How to get started
If you haven't already joined Start Booking, start by selecting a plan. After signing up, you’ll land on the app’s dashboard. This provides you with a high-level overview of your account. Once you’re there, follow the next simple steps to set up your Start Booking account.
Check Your Availability
Start Booking allows you to confirm and customize your availability. That way, you can allow customers to only book appointments during the times you want. Setting up your availability only takes a few minutes, and you can change it anytime. Visit the link below to review how to set your availability.
Learn: How to Set Availability
Add Services
Once you’ve confirmed when you’re available to accept appointments, review your services. You can find the Services page in the top navigation under Appointments. From there, you can create a new service you offer and customize its price, duration, and availability.
Learn: How to Create Services
TIP: If you offer multiple services, you can group your services into types to make it easier for customers to find the service they are looking for.
Add Classes
Services are structured as 1-1 appointments. Classes, on the other hand, involve multiple participants. These are great for fitness classes, group meetings, trainings, and other events. Visit the Classes page in the top navigation to customize classes you offer, including price, duration, and availability.
Learn:What Are Classes?
Add Customers
If you already have existing customers, navigate to the Customers section in the top navigation to manually add your existing customers. While this isn’t required, it provides you with the ability to add or migrate those customers and store their information. (If you don’t add your customers manually, don’t worry – they’ll automatically get created when they book their next appointment.)
Enable your Booking Channels
Booking channels are different online locations where your booking form can exist and your customers can book directly with you. If you have a WordPress website, we recommend enabling the WordPress channel. If you don’t have a WordPress website, we recommend using the Start Booking channel which is a micro-site that we host for you.
WordPress Booking Plugin
If you or your business have a WordPress website, we highly recommend adding the Start Booking WordPress booking plugin. It empowers your customers to easily view services, find available openings, and book directly with you.
The Start Booking WordPress booking plugin also makes keeping track of your customers even easier, since it prompts customers to create an account when making an appointment. Once their account is created, they never have to enter that information again.
Brand your Start Booking Account
Start Booking allows you to customize your calendar with your company logo and colors. That way, your online calendar blends seamlessly into your website.
Learn: How to Brand your Start Booking Account
Take Advantage of Special Business Plan Features
If you’re on the Start Booking Business Plan, set up individual staff accounts and designate bookable rooms.
Adding Users
Adding users allows each member of your staff to keep track of their appointments in one centralized place. It’s a great tool for keeping your entire team organized.
To add a user, navigate to the Users section in the top navigation and invite your staff to join via email. They’ll then be able to set up their own Start Booking account.
TIP: If you want your additional users to perform your services or classes, be sure to add them as providers for each service or class.
Adding Bookable Rooms
Adding bookable rooms to your account allows you to leverage physical locations within your office.
For example, if you run a spa that has four rooms available for a massage service, indicating your bookable rooms ensures that Start Booking will never double-book them. For a barbershop, these “rooms” could simply be the chairs your clients will use. When users are booking an appointment with you, Start Booking automatically checks the room availability and takes it into account so your operations keep running smoothly.
You’ll have the option to add bookable rooms on the Classes and Services pages.