Set up online scheduling

Learn to set up online scheduling and prepare the widget for placement on your website.

Richard avatar
Written by Richard
Updated over a week ago

Please read this article to learn how to set up and use the online scheduling tool for your account and clinic website.

Before you start please be aware of the following:

  • If you wish to use the booking of rooms & equipment in your clinic, first set this up by following the rooms & equipment manual which you can find on our support portal.

  • To use online booking you will need to activate SMS texts. For security reasons, online booking uses SMS texts to validate the customer’s mobile number and confirm the booking.

  • For every booking, an SMS is sent which deducts 1 credit from the total amount, also if the patient doesn’t confirm the booking at the end. An extra credit is used if the patient doesn’t receive the SMS, and they request a phone call to get the confirmation code.

Calendar

Please make sure to follow the steps in the exact order as below:

  1. Create services to show online

  2. Name your services

  3. Describe the service

  4. Choose applicable treatment category the service belongs to

  5. Setup appointment type durations for automatic scheduling

  6. Locations setup
    a) Appointments types available for booking in different locations
    b) Rooms and equipment

  7. Select physicians

Services, which website visitors can choose between, are shown in your online calendar.

Next, start adding your services by clicking the + button in the right upper corner. This will open the “add service” window. Name your service, for example, “Botox”.

Add an explanation if you wish to describe the service to your website visitor.

Next, select the applicable category the created service belongs to and set the default appointment durations by using the drop-down lists. These durations will be used when the service is scheduled online.

When using multiple locations, choose which appointment type is available for online booking per location.

Select the applicable checkboxes per location and per appointment type, you wish to make available for online booking at that specific location.

When using multiple rooms and equipment, select which room(s) or equipment needs to be reserved for the particular service that is being booked.

Finally, select per appointment type and per location which physician is allowed to receive online bookings.

Settings

  1. Physician selection activation

  2. Setup delay (hours)

  3. Manual approving, hybrid or full automatic

  4. Setup texts to show online

Calendar and booking settings

To start using online scheduling, you need to activate it in menu >  clinic settings > calendar > online booking settings. To activate select the checkbox to automatically open calendar days ahead in the section online booking.

Select the number of days you wish to open the schedule ahead for the services you’ve set up earlier and of course for the practitioners you’ve set up earlier.

If you don’t wish to open a certain number of days ahead but instead wish to select specific days or parts of specific days, you can do this inside your calendar. 

Next, specify if website visitors will get the option to choose their own physician for the particular service. If this is not selected the system will automatically distribute the patient to a physician.

It’s advisable to set up a realistic minimum delay (in hours) between an online booked appointment and the time at the moment of booking. This will prevent very sudden changes to your calendar.

Now you will need to choose which way you wish to approve online bookings.

  1. The first method is full manual. This will need a manual approval for each booking.

  2. The second method is hybrid. When the patient provides matching information as is available in your database, the appointment will be approved without any intervention. If the information does not resemble the available information, manual approving will be necessary.

  3. The last option is fully automatic. This will automatically approve appointments of new patients as well as existing patients if the info matches. 

Please download and review the PDF scheme (online scheduling patient matching) for a full explanation of the 3 available settings.

Finally,  edit the texts you wish to show visitors online before starting the booking procedure and after finishing the booking procedure.

Widget

Implementing (or integrating) the online calendar to your website is possible as an iframe or overlay.

To add the scheduling widget to your website click the ‘generate on-online booking links’ button at the bottom of the page. Please make sure you’ve activated SMS texts for your account. 

Important: If SMS texts is not activated the button will not be visible.

Now select how you want to integrate the scheduler in your website. You have four options:

  • Link

  • Button

  • Floating button

  • Frame

The link can be used on your website, between your regular texts. It is also possible to have a URL which can be used in email messages, social media messages etc.

When selecting a button, choose how you wish to open the scheduler, as an overlay or as a new tab. Next, set the button specifics and copy the code.

Note: If you wish to make a button for the scheduler in your own style, that’s possible (with CSS knowledge). It’s recommended to start with the HTML code for a link and adapt that for your own site.

If you need more help, please contact your web developer to support you with the installation.

# add online booking treatment

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