Friday's FAQ - How will I know when I have a New Appointment?

There are multiple ways Genbook can notify you when a client makes a new online appointment with your business -- especially if you're using Genbook Solo or Standard.

First thing's first, there are technically two categories of notifications you can set up to receive -- "Staff" and "Global". Global refers to the ones set up under Settings and "Notifications of new appointments"


The Global notifications go out whenever anyone makes an online appointment (those made via the BookNow button/link, as opposed to those you enter into the calendar manually) with your business, regardless of which staff member they schedule with. If you're using the Free edition, you will only be able to receive an email, which just alerts you that you have a new appointment and should log into Genbook to see it.

If you're using Standard or Solo, you'll also have the option of receiving a text (SMS) message on your cell phone, containing the appointment details. What's more, the email notification you receive will contain the full appointment details, as well as an ics file attachment that you can download into an external calendar (Google, iCal, Outlook)


The Staff notifications are the ones that you set up under "Staff who provide your services" and then the individual staff member's name. This way, each of your staff members can receive a notification whenever he/she receives an online appointment. One of the differences here is that if you're using Genbook Solo or Standard, you also have the option of turning on calendar synchronization. When the feature is turned on, the staff member will receive an email with an appointment he/she can automatically accept into an external calendar. In addition, a notification is sent whenever any appointment is made, edited, cancelled or moved -- regardless of whether it was made online or offline. Here's what it looks like in Gmail:



As you can see, "Yes" is automatically selected as your response, so that the appointment can go automatically into your calendar. If you're a single-person business on Solo, you might want to turn off the Global notifications and only use the Staff level notifications (including the synchronization), because if you enable both you'll get two emails and two text messages each time a new online appointment is made.

Tuesday's Tip - Autofill Client Details

Did you know Genbook can fill in the contact details of clients already in your client database, when you enter appointments into your calendar manually (as opposed to when your clients make online appointments using your BookNow button)? It's true! 

If you're using Genbook Solo or Standard, all you have to do is type a client's first name in the "First Name" field of the appointment box and you'll see a drop-down list of matching names. Once you choose the client you're scheduling, the rest of his/her contact information will appear in the appropriate fields. 

Friday's FAQ - What Can I Do with the Customers Tab?

The customer/client database (found in your Customers tab) is one of the most comprehensive and useful features of Genbook's online appointment scheduling tool. Available in the Solo and Standard editions, it automatically saves the client details of anyone who makes an appointment with using the BookNow button, as well as any client you input manually (as long as you choose a service for the appointment and enter a contact email address and telephone number for the client.)

In addition to the client's contact information, the Summary section contains a list of recent appointments and notes you've made (done by clicking "Notes" at the top right). You can also edit contact information, add a secondary email address and even store the client's date of birth by clicking "Edit details" or simply "Details" at the top right.

Here's a hint: Clicking the vCard icon at the right (under "Appointments") allows you to download the client's details and then save the entry in an external address book.

It only gets better, because you can actually export your entire client list to a file on your computer! All you need to do is click "Export all customers as an XLS file" at the bottom of your list. Once you have that file you can, for example, import all of your Genbook clients into your email account.

You can, of course, also do the opposite -- import contacts from your email account or a file on your computer into Genbook -- by clicking the "Import" button you see right next to "Add customer" ("Add customer" lets you manually add a new client/customer to the database).

Tuesday's Tip - Capture Customer Addresses

Because some Genbookers run mobile businesses, we have a feature that allows you to capture client addresses during the online appointment scheduling process. It's found under Settings and "Capture customer address".



If you choose to only capture the address sometimes, you can specify under the details of each service whether you'd like to capture it for the service in question.

Tuesday's Tip - Test Appointments let you see what clients see

Genbookers sometimes wonder if their clients see the details -- client names, services, etc. -- of appointments already in the Genbook calendar. The answer, fear not, is a resounding no! Clients only ever see a business' availability and choose from among the available time slots and staff members.

But don't take my word for it, see for yourself exactly what your clients are seeing each time they click on your BookNow button. Do a test appointment! Here's how: Go to Settings and then click on the Booknow button in the box with the heading "Review your settings."


Everything will look the same as it would to client scheduling an actual appointment, except that there will be a yellow strip in the top right corner, with the words "Test Appointment" on every page.


If you complete the scheduling process and enter a valid email address that you check, you'll receive an email confirmation. It looks the same as the email confirmations customers receive, with the exception that this one will have "TEST" written multiple times at the top of the email.


Once you're satisfied that you know how the scheduling process works for your clients, you can go ahead and cancel the test appointment in your account. Simply click on it in the Inbox and then choose the "Cancel Appointment" option. If you decide you don't want the test appointment showing up in your Inbox until the end of the day for which you scheduled it, check out our previous post about getting canceled appointments out of your Inbox.

Friday's FAQ - When does Genbook Email My Clients?

Genbook only emails your clients in relation to appointments they have scheduled, never with third party offers or other spam. Emails are generated from our servers automatically. Here are the types of emails we send your clients:

Confirmation email: This email goes out automatically, once a client has finished booking an appointment. It is always sent and contains all the relevant details of the appointment -- service being provided, staff member, the time/place of the appointment -- as well as customer confirmation messages you've added and client details. If you have enabled online cancellations, it will also contain a link that can be used to cancel the appointment. Here's what it looks like:

Reminder email: This email goes out 24 hours in advance of the appointment and contains only the appointment details, no client details or confirmation messages. Keep in mind that this one only goes out if the client made the appointment more than 48 hours ahead of time. If it's too close to the appointment, no reminder email gets sent, but the confirmation still goes out. Reminder emails need to be enabled by going to Settings, then "Customer reminders" and choosing to turn on email reminders. Here's an example of the reminder email:


Review email: An email that goes out a day after the appointment has occurred, asking the client to click on a link and provide some feedback on his/her experience. This type of email also has to be turned on by you, under Settings and "Enable/Disable customer reviews". On that page, you'll be able to see preview the review form clients are asked to fill out. This email goes out after a client's first appointment with your business, as well as 6 months down the line if the client's continued to make online appointments with you, or you've continued entering in their information, via Genbook. If you're entering the appointment into your calendar manually, be sure to put in the client's email address at that time, instead of adding it after the appointment's set. If you're using Genbook Solo or Standard, you also have the option of publishing these reviews on your full screen scheduling page.

Tuesday's Tip - Get the Most out of your BookNow Button

Hey Genbookers, are you making your BookNow button work for you? To get the most out of your button, keep the following tips in mind:

1. Use the actual BookNow button, instead of a link, if you can. As an industry leader in online appointments for small businesses, our BookNow button is quickly becoming synonymous with quick, easy and reliable online scheduling. It's something clients of businesses across the US and Canada are getting familiar with and trusting. Here are tips on how to get the BookNow button on your site, if you haven't already done so.

2. Put it on your homepage! Your BookNow button belongs, first and foremost, on your homepage, not just hidden on a "Contact Us" page. Having the button front and center on the first page clients see will increase your chances of turning someone who's browsing into someone who booking -- appointments with you, that is.

3. Put it everywhere else, too. The BookNow button is a call to action. Clients may be scouring your site for a phone number to call, or some other way to make an appointment, and the button gives them just that! So, once you've made sure it's on your homepage, don't be shy about putting the button on your Pricing, Services or other pages as well.

Here's a great example of a BookNow button used right:


Notice how the button is right on the Morgan Massage homepage, which is the first page you see when you go to the website. Also notice how it's instantly visible and he draws attention to the fact that it's the vehicle for scheduling an appointment.

Also, take a look at the BookNow button at work on the Pricing page of the site:


Once your clients have read about your services and seen your prices, what else is left for them to do but book an appointment?

Friday's FAQ - What's that Green Block?

If you're a Genbooker who's always in your calendar, then you've probably noticed that a green block shows up every once a while. When it does, you're unable to click on or edit the time slot it's covering.

It's nothing to worry about -- it simply means one of your clients is in the process of making an online appointment, using the BookNow button or link you've cleverly posted on your site or elsewhere! It means that time slot is temporarily unavailable, to ensure you don't end up double booked. If the client completes and confirms the appointment, the block will darken and say "New Booking" (see below).


If the client doesn't finish making the appointment for whatever reason, the green block will disappear and the time slot will once again be available in a few minutes.

Genbook now live in Canada

Today we released a new version of Genbook which includes support for Canadian businesses. Signing up as a Canadian is simply a matter of selecting your province in the registration form. Once selected, the google map we show on your booking page will now show your Canadian address, your business will operate in the correct Canadian time zone, and your customers (if you so desire) can enter Canadian addresses when they make appointments.

We've also released an important performance improvement and bug fix to our booking algorithm. Customers should see a noticeable improvement in performance when choosing an appointment time.

Non-default durations and start times

A lot of folks ask us how to create appointments and blocks at non standard times and with non standard durations. For example, you might want to block off from 10:15 to 11:25 on a particular day, or you might want to extend an appointment by 30 minutes because you know a particular customer will need more time.

You can put an appointment (or block) anywhere you like in the calendar, and change its duration to whatever you like. Here's how you do it:

Moving an appointment:

You can move an appointment by dragging it to somewhere else on the calendar. All you do is point your mouse at the appointment, click (but don't let go of the mouse button) and then drag it wherever else you'd like it to be - when you're happy, let go of the mouse button. As you're dragging it you'll see an indicator, which shows you where in the calendar you are, like so:

The indicator and the shadow let you know where the appointment will land if you let go of the mouse button.

You can also move the appointment to another day - see Cornelia's helpful video elsewhere on the blog.

Extending (or shortening) an appointment:

So now that you've got the hang of moving an appointment, you'll find changing appointment durations really easy. All you have to do is point your mouse at the start or end (or top and bottom for visual folks) of the appointment, click (hold) and drag the edge of the appointment until you have the duration you want.

Here's a bit more detail:

• First move your mouse pointer to the top or bottom of the appointment. The mouse pointer will change from a pointer to an up/down arrow, like this:
  
• Now, just drag the edge to where you want it to be - as before, an indicator will appear to let you know the final shape of the appointment when you let go of the mouse.
  
  

That's all there is to it - you can do this for any appointment in your calendar, whether its a block, an appointment you created yourself, or one created by your customer.