YourOffers: Scheduling an Offer Appointment

Once an offer has been purchased, there are multiple ways to schedule an appointment to redeem it, for both clients and businesses. Let's start with how your clients would schedule an appointment for an offer they've purchased.

How Clients Schedule a YourOffers Appointment

1. From the Offer Confirmation Screen: Clients can schedule the offer they've just purchased as soon as they've finished making the purchase, by clicking the BookNow button on the Offer Confirmation screen.

2. From the Offer Confirmation Email: Clients will receive an email confirmation for any offers they purchase. This email, like the confirmation screen above, contains their Offer ID and the full details of the offer, in addition to their contact information. The Offer Confirmation Email also contains a BookNow button and a link to the scheduling page for the offer.

Regardless of where they click the BookNow button, the Offer Scheduling Page they land on will be the same. It looks just like your regular online booking page, except that it has the offer service pre-selected and there isn't a way for clients to change it.

Once clients select a time and date for their offer appointment, they'll be taken to the Client Details page, where their names and email addresses should already be pre-filled, based on the contact information on the offer.

Tip: If you're chosen to collect client addresses for the offer, clients will be asked to enter those on the "Your Details" page.

The final step for clients is double-checking and confirming the details of their offer appointment, just as they would any other online booking. They can still make any last minute changes to their details or the time they've selected for the appointment. Then, they must click the "Confirm Appointment" button to lock in the appointment.

Once their appointment has been confirmed, they will see a confirmation screen containing the Reference Number of their appointment and receive an appointment confirmation by email.

How Businesses Schedule a YourOffers Appointment

There are three places from which you, the business, can make appointments for offers that have been purchased, but not yet redeemed. These are: the Offer Dashboard, the Offer Purchase summary page and the calendar itself.

1. From the Offer Dashboard: Click the "Schedule" link beside the Offer for which you wish to make the appointment.

2. From the Offer Purchase summary page: Click the Schedue Appointment button on the right side of the page.

 
Whether booking from the Offer Purchase page or the Dashboard, you'll then see an "Add An Appointment" box, with the offer service pre-selected, and the Offer ID at the top of the box. The length of the service, client name and email address will also be pre-filled, but can be modified. You can add the client's phone number and a Memo, if needed.

Tip: The service title, Offer Number and Revenue field cannot be edited. 

Once you've selected a time and date for the appointment, hit "Save". You'll be able to view the appointment in your calendar, by clicking "View" on the Offer Purchase summary page or the Dashboard (where the appointment date will now be found).

3. From the Calendar: The final way to book an Offer appointment is right from your calendar as you would book any other Offline Appointment. Click on a time slot in the calendar, then type (or copy and paste) the Offer ID in the top field, where it says "Enter Offer ID".

Click the "Go" button, to populate the relevant information in the appointment details fields. Then, just fill in the other fields as needed.

Don't forget to click the Save button at the bottom right, to lock in the appointment and ensure the client receives an appointment confirmation email.

YourOffers: Managing and Sharing Offers

Once you've created one or more offers under the YourOffers tab, you'll be able to manage them from that same tab.

The landing page of the YourOffers tab will show you all of the recent offers you've created, both Active and Draft offers. You'll see a quick overview of offer stats and settings (offer names, prices, expiration dates, booking windows and current revenue). Sort the list by any of those criteria by clicking on the relevant column heading.

You can also delete or duplicate an offer right from this page. Click the paper icon at the end of the row to duplicate the offer. Click the trash can icon to delete the offer.

You can manage a specific offer by clicking on it to access its Dashboard. On the Dashboard you'll see the full details of the offer itself, the offer link and social media buttons for sharing the offer, along with the Offer IDs of already purchased offers.

What you can do from an Offers Dashboard

See what your clients see: At the top right of the Dashboard, you have links to both your offer page and a preview mode of the scheduling page clients would see when making an appointment to redeem the offer.

Tip: You'll notice that you can't actually schedule an appointment for the offer from the preview mode of the scheduling page.

  
Share your offer: You can share your offer via social media, like Facebook and Twitter, or email it directly to clients. Your Offer Page URL is always found in the Offer Summary.

Tip: You can always copy the Offer URL directly from the share screen you see when clicking "Share this Offer". One click is all it takes!

Edit your Offer: If you need to make changes to your offer, you can do so by clicking the "Edit Offer" button on the right side of the page. You can change the staff who are assigned to the offer, the purchase limit and purchase deadline, as well as the booking window and daily availability.

Note: The offer service and cost, Offer Highlights and Fine Print can't be edited on Active offers.

View offer stats: You can have a quick look at how many times your offer page has been viewed, how many offers have been purchased and how many appointments have been booked for those purchased offers. You'll also see how much revenue the offer has brought in, with Genbook's commission (5%) calculated to give you the net revenue payable to you. 

Track offer purchases and appointments: At the bottom of the offer Dashboard page, you'll see a list of the already purchased offers.

This section contains information on who has purchased the Offer, on what date, and (if they've already made an appointment) the date of the appointment. If the offer was purchased by one person as a gift for someone else, you'll see the name of both the purchaser and the gift recipient (ie, the person who'll be booking the appointment).

The most important information found here, however, is the Offer ID. Each purchased offer has a unique Offer ID (just like each appointment has a unique confirmation number). Clicking on the Offer ID allows you to view more details of that purchased offer, such as the client's email address. From this page, you can also resend the client the offer purchase receipt email or edit their email address, if they've typed it incorrectly. If needed, you can refund the customer, as well. You can also schedule the appointment for this offer.

YourOffers: Payments and Refunds

Below you'll find some useful information regarding how YourOffers payments and refunds are handled.

Offer Payments
All payments made by your clients when purchasing an offer will go directly to the PayPal account that you verified when creating your first offer. Remember that it is necessary to have a PayPal account (or to create one) and enter its credentials as your offer payments can only be made to a valid PayPal account.

One thing to keep in mind when linking your PayPal account is that if the account is under your name (ie: the name of an individual) and not your business's name, your clients will see your name as the payment recipient as shown below. This is, unfortunately, not within our control, as it has to do with PayPal's handling of the transaction. We do include a note explaining this potentiality on the page where clients review and submit their payments, however, to make this a non-issue, it would be best to create a new PayPal account, under your business's name.

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Tip: PayPal doesn't like business names over 128 characters in length and may give your clients an error when they go to pay, if your listed business name is too long.

Payments are made to you as soon as a client purchases an offer. The amount sent to your PayPal account will be the offer price minus Genbook's 5% commission (or a minimum of $1 per offer purchased, whichever is greater). You'll see this information in the Offer Dashboard, as pictured below.

The "Revenue" represents the total amount of money the particular offer has brought in, and is based on the Offer Price that you set when creating the offer. The commission will be the 5% Genbook withholds on each offer. The "Paid to you" represents the net amount of money that is deposited into your PayPal account.

Offer Refunds

There may be times when you need to refund an offer customer the offer purchase price. To do this, you'll need to access their particular Offer Purchase page (YourOffers > Offer title > Offer ID) and click the "Refund customer" button found on the right of that screen.

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You'll be asked to confirm that you wish to proceed with the refund as this cannot be undone.  If you confirm the refund, you'll see a confirmation on the following screen. You'll notice that beneath the client's name and Offer ID, it will state "Not scheduled/Refunded". The "Schedule Appointment" and "Resend offer email" buttons will also become un-clickable (since the offer purchase is no longer valid).

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Important notes about offer refunds:

1. We strongly encourage that all offer refunds be made via your Genbook account as this ensures that Genbook returns our commission as part of the refund. In the example from the screenshots above where the purchase price was $40, $38 would come out of your PayPal account and the $2 commission would be refunded to the customer by Genbook from our account.  
2. Issuing a refund via your PayPal account will still result in the full purchase amount being refunded to the customer, but you'll be refunding the Genbook commission amount out of pocket from your PayPal account. The customer would receive the full $40, but it would ALL be coming out of your account so you would be out $2 (and we don't want that!). 
3. An offer purchase can only be refunded within the first 60 days of the purchase date, per PayPal's terms.

YourOffers: The Fine Print

When you are creating an offer, it's important to pay special attention to the Fine Print section of your Offer Page so that your clients will be aware of any purchase, redemption, or scheduling terms and conditions.

Genbook gives you a head start by including the scheduling availability you set in the Booking Window, and by communicating that the offer service's appointment and purchase availability may also be limited. However, there may be other terms and conditions you wish to add to the offer.

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Here are some examples of the offer terms you may want to include in the Fine Print:

• Purchase limits - Do you limit the number of a particular offer a customer may purchase?  Example: "Limit 1 offer per person."
• Gift purchases - Offers make great gifts! Example: "Up to 3 offers may be purchased as gifts."
• Number redeemable per visit - Indicate the number of offers that may be redeemed during each visit. Example: "Limit 1 offer per visit."
• Availability limits - If you've chosen to cap the number of offers that can be purchased, you'll want to mention that. Example: "Limited availability."
  
• Scheduling availability - If your offer is only valid on certain days of the week or at certain times of the day (and you have configured this in the 'Manage daily availability' section of the offer), you should clearly indicate it. Example: "Offer valid for appointments on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday."
• Other offers - Indicate if offers can be combined. Example: "Not valid with other vouchers, certificates, or offers."
• Refund policy - List your offer refund policy. Example: "Offers are nonrefundable." 
• Offer purchase expiration date - Encourage customers to purchase the offer before it runs out by including the purchase expiration date. Example: 

In general, use the Fine Print section to communicate all of the terms and conditions for each particular offer you create. Informed customers will be happy customers!

Here's an example of a detailed Fine Print section as it appears on the offer page template:

YourOffers: Creating an Offer

Genbook YourOffers is an easy and powerful way to run specials, deals and promotions right from your Genbook application. We'll walk you through the easy, 3-step offer creation process below.

STEP 1: Create a YourOffers Service

There are two ways to create a service for your offer: 1. Copy an existing service, or 2. Create a brand new service. Therefore, your first decision is whether you want to offer an existing service at a discounted rate, or have the discounted offer be for a service that's separate from your usual options.

Both options begin with clicking on the YourOffers tab (pictured above), found between your Analytics and Settings tabs in the Genbook menu. Below is what you'll see after you click the YourOffers tab.

Option 1: Copy an Existing Service

Choose this option to create a promotional or limited time offer for a service you currently provide. All you need to do is select the existing service from the drop-down menu. All of the details of the service (title, description and duration) will populate in the appropriate fields.

Tip: You can always edit any of the fields even if you're copying an existing service.

Option 2: Create a New Service

Choose this option if you wish to create an offer for a service that you do not normally provide (i.e., a combination of 2 services you generally perform separately, or a service you're trying out to attract new clientele). You'll need to create the service's title, description and select a duration, just as you would when normally creating a new service in Genbook.

Tip: If you're providing the offer service at clients' homes, check the box found below the staff listing to capture their addresses.

Once you're satisfied with the service you've created for your new offer, click "Next" at the bottom right of the screen to move to the second step of the offer-creation process.  You can always come back to this page if you need to edit something.

STEP 2: Create the Offer

In this step, you'll set the details of your new offer. The left side of the screen is where you'll determine and enter the offer details: pricing, availability, expiration date and more. On the right, you'll see a preview of the offer you're creating and be able to customize the text and images clients see.

Offer Details

Pricing: The first thing you'll do on this page is enter both a Normal price and an Offer price for the service. If your offer is based on an existing service, the Normal price will already be in place. This price represents the full price you'd normally charge for this service.  The Offer price is the discounted price at which you're selling the service in this offer. Once you've entered both of these, the preview on the right will show the calculated savings between the Normal and the Offer price.

Purchase Limit and Purchase Deadline (optional): The Purchase Limit is the maximum number of offers you will allow to be purchased. Once you enter this number, it is also used to calculate your potential revenue from this offer. The "Available to purchase until" determines the deadline by which your clients will need to purchase the offer. Once either the purchase limit or the purchase deadline is reached, the offer can no longer be purchased.

Tip: If you do not wish to limit the number that can be purchased, or you do not want to have an end date to when the offer can be purchased, you may leave one or both of these fields blank.

Appointment Availability - Booking Window (optional): You determine the period of time during which an appointment for the redeemed offer can be scheduled in the "Booking window" fields. Simply select a start date and an end date for the span of time during which appointments for this offer will be available.

Tip: You can also select only a start date, only an end date, or leave both fields blank. This setting isn't required.

Appointment Availability - Daily Availability (optional): You have the option of making your offer service available for online booking at only certain times each day or week, just as you can do with regular services. Click "Manage daily availability for this offer" to set the times of day and days of the week when this offer can be scheduled by your clients. For example, you may want to allow appointments for this offer at especially slow times. Availability is weekly recurring, just as it is with Staff Hours and online availability for services.  Click on a time slot to make the offer service Offline (ie: unavailable for booking) at that time.

Tip: Make sure you always leave enough consecutive open (white) spaces to fit the length of the offer service.

Customize the Offer Webpage

You can customize the client-facing offer webpage in several key ways.

Color scheme: You can change the color scheme of the offer page clients see by selecting a different color from the top right drop-down menu

Logo: If you've already uploaded a business logo into Genbook, it will be your default logo for the offer as well. To change or confirm it, click on "Add a logo". Then select from the options on the next screen, or upload a new one. When you select a logo, you'll see a checkmark on the upper right corner of the selected image. You can then click "Save & Close" to set that as your offers logo.

Image: Set a central image for your offer to make it more visually appealing to clients. Click "Add an Image" and select from either our preloaded images, or upload an image that you've stored on your computer.

Note: If you're uploading an image, it won't appear until after you've hit "Save & Close". It will automatically appear in the preview.

Offer highlights and Fine Print: The Offer Highlights and Fine Print sections are where you can create/edit copy about your offer. The highlights section will be preloaded with your offer service's description. However, you can edit this if you wish to. The Fine Print is where you should give clients any important terms and conditions of the offer. For instance, you can mention the deadline for purchasing the offer. You should also mention any limitations on the number of offers each client may purchase or use, and any appointment scheduling restrictions or requirements. More details on the Fine Print and suggestions on what it should contain can be found here.

Once you're satisfied with your offer's settings and look, click the Next button at the bottom right. To save existing changes and finish editing later, click "Save and Exit".

STEP 3: Review your Offer and enter payment details

Review the Offer: On the following page, you can review the details of your offer, make any edits you need to, as well see previews of your Offer Page and the Scheduling Page for your offer.

Click the "Offer Page" link at the top right to see what clients will see when they click on your offer's link. Click the "Scheduling Page" link to see a preview of what clients see when they go to the booking page for the offer. The scheduling page will be in "preview mode", and an appointment for the offer cannot be booked via this preview (you'll notice the times/dates aren't clickable).

Enter your PayPal details: You must have a valid PayPal account in order to collect payments for offers. If you do not have a PayPal account, you can create one by clicking the "Create an account" link.

Tip: More detailed information on offer payments and refunds can be found here.

Finish: Once you have entered your PayPal information and made any edits, click "Finish" to make your offer active.

You'll be taken to the Dashboard page for this offer, where your offer can be managed. For more information, read our article on managing and sharing your new offer.

Promote your Business Across the Web

Genbook Promote elevates and enhances your business's presence across major reviews sites, search engines, social networks, and mobile apps. Your Genbook Verified Customer Reviews, along with a link to your Genbook scheduling page will get better visibility on Citysearch, Google, Facebook, Bing, and more, potentially reaching millions of consumers each month. This is a great way to promote your business's reputation and services online!

Here are the 4 steps you need to take to harness the power of Genbook Promote:

1. Update the Business Details in your Genbook account (Settings > Business Details). Your current details should appear as they would in a phone book. Only your Business Name, Address, and Phone Number should appear in the respective fields.

2. Add the BookNow App to your Facebook business page. Customers can read your Verified Customer Reviews and schedule appointments from the Web's largest social network.

3. Claim your business' listing on Citysearch. Publish your Verified Customer Reviews and an Appointments button (linked to Genbook) on your business' listing on Citysearch, one of the largest small business and local advertising networks on the Web. 

Important: If you do not have a Citysearch listing, you should "Check Your Listing" status by using Express Update from Infogroup, where you can view, edit, or add a new listing, which is then shared with Citysearch and other sites on a weekly basis. Your Business Name, Address, and Phone Number must match those in your Genbook account exactly.

4. Confirm that you have activated Genbook Promote (Settings > Genbook Promote). Check the box next to "Activate my account and promote my business across the Web," and be sure to save your changes.

Once your Citysearch listing is live, it may take some additional time for your Genbook content — Business Details, Verified Customer Reviews and an Appointments button — to appear. Here's an example of a Citysearch listing with Genbook content:

You'll notice the Appointments button, which links to your Genbook scheduling page. Also, under the "Tips" tab, in "Reviews from Around the Web" you'll see your most recent Genbook Verified Customer Reviews.


That's it. Genbook does the rest for you!