Taking appointments online

Overview

Booking forms let customers request appointments right from your site — no phone tag, no third-party scheduler. Setting one up has two sides: you build and manage the form in your dashboard (the admin side), and you place it on a page in the editor (the website side).

This guide walks through both, from creating your first form to managing the appointments that come in.

What you'll need

Before you start, it helps to have a few things in mind:

Create a booking form (admin side)

First, set up what people can book, then build the form in your dashboard. This is where your appointments and settings live.

Prefer to describe it? Set up booking with AI, on the All forms screen, drafts your services, the hours you take them, a booking form, and a page for it. Nothing changes until you click Create on the plan it shows you, and each message uses some of your AI credits.

1. In the side navigation, under Presence, open Forms → Services & availability, and add what people can book: each service with its length, the weekly hours you take it, the notice you need, and any days off.
2. Then open Forms → All forms and click New form.
3. Give the form a name you'll recognize (for example, “Book an appointment”). It's how you pick the form when you place it on a page.
4. Pick the services this form offers. A single form can offer several, and visitors pick the one they want when they book.
5. Add the details you want customers to provide: their name and contact info, and a notes field for anything else you should know. They choose from your real open times, so there's no date or time field to add.
6. Under On submit, choose Confirm instantly or Request (staff confirms). There's no alert to set up: when someone books, everyone who manages Appointments on your site gets an email about it, and requests waiting on you also show a count beside Appointments in the side navigation. Each person can turn the email off in Account settings → Notifications.
7. Want a reminder email to go out before each visit? Set Reminder (days before). It's off until you do.
8. Save the form. It's now ready to place on your site.

Add the form to your site (website side)

Next, put the form in front of visitors. This happens in the editor, right on the page.

1. Open your site in the editor.
2. Go to the page where customers should book — or add a new page (many businesses use a dedicated “Book” page).
3. Add your template's booking section where you want it to appear — it's usually called Booking form or Appointment form. It's connected to one of your forms the moment you drop it in.
4. In its settings, check it shows the form you created, or pick another. A booking section with no form chosen stays hidden on your live site.
5. Add a short heading and a line of intro text so visitors know exactly what they're booking.
6. Publish your site. The form is now live and taking bookings.

Manage your appointments

Every booking lands in your dashboard the moment it comes in, where you can see your schedule two ways — as a list or on a calendar.

1. Go to Appointments → All appointments to see every booking in one list. This is the full record of who's booked, which service they chose, and when.
2. Open any booking to see the details — the customer's contact info, the time they booked, and any notes they left.
3. Prefer a calendar? Go to Appointments → Calendar to see your bookings laid out on a calendar instead of a list.
4. From the calendar, open Export and create a subscription link, then add it to Apple Calendar, Outlook, or Google. Your bookings then appear alongside the rest of your day, on your phone too, and new ones show up there on their own.
5. Every booking also saves the customer's details to your contact list, so you can follow up or keep the relationship going.

Offering multiple services

You usually don't need more than one form. A single booking form can list several service types, and customers choose the one they want when they book — just pick your services on it and you're set.

You'd only create additional forms if you want to: to give a particular service its own booking page, or to ask different questions for a different kind of appointment.

1. To offer several services from one form, pick each of them when you set the form up — customers choose what they need. This is all most businesses need.
2. To keep services on separate forms instead, create another booking form (repeat the admin steps above) and place a booking section for it wherever you like.

Tips for more bookings

A few small things make a big difference in how many visitors actually book:

1. Give bookings a clear home — a dedicated “Book” page linked from your navigation beats burying the form at the bottom of a page.
2. Keep forms short. Ask only for what you truly need; every extra field is a reason to abandon.
3. Set expectations. Use the intro text to say what happens after they book and how soon you'll be in touch.

Frequently asked questions