Getting started
The three steps that get your shop ready to take its first booking.
The Setup guide sits above your calendar until your shop is ready for customers. It has three steps, and each one holds something a shop can't take a booking without:
- Add your first service: what customers book, what it costs and what they pay online.
- Who takes bookings & when: the people customers book with, and their working hours.
- Turn on the Book now button: the button customers book with on your online store.
Each step shows where it stands. A step still to do has a dashed circle, To do under its name and a button; the dark button is the next one to do. A finished step has a green check and Done, and links to its list instead (View services, View staff).
The guide hides itself once all three steps are done. You can also close it with Dismiss setup guide. To bring it back, open Settings and choose Show setup guide again. Everything the guide sets up can be changed later on the Services and Staff pages and in Settings.
How a guided step works
The first two steps open as a short guided step on a page of its own, under Settings, with Step 2 of 4 style progress at the top.
- Next keeps your answers and moves on. Back returns to an earlier screen.
- A screen opens with suggested values where there are some, and Next keeps them. A Business template (below) suggests most of them. There is no Skip.
- The close button (Close without saving) or Settings at the top leaves the step. Once you have answered something, it first asks Leave setup?: Keep editing stays, Leave setup leaves without saving.
- The last screen, Review and save, lists every answer. Use the pencil next to an answer to change it; Done then brings you back to the review.
- Nothing is saved until you press Save on the review.
Add your first service
Choose Add a service. It takes four steps: business type; Name, duration and price (with the time kept free before and after it); Payment and no-shows; and the review.
The first screen, What kind of business is it?, offers five Business templates. Choosing one fills the later screens with suggestions. You can change every one of them before you save, and nothing remembers later which template you chose. If you press Next without choosing one, the step starts from a blank one-hour service and your shop's current no-show settings instead.
| Business template | Suggested services | Online payment | No-show fee | Customers can cancel online up to | Booking slots |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beauty & nails | Manicure 60 min, then Pedicure 75 min | Deposit required: 20% | 50% of the price | 24 hours before | Every 15 min |
| Hair & barber | Haircut 45 min, then Coloring 120 min | Haircut: No payment required. Coloring: Deposit required: 20% | 50% of the price | 24 hours before | Every 15 min |
| Health & therapy | Massage (60 min), then Massage (90 min) | Deposit required: 20% | 100% of the price | 24 hours before | Every 30 min |
| Classes & coaching | Session 60 min | Full payment required | No fee | 12 hours before | Every 30 min |
| Other | A blank service, 60 min | No payment required | No fee | 24 hours before | Every 15 min |
Every template suggests no buffer before or after the service.
The price starts empty. No template can guess a price in your shop's currency, so you enter it yourself; Next waits for it. Enter 0 for a free service.
Payment and no-shows first asks what customers pay online: Payment offers No payment required, Deposit required (a percentage of the price) and Full payment required. See Deposits and payments.
Under it, the no-show answers set the no-show fee (a fixed amount or a percentage of the price) and how many hours before a booking customers can cancel online. These answers, and the booking slot interval from the template, apply to all services, as the review says. A fee above 0 turns no-show debt on when you save; no fee turns it off. If you choose no fee while your shop charges late cancellations the no-show fee, saving changes that to "Customer must contact you". See No-shows and debts.
For example, the Beauty & nails template with a price of €40 gives a manicure with an €8 deposit (20%) and a €20 no-show fee (50%). If that customer doesn't turn up, the €8 deposit is kept and deducted from the fee, so they owe €12.
After you save, choose Add another service to add the template's next suggestion (a blank service once there are none left), or Continue setup to return to the calendar. An added service asks for its own price again, and skips the business type and the no-show answers (three steps): your shop-wide rules stay as you saved them.
This step is complete once your shop has at least one service.
Who takes bookings & when
Choose Set up team & hours. You add one person at a time, the same way as services.
Who do customers book with? asks for a name and an Email. Customers see the name when they book, and the person's booking notifications go to the email; Next waits for both, and for a valid email address. The first person starts with your name and email from Shopify when Shopify has them. A phone number can be added later on the person's Staff page. Each person gets their own color in the calendar.
When do they work? starts at Monday to Friday, 09:00–18:00. Pick the working days and one start and end time. Give someone different hours on different days later on their own Staff page.
Which services do they do? starts with all your active services ticked. If you have no active services yet, this screen is skipped, and you assign services later.
After you save, choose Add another person to add someone else, or Continue setup to return to the calendar. The next person starts with a blank name and email, and with the hours and services you gave the last one.
If your shop already has staff, the step opens on them, under Already on your team. They keep their own hours and services. Choose Add another person to add someone new, or Continue setup to complete the step without adding anyone.
This step is complete once you save a person, or choose Continue setup with staff already there. See Staff and hours.
Before customers can book
A service shows Not bookable until at least one active staff member does it and has a weekly schedule. The Services and Staff pages list what is missing and link to the fix. See How customers book for everything that decides which times customers see.