Your Acuity clients can schedule, reschedule, and cancel appointments on their own. This guide explains how clients book and manage their own appointments. It describes the flow your clients will follow, but some details, such as the exact wording on buttons, will vary based on your settings.
Testing the process on your own is also a great way to get to know how your online booking experience works.
Tip: You and your staff can also book appointments for clients from your Acuity calendar.
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How clients book
Clients can book appointments through your:
- Scheduling block on a Squarespace website
- Scheduler embedded on a non-Squarespace website
- Scheduling page
To book appointments, clients follow this flow:
- If you've grouped your appointment types into categories, clients start by choosing a category.
- Clients choose an appointment type.
- If you have more than one calendar, clients choose a calendar. For example, you might have a calendar for each hair stylist, or for each office location. You can also give clients the option to choose any available calendar, so they can pick from as many open appointment slots as possible.
- Clients are shown a list of available appointment slots and choose one. Depending on the options you've selected, they can also add another date and time or make the appointment recurring.
- Clients enter their names, email addresses, and phone numbers. If you've added extra questions using intake forms, they answer those as well.
- If you're accepting payment at booking, clients enter their payment information. If you've set up a coupon or sold them a package, gift certificate, or subscription, they also enter that information.
- Clients are taken to a confirmation page with their appointment details. They also receive a confirmation email with the appointment details and a calendar invite.
Note: Acuity Scheduling uses invisible Google reCAPTCHA on the client booking page to protect your scheduler and your clients. Your clients don't have to do anything extra when they book. When they begin to enter their personal information and payment details, the Google reCAPTCHA badge appears in the bottom-right corner of the page.
Tips:
- Your clients can also book through the Acuity Scheduling Client mobile app.
- Clients can enter multiple email addresses in the email field if they separate them with commas.
How clients reschedule
To reschedule appointments, clients click Change/Cancel appointment in the initial confirmation email they receive after booking. This takes them back to their confirmation page, where they can click Reschedule to choose a new date and time. They’ll be shown only the times you’re available.
When they finish rescheduling, they're taken to an updated confirmation page and receive an email with the details of their updated appointment.
Keep in mind:
- Clients can only choose a new date and time. For other changes, edit the appointment internally from the Acuity calendar.
- Your scheduling limits decide how close to an appointment clients can reschedule. For example, you can prevent clients from rescheduling their appointments within two hours of the original time.
- Clients can only reschedule one appointment at a time. When clients book multiple appointments in a single visit to your scheduler, the confirmation page links to each individual appointment. Clients can follow the links to reschedule each appointment separately.
How clients cancel
To cancel appointments, clients click Change/Cancel appointment in the initial confirmation email they receive after booking. This takes them back to their confirmation page, where they can cancel.
After they cancel, they're taken to the client scheduling page with a message confirming the cancellation and receive a cancellation email to confirm.
Keep in mind:
- Your scheduling limits control how close to an appointment clients can cancel. For example, you can prevent clients from canceling their appointments within 24 hours.