Services’ section.
Choose what type of appointment you would like to use. This can include Appointments (one-off, small-scale meetings), One-Time Events (large-scale events) and Repeating Events (recurring classes or sessions).
Enter the details for your event into the provided fields. The most important fields will include:
- Service Name
- Duration
- Price Type
- Location (i.e. physical or virtual)
- Staff Members
- Total Capacity (One-Time Events and Repeating Events only)
- Start Date
- End Date
Once you’re done this, select Save to create your event. Alternatively, you can select Save & Add Another to get started on a new event.
Next, you’ll need to set up payment options. From your dashboard, select Appointments in the toolbar and then choose Payments within the Settings section.
On the next page, you can decide which payment methods you want customers to use. Select Connect opposite Square to allow credit/debit card and click the toggle for Pay with PayPal to accept PayPal payments.
Publish your website to implement these changes.
Please note: if your services aren’t appearing after you’ve published your website, you may wish to update your business information by selecting Appointments on your dashboard’s toolbar, followed by Business.
Managing your Appointments/Events
If you would like to rearrange the order that your service appear on your website, simply drag and drop them into your preferred order.
Deleting your Appointments section will NOT affect any of the appointments that you’ve created.
Adding a customer to an appointment/event
Should anyone experience difficulties signing up to your events, you can manually add them by following the steps below:
Start by logging in to Website Builder.
Select Appointments in the right-hand menu.
You will now be taken to your dashboard. From here, select Appointments in the toolbar, followed by Calendar.
On the next page, select Add Booking.
Enter all the necessary details into the provided fields, including the service name, date/time as well as the customer’s details.
Once done, click Save to complete the process.
Adding/removing staff members
If you need to add a new employee or remove an ex-employee from your list of event staff, simply follow the instructions below.
Please note: although you can add up to 10 members of staff, only 1 can be assigned to each appointment/event.
Start by logging in to Website Builder.
Select Appointments in the right-hand menu.
You will now be taken to your dashboard. From here, select Appointments in the toolbar, followed by Staff.
On the next page, click Add Staff.
Enter the details for your staff member into the provided fields.
Once done, click Save to complete this process.
To remove any staff members, simply repeat steps 1-3 above and then select the staff member you wish to delete. On the next page, select Delete for that staff member and then click Okay on the pop-up window that appears.
Changing an existing booking
Does one of your clients need you to change their scheduled appointment? Not a problem! Simply follow the steps below:
Start by logging in to Website Builder.
Select Appointments in the right-hand menu.
You will now be taken to your dashboard. From here, select Appointments in the toolbar, followed by Calendar.
Find and access the customer’s booking.
From here, you can either make the necessary changes to their details or click Edit Booking to change their appointment to an alternative date.
Changing an event location
Have you realised that you need to change the date or location of an event? Here’s how you can change these details:
Start by making a list of all the current attendees for your event.
From there, access your dashboard and select Appointments in your toolbar, followed by Services.
Create a new appointment/event that uses the same details as your original event using the steps outlined in the ‘Adding an appointment/event’ section above. Be sure to change the title of your event to help separate it from the original event.
Add all the original attendees to your new event using the steps outlined in the ‘Adding a customer to an appointment/event’ section above.
Inform your attendees about the event change via email or phone.
If necessary, remove the original event from your list of services.