How customers book

The booking, step by step

1. Choose a service. The list shows your categories, each with its number of services and lowest price. The customer opens one at a time, and a ✓ marks a category with a chosen service in it. Services without a category come last under Other; without categories, the services are one list. Each service shows its duration, its price and, when you wrote one, Show details for its description (see Services). With only one service to book, the window skips this step: it opens straight on that service's times, titled with its name and length, and a service done by one staff member shows their photo, name and price there without a choice.

- When everyone who does the service charges the same price, duration and deposit, the service has its own circle to select it. A sale shows as the sale price with the regular price struck through under it. Without Any staff member, the time step starts on the first staff member in your order, and the customer can pick another.

- When they differ, the service shows "from" its lowest price, and a sale shows as "save up to" the largest saving, as a percentage. The arrow opens a row per staff member, with their photo, duration and price, each with its own circle. Choosing another staff member for the same service replaces the first choice. A tap anywhere on a row does what its circle or arrow does: on the service's name it opens the staff rows, on a staff member's name it chooses them.

- Tapping the circle only chooses the service, and a ✓ fills it; tapped again, it unchooses it. A bar at the bottom shows how many services are chosen and their total ("from" when a sale makes the price depend on the day), and Choose a time moves on.

1. Choose a time. A service chosen with its own circle has a staff member choice at the top when more than one staff member does it (Any staff member first when it is offered, then each staff member with their photo or initials and first name, as a row of faces, each with when they're next free that week); a service chosen on a staff member's row keeps that staff member. In a visit, each such service has its own choice, under its name. The customer picks a day, then one of its times, shown in your shop's time zone. A dot under a day shows it has times: a ring when only a few are left, filled when there are more; a day without times can't be picked, except a full day: it says when the next free time is and offers a waitlist (below). Times show no price: the price depends on the day, and the details step shows the price for the day picked. The arrow at the top goes back to the list with the chosen services kept. The customer can page one week past the last day they can book: those days say they aren't open yet, and with a Monthly release when their month opens, for example "November opens for booking on 15 October at 09:00". Once a time is picked, Continue goes on to the details. On a phone, a swipe across the times goes to the next or previous day with times, and a swipe across the days to the next or previous week.
2. Your details. At the top is a summary: a calendar tile with the day, the start and end time and the date, each service with its staff member's photo (or initials), how long it takes and its price (several services fold into one line the customer can open), and Change to pick another time. Under Any staff member, it shows who the booking would go to right now. Below are the fields: Name and Email always, plus the details you ask for and your own booking questions. Required fields are marked with . A field left empty, an email address that isn't one, or a phone number with letters in it is outlined in red with the reason under it, and nothing is sent until it is fixed. A customer signed in to your store sees their name, email and phone filled in, shown as a card with Edit* when nothing required is missing. Under the fields, Remember me on this device (unticked to start) keeps the name, email and phone in the customer's own browser after the booking. Next time a card says Welcome back with their details instead of the fields, and Not you? forgets them and empties the fields.
3. Confirm booking. The button stays at the bottom of the window, next to the total. The booking is confirmed straight away, unless something has to be paid first: a deposit or full payment for the service, or an unpaid no-show fee. Then the customer goes to Shopify's checkout, and the booking is confirmed once they pay. When a deposit or full payment is due, the bar shows the prepayment and the button reads Pay. If the customer goes back from the checkout, the booking window opens again on their details, and Pay returns to the same checkout while the booking is held.
4. Thank you! The window says whether the booking is confirmed or awaiting confirmation, and shows the same summary with the staff member actually assigned, your shop's name and the address you entered under Notifications. Get directions under the address opens it in Google Maps. Under Add to calendar, Google and Outlook open a new event in that calendar with the visit filled in, and Apple saves a calendar file the customer's phone or computer opens in its calendar; Change or cancel booking opens their booking page. When the confirmation email is on, the window names the address it went to: "We've sent the confirmation to …".

Above the steps, Service › Time › Details shows where the customer is. While they choose services and a time, what's chosen so far sits beside the steps on a computer: your shop's name and address, then each service with its staff member's photo (or initials), the staff member, how long it takes and its price. On a phone, the arrow in the bar at the bottom of the list opens it above the bar. A step already passed is a link back to it. Times show in your Time format from Settings → Calendar, for example 14:30 or 2:30 PM. Once a time is picked, it also shows the day and time and the Total. On a computer it stays beside the details step too, with Change to pick another time, in place of the summary at the top.

The arrow at the top of the window goes back one step. Closing the window keeps the customer's choices until they leave or reload the page; after a confirmed booking, the next Book now starts again from the list of services.

The confirmation email and the booking window's confirmation both link to the customer's own booking page, where they can see, reschedule or cancel the booking within your rules. See Cancellations and rescheduling.

Which times customers see

A start time is offered only when all of these allow it:

• the staff member works then: their usual hours, or that date's own hours, minus shop closures and blocked time (see Staff and hours)
• the whole service fits, including its buffers, without touching another booking or its buffers
• it starts after the service's Minimum notice (see Services)
• it falls inside the booking window
• it sits on the slot interval

For example, with 15-minute slots, a 60-minute service and a staff member working 09:00–12:00 with nothing booked, customers see 09:00, 09:15, 09:30 and so on up to 11:00.

A customer can't book a time that overlaps another booking of their own.

Times are always in your shop's time zone, the same as in the checkout, emails and your calendar. A customer whose phone or computer is set to another time zone also sees one line above the times naming yours, for example "Times are in New York time".

Booking rules in Settings

Settings → Booking rules shows the common settings first:

• Availability: Calendar open for new bookings. Turn it off to pause online bookings, for example during a holiday, without changing anything else. The booking window then says the shop isn't accepting bookings right now. The Booking window is how far ahead customers can book. Under How it opens, pick one of two ways:

- Rolling: a set time from today, in days, weeks or months; it starts at 30 days. It applies to every booking, including the ones you and your staff make.

- Monthly release: a whole month opens at once, on the day and time you choose, for example the 15th at 09:00. Months ahead says which month: with 1, the 15 October release opens November; with 2, December. In a month without that day, such as the 31st in February, it opens on the month's last day. Until then, customers can book to the end of the month before. It only limits customers: you and your staff can book any month at any time, for example a regular into a month that hasn't opened yet, so that time is already taken when it opens. Under the fields you see until when customers can book now, and when the next month opens. Moving the day or time later can close a month again until then; bookings already made stay.

• Also under Availability: Offer “Notify me when a time frees up” (on to start), on a full day. See Waitlist on full days (below).
• Customer details: whether the booking window asks for Phone, Notes and Number of participants, each Required, Optional or Don't ask. Phone starts as Required, Notes as Optional, and Number of participants as Don't ask. Asking for a phone number helps blocking work; see Blocking customers. Offer “Remember me on this device” (on to start) decides whether customers see that tick; turn it off and details kept earlier are forgotten the next time the booking window opens. The details stay in the customer's browser and aren't sent anywhere until they book. If you keep it on, you can add a line to your store's privacy policy, for example: “If you tick Remember me on this device when booking, your name, email and phone are kept in your browser so they're filled in next time. Not you? removes them.”
• Shop closures, with its own save. See Staff and hours.

Open More settings for the rest:

• Time slots and limits: Slot granularity, the interval between offered start times (5, 10, 15, 20, 30 or 60 minutes; 15 to start with). Max upcoming bookings per customer (below).
• Staff choice: "Any staff member" (below).
• Visits: several services in one visit (below).
• Completing bookings: see Managing bookings.
• Booking questions, with their own save (below).

More settings always starts closed, even when you have booking questions. It opens by itself only when a field in it can't be saved. It is the last card on the tab, with a line saying what's in it: tap it to open it, on a phone too, and tap it again to close it. Save saves the common settings and the ones under More settings together, even while it is closed.

Waitlist on full days

A day when a staff member works but every time is taken can still be picked. It says so, for example “Ona has no free times on Saturday”, with the next free time and a button to it. Under it, Notify me when a time frees up opens a short form: the service, staff member and day, when would suit (Any time, Before 12:00 or After 12:00) and the customer's email. When a booking that day is canceled, expires unpaid or is moved to another time, everyone waiting for that day whose choice the freed time suits gets one email with the time and Book this time, which opens the booking window on it. Whoever books first gets it; the others see what's left. Each request gets one email at most and is deleted after it, or once the day has passed. The email is in the language the customer booked in and comes from your shop like your other emails; its text can't be edited. A customer waiting under Any staff member hears about a time with whoever is free. To stop offering it, untick Offer “Notify me when a time frees up” under Settings → Booking rules → Availability; a full day still shows the next free time.

Book your next visit

The follow-up email after a visit (see Notifications) has Book your next visit. It opens the booking window straight on the time step, with the same service and staff member picked and Like last time at the top: the service and staff member, and Change. Change shows the staff faces to pick someone else, or goes back to the services when nobody else does that one. If the service or staff member is no longer bookable, the window opens without them. Follow-up: hours after in Notifications sets when the email goes out.

Staff profiles and reviews

On the time step, a staff member with a profile or shown reviews has an "i" beside their face, and from three shown reviews their average rating under it, for example ★ 4.9. The "i" opens their profile: photo, name, the line under it, the rating and number of reviews, the bio, specialities and the two latest reviews (more on request), each with the reviewer's first name and when; Choose picks them. Customers review a visit from the five stars in the follow-up email: a star opens their booking page with that rating picked, where they can add a comment and send it. One review per completed booking; they can change it until you show it. Nothing appears in the booking window until you show it on the staff member's page (see Staff and hours). When a customer's data is deleted, their reviews go too. Where a service's staff are picked in the service list (they charge different prices), the "i" and the rating are beside their name there.

Any staff member

Under Staff choice, "Any staff member" is Offered or Not offered — customers always pick a name. When it is offered, a customer can leave the choice to you, but only for a service that everyone who does it charges at the same price, duration and deposit on that day. When one person has their own price or a sale that day, customers pick by name. With only one active staff member, Settings doesn't show this choice: there is nobody to choose between.

When more than one staff member is free, assign to decides who gets the booking:

• The least busy that day: whoever has the fewest booked minutes that day.
• The first free in your staff order: see Staff order on the Staff page.

Ties always go to whoever comes first in your staff order. The customer sees who was assigned before confirming.

Visits: several services at once

Under Visits, Let customers book several services in one visit is on to start with, with up to 2 services; you can allow up to 5. The customer taps the circle on each service they want, then Choose a time. At your maximum, the other services can't be selected, and the bar says so; with visits off, choosing another service replaces the first. To change the visit, the customer goes back to the list and selects or unselects services. The services are booked back to back in the order the customer chose them, each with its own staff member, so the customer picks only the start time. A staff member doing two services in a row needs no buffer between them. The customer pays once and gets one confirmation email.

For example, a 45-minute haircut with Amy at 10:00 followed by a 120-minute coloring with Ben starts the coloring at 10:45.

After that, each booking in the visit is on its own: the customer cancels or reschedules them one at a time, and canceling one never moves the others. If the visit's payment isn't made in time, all of its bookings are canceled together. See Deposits and payments.

Max upcoming bookings per customer

Max upcoming bookings per customer limits how many bookings still ahead one customer may hold at once when booking online: 1, 2, 3, 5 or Unlimited (the starting value). Bookings waiting for payment count; a visit counts once. The customer is recognized by email or phone, as for blocking. A customer at the limit is told how many upcoming bookings they already have and asked to contact the shop.

Rescheduling never counts against the limit, and the limit never applies to bookings you or your staff make.

Booking questions

Under More settings, Booking questions adds your own questions to Your details, after the built-in fields. Choose Add question and set:

• Question, and optional Help text under it. Customers see them exactly as you write them, in every language.
• Answer: One line, Several lines, One of your options or A tick.
• Required: customers can't book without answering.
• Ask it for: All services or Only some services.

You can have up to 10 questions, and reorder them. Answers show on the booking. Rewording or deleting a question later never changes what a booking already made says it asked. Questions are only asked online, never in your own Add booking window.