A majority of the settings for the New Online Booking page are ones that you previously set up for Classic OCS. This article will discuss all the shared settings.
To Turn on your Online Client Scheduling options:
You will want to ensure your settings are all aligned with what you want clients to see prior to enabling either page.
Proceed to: Manage > Online Settings > Classic OCS > Enable Classic OCS?: Yes
and/or
Manage > Online Settings > New Online Booking (Beta) > Enable online scheduling beta?: Yes
Proceed to: Manage > Online Settings > General Settings
This page is where you will set the parameters that best serve your business when it comes to clients scheduling online
Allow clients to create their own account?
Classic OCS- If Yes, first time clients will need to create their own account in order to schedule appointments. Clients will click on "Join Now!" below the login fields, if it is their first time scheduling online with you. Clients will need to enter any contact information in BOLD and choose a password. If No, you wish to create all client accounts yourself through that client's Client Log.
New Online Booking- If Yes, clients will be prompted to log in before seeing availability. If No, your existing clients will be asked to sign in first when using your link and you will still create all client accounts in the Client Log. You can add a custom message explaining this policy to clients under Manage > Advanced Settings > Manage Custom Messages > Online Account Creation Message.
Hours in advance clients can schedule appointments:
The average is 1 hour but again, it should be whatever best suits your business.
Please choose the order in which services should be scheduled within the Salon/Spa category.
Much of the time it doesn’t matter but depending on your business, there can be practical reasons for choosing a fixed order.
* Much of the time this does not matter, but depending on your Business, there can be practical reasons for choosing a fixed order.
Schedule on the:
If you want to limit your clients to scheduling on the hour (:00) OR on the half hour (:00 and :30), you will set this here.
Max wait time between appointments:
Appointments here refers to services. So, if you want a client's services to be scheduled back-to-back as one WHOLE appointment, you'd set this to "0 (Back to Back)". If you would instead like to offer clients the ability to schedule multiple services within an appointment with possible wait times between them, you'll choose a maximum of hours for wait time, or set to "Any".
Allow client to schedule multiple services within the same service group?
The default option is only one service per group, and it will apply to most businesses. This field is geared mainly toward spa services. A only one service per group answer will prevent clients from scheduling, for instance, a single process color and perm or highlight on the same day.
Secondary services should use same employee as primary?
If set to Yes: As long as the first service chosen requires a secondary service, the client will ONLY be able to schedule the secondary service with that same employee.
Service Group Priorities
1. Control the order in which services are booked. No matter which order the client chooses the services, group prioritizing makes sure the order is the way you want them booked. For example color always before the haircut or style, etc.
2. Save
Services
Turn off the services you don’t want shown online. For instance, you won’t want to show procedures that require a consultation or are an add on (extra color).
Some services require a secondary service to complete the process. For instance, if you require a haircut after a color you’ll want to set up your color service listings to require a secondary service and the haircut to be the secondary service so that the customer must book both appointments.
1. Make your selections for each service.
2. Save
Service Providers
Select the employees/service providers that are available for online client scheduling.
Classic OCS- When you use the OCS Directory link you will have the ability to add a description and an employee profile picture to be displayed.
*Booth Renters must manage their own show online setting, description, and profile picture in their account
New Online Booking- The Service provider image and bio will be shown when clients opt to book by Provider.
Upload your Logo
Your logo will appear on all online scheduling pages. The file must be a .PNG, .JPG or .GIF and cannot be larger than 300KB. We recommend .PNG or .GIF, as .JPG files can be too large to work with. To convert a .JPG file to a more manageable file, go to: Converter. For best viewing, the image should have a maximum height of 84 pixels and have a transparent background.
If you do not use a logo, your business name (in plain type) will be used in its place.
1. Current Image: Will be blank until you upload an image.
2. In order to Upload New Image. Click on the browse box to choose a logo file that’s been saved to your computer.
3. In the screen that comes up, find the file you want and click on it.
4. Click Open, and the file will be uploaded.
5. Save