Hi, I'm currently using Bookly but would like to switch. I do have a few questions.
1. In your demo I entered my email address but didn't get an actual email confirming my booking - is this by design? Are there shortcodes for incorporating things like a Google Map into the email template?
2. It's just me running the company and I want to make sure my clients can book in the shortest number of clicks. Essentially Pick Service->Pick Date->Pick Time->Enter Details (name. phone, email) and confirm. They shouldn't see any other screens or drop downs such as payment details (no payment is taken until after the service is delivered) or selecting a person (as it's just me). Is this possible.
3. Is there any way to restrict the services based on a given criteria. For example, I have Company X which only allows its employees to select a basic service, but Company Y allows its employees to choose between 2 services. In Bookly they click on their company logo which takes them to a private booking page which restricts the services based on a category (e.g. in the above case, clicking on Company X's logo takes them to a page where the booking service is restricted to only show services in the "X" category. Is this possible?
4. Can clients cancel and reschedule their own services?
5. Does the sync with Google Calendar work both ways (e.g. if I go into my calendar and block off a chunk of time for private reasons or open up some free time, will this immediately reflect in the system. If I move an appointment 'manually' will the system update itself on next sync?).
Thank-you for taking the time to review these pre-sales questions.
1. Probably email settings are not set at the back-end, if you set it correctly an email will be sent once the booking is made. Unfortunately Google maps cannot be in emails, but maybe it can work with Google maps static images. However, we don't support HTML in email notifications at the moment, you would need to add this directly to the database.
2. Yes, this is completely possible. You need to create one employee and connect it with services so the plugin can work properly, but if you create just one employee this dropdown will not be visible in the booking process. Also, if you don't want to have payments just enter service price as 0 and payment methods and price calculation will bi hidden. If you want to show price calculation but without payment option, just choose On-site payment in the Payment settings as the only payment method and this dropdown will be hidden as well.
3. Yes, this is possible, we have option for showing just one specific category or one specific service with shortcode, so if you create totally new pages for both and put these shortcodes then Company 'X' will see only services in the 'X' category and Company 'Y' will see services in category 'Y'. You can try this on our demo site.
4. Clients can cancel either through cancel URL link in emails or they can login to the back-end and see and cancel only their appointments. This is possible if you give them customer user role. More about this you can read here. As for the reschedule option, we are currently preparing a version where this will be possible but at the moment customer will be able to reschedule only from the back-end in their calendar. We also have a plan to implement front-end booking cabinet in the future so this process will be much easier.
5. The Google Sync is not completely 2 ways. If you add some private events and set them as busy this will affect the number of free time slots in Amelia Calendar but you should know that those events won't be shown in the Amelia calendar. Also if you move event in Google calendar that will affect Amelia calendar as well, the free time slots will change.
Thank you Isidora, I have one final follow-up question regarding payment. This is related to Question 2. I want to be able to offer discount coupon codes. So for example, in April I may offer 10% off with coupon code APRIL10. I still don't want to take any payment during the booking (so on-site payment works perfectly) but I do want them to enter the coupon code and for the price to reflect what they will be paying (i.e. 10% less). Is this possible?
As an example, Client wants to book Service X - usual price $100. Client enters coupon code APRIL10. Client is shown that the code was accepted and that the price of the service is now $90. Client does not enter any payment method. Booking is confirmed.
Are there any restriction to coupons I should be aware of?
Thanks you again Isidora, I'll purchase the plugin later this week as it seems to fit my needs and can likely produce the kind of experience I'm looking for.
I am glad to hear that. Once you purchase it, you get 6 months of our paid support. For any questions you have you can open a ticket in Amelia section of this support platform and our support managers will be glad to help.
Hi, I'm currently using Bookly but would like to switch. I do have a few questions.
1. In your demo I entered my email address but didn't get an actual email confirming my booking - is this by design? Are there shortcodes for incorporating things like a Google Map into the email template?
2. It's just me running the company and I want to make sure my clients can book in the shortest number of clicks. Essentially Pick Service->Pick Date->Pick Time->Enter Details (name. phone, email) and confirm. They shouldn't see any other screens or drop downs such as payment details (no payment is taken until after the service is delivered) or selecting a person (as it's just me). Is this possible.
3. Is there any way to restrict the services based on a given criteria. For example, I have Company X which only allows its employees to select a basic service, but Company Y allows its employees to choose between 2 services. In Bookly they click on their company logo which takes them to a private booking page which restricts the services based on a category (e.g. in the above case, clicking on Company X's logo takes them to a page where the booking service is restricted to only show services in the "X" category. Is this possible?
4. Can clients cancel and reschedule their own services?
5. Does the sync with Google Calendar work both ways (e.g. if I go into my calendar and block off a chunk of time for private reasons or open up some free time, will this immediately reflect in the system. If I move an appointment 'manually' will the system update itself on next sync?).
Thank-you for taking the time to review these pre-sales questions.
Brhum
www.bbimagery.com
Hi Brhum,
Thank you for your interest in our plugin.
1. Probably email settings are not set at the back-end, if you set it correctly an email will be sent once the booking is made. Unfortunately Google maps cannot be in emails, but maybe it can work with Google maps static images. However, we don't support HTML in email notifications at the moment, you would need to add this directly to the database.
2. Yes, this is completely possible. You need to create one employee and connect it with services so the plugin can work properly, but if you create just one employee this dropdown will not be visible in the booking process. Also, if you don't want to have payments just enter service price as 0 and payment methods and price calculation will bi hidden. If you want to show price calculation but without payment option, just choose On-site payment in the Payment settings as the only payment method and this dropdown will be hidden as well.
3. Yes, this is possible, we have option for showing just one specific category or one specific service with shortcode, so if you create totally new pages for both and put these shortcodes then Company 'X' will see only services in the 'X' category and Company 'Y' will see services in category 'Y'. You can try this on our demo site.
4. Clients can cancel either through cancel URL link in emails or they can login to the back-end and see and cancel only their appointments. This is possible if you give them customer user role. More about this you can read here. As for the reschedule option, we are currently preparing a version where this will be possible but at the moment customer will be able to reschedule only from the back-end in their calendar. We also have a plan to implement front-end booking cabinet in the future so this process will be much easier.
5. The Google Sync is not completely 2 ways. If you add some private events and set them as busy this will affect the number of free time slots in Amelia Calendar but you should know that those events won't be shown in the Amelia calendar. Also if you move event in Google calendar that will affect Amelia calendar as well, the free time slots will change.
Best regards.
Thank you Isidora, I have one final follow-up question regarding payment. This is related to Question 2. I want to be able to offer discount coupon codes. So for example, in April I may offer 10% off with coupon code APRIL10. I still don't want to take any payment during the booking (so on-site payment works perfectly) but I do want them to enter the coupon code and for the price to reflect what they will be paying (i.e. 10% less). Is this possible?
As an example, Client wants to book Service X - usual price $100. Client enters coupon code APRIL10. Client is shown that the code was accepted and that the price of the service is now $90. Client does not enter any payment method. Booking is confirmed.
Are there any restriction to coupons I should be aware of?
Hi Brhum,
You can create coupons on our Finance page and send it to your customers. They can use that code during the booking even though they pay on-site.
Best regards.
Thanks you again Isidora, I'll purchase the plugin later this week as it seems to fit my needs and can likely produce the kind of experience I'm looking for.
Hi Brhum,
I am glad to hear that. Once you purchase it, you get 6 months of our paid support. For any questions you have you can open a ticket in Amelia section of this support platform and our support managers will be glad to help.
Best regards.