Even if you don't know the word 'widget,' you may have seen it on various websites. It is a particular booking form that includes information about current prices, services description, and online information about specialist's availability.
How the widget works
An online appointment is a handy tool for business automation. Customers can easily book your service 24/7, even outside your company's work hours or when the phone is unavailable. The widget will also suggest additional services and request contact information from the client.
Booking in a few clicks
Customers can access the booking widget via a link on your social media or your website. They select the location, service, specialist, and time. Notifications are sent to the client and the specialist after booking, with reminders before the service.
The website on the EasyWeek platform with connected widget looks this way:
Two types: Classic and Unit
In addition to the Classic widget shown above, the Unit widget is also available. It is designed to meet the needs of space or property rental companies. It allows customers to easily make group bookings and order extended service sessions in a single action.
Key features of the Unit widget:
- The ability to select multiple time slots in a single booking makes reserving spaces like photo studios for several hours convenient.
- Customers can reserve multiple items simultaneously, such as multiple VR zones for a group of players.
- No staff selection is required, as service providers are automatically assigned from those associated with the service.
- Service descriptions include enlarged images, allowing customers to focus on the item they are booking.
To switch the widget type, access Settings – Administration – Widget:
Customization
The widget behavior and its elements can be set up for you individually.
Tab settings
You control the appointment intervals, step order, appearance, and custom fields. Go to Settings – Booking or Settings – Widget to manage these setups.
Let's take a look at this in more detail.
Setting up slots
You can set up the time intervals for each service in different aspects. For example, there is an option for detailing a starting time. A slicing step for booking can be every 10 minutes or every 3 hours. You can also tie it to the service duration.
The End time of slots, as well as Already booked slots, makes the online calendar more informative:
The other handy feature is a minimal time before the service begins when a client can make an appointment. If you can't serve last-minute clients, set an interval before a meeting. It is allowed to set gaps from 15 minutes up to 24 hours for each service.
You can set up a booking limit per client to prevent evil actions from concurrent companies. It can be a frequency of one appointment per hour or up to one per week.
Step order
Depending on the company, the online appointment process may look different. You can, for example, manage specialist choices. The system offers automatic assigning or manual selection.
Moreover, you can swap the specialist selection and the services picking tabs. Set the initial page in the Settings – Widget.
Appearance
The customization options for the widget do not end here. You can adjust its style to match your brand's colors or repaint it to your taste. To do this, go to Settings – Colors. Here you can:
- Choose a color through its HEX code or from the palette.
- Select an accent color: the color of the floating "Online Booking" button and other key elements.
- Several background pattern options are available.
- The bottom menu can be shown or hidden.
Requested data
To prevent anonymous bookings, data input fields are used in the last step. By default, name and phone are requested:
You determine which client data will be collected during the booking process. There is also an option to create custom attributes and a booking form constructor – more details in this article.
Embedding the widget
Using the widget within a site provided by the EasyWeek platform is the most straightforward and accessible method. You can use more advanced integration and embed our widget on your website.
We offer several ways to embed a handy widget on your website, more about this in this material.