A Service Calendar allows you to streamline the scheduling process, allowing you to offer and manage various services, categorize them, and present them to customers through a single scheduling link referred to as the Service Menu. This way you can handle service-based offerings directly from your CRM, including Google Business bookings.
Setting it Up
Navigate to the Calendar Settings tab inside the Calendars section.
Click "Create Calendar" and select the "Service Calendar" option.
Once you select this calendar type, you will be directed to the Initial Setup where you'll take the first steps in getting your calendar ready to go, those will be:
- Calendar Name: The name will show the service name to leads and customers.
- Calendar URL: Type in the calendar slug here.
- Meeting duration: This will define how long the appointment should last.
- Booking availability: These will be the general days and times these appointments can be booked.
- Meeting location: These will be where the service will be performed.
- Advanced settings: Once you've set the bases click here to customize your calendar to your company's specifications.
Advanced Settings
Refine the calendar details by accessing the advanced settings, there are five categories you can use to maximize the potential of your calendar.
Service Details
These are the details that will be visible to your leads and customers, they give a better understanding to both sides of what the appointment will be about. These details will be:
- Calendar logo: Here you can add your company's logo or any other image that helps you represent the appointment.
- Description: Any information you consider relevant about the service, including a short explanation of what it is and any extra requirements you have for it.
- Group: If you have a group for related calendars you can select it here
- Meeting invite title: When your customers schedule an appointment, this title will get added to your calendar and the confirmation email.
- Team Members: Add all staff members who take these appointments in this section. Make sure a Meeting location is selected for each staff member.
Forms & Payment
To change the way you collect information about the contact booking the appointment or collect deposits/fees related to the booking use one of the following sections:
- Select forms: Here you can switch the form this calendar uses to book the appointment.
- Widget order: This will set the order in which the contacts fill out the form and book their appointment.
- Pre-populate forms: Also known as sticky contact, this will grab the information of any forms previously filled in that IP address.
- Consent checkbox: This option allows you to obtain consent from contacts to reach back when they provide their phone number during the appointment booking process.
- Confirmation page: This will show after someone makes a booking, if you use Default you can set a custom message on the same page, or by selecting Redirect URL you can send the contact to a website of your choice.
- Facebook pixel ID: To track new appointment bookings with your Facebook Ads Manager add your Facebook Pixel here.
- Payment: By enabling this option, you can take payment for the appointment at the moment of booking. To learn more about this section in particular please refer to the article “Add Payments to Appointments”
Notification & Additional Options
- Notification: Once an appointment is booked the system will send a confirmation email to all selected parties.
- Additional options: By enabling option one an email will be sent out if you make any changes to the appointment directly inside the Google/Outlook calendar. By enabling the second option when an appointment is booked the team member will be selected as the contact's assigned user from that point onwards.
Cancellation and Reschedule Policy: If the option is toggled on the system automatically adds a link for the contacts to handle the rescheduling or cancelation, this link can be removed by toggling the button off. Additionally, you can give this link an expiration window limiting how soon it can be used before the appointment.
Additional notes: This allows you to modify the additional notes for the appointment.
Customization
Personalize your calendar to the max here, you can add a cover image, change the style and colors of the calendar, the text of the button, and the information shown on the calendar.
- Custom Code: If you have software developers on staff, or know how to write custom code, you can add it in this field. This is an advanced step so we recommend avoiding it if you're unfamiliar with coding.
- Staff selection: Toggle this option to give your customers control over who they have the appointment with, if disabled the appointment will be assigned according to the usual rules for the calendar.
Rooms & Equipments
Select rooms and equipment from a list to associate them with the service calendar. These will be booked along with the calendar. To learn how to create and add them check the article “Rooms & Equipments”
Finally, save your settings, and your Service Calendar will be ready to accept bookings.