Revision as of 13:28, 28 February 2017

Custom Features are additional functionalities of the system that will help you to improve your business. Please check the list of Custom Features below along with their descriptions and instructions how to use.

Accept Payments

Accept Payments Custom Feature allows you to accept payments from your clients online. You can set the price for your service and when your clients make a booking, they will be redirected to the payment page. You can accept payments via Paypal, Zooz, Skrill, Stripe, LiqPay, Bitcoins and Borgun.

How to use

1. Enable Accept Payments Custom Feature in the Custom Feature section.

2. In Custom Feature Settings choose payment processor and fill in the necessary details.

2.1 (Optional) set your payment timeout in the settings of Custom Feature, we recommend not less than 10-20 minutes.

2.2 (Optional) In the settings of Custom Feature you can make payment after booking mandatory or optional by setting Allow Delay payment (client will pay on place) to No or Yes.

3. In Manage//Services//Pencil icon on the Service//Service price set the price of your service.

How Accept Payments Custom Feature works: 1. Client goes through the booking process and presses "Book Now" at the end.; 2. He is directed to payment system and unconfirmed booking appears in the admin calendar with red mark "not paid" to reserve this time so that no other person can accidentally book the same slot and there were no double bookings.

3. After that, client has 2 options:

3.1. pay and the payment processor will send us confirmation that client paid and we will approve it on our side (mark in calendar will become Green).

3.2. do not finish paying, client is directed to payment system, but then he closes the page, closes the browser, or simply leaves it open without any actions for a long period of time. In this case, the system will wait until timeout you set up in the settings of Accept payments Custom Feature will end and will cancel the non-paid booking. Emails to client and admin won't be sent about the timed out bookings because they were never finished. Same happens if the client paid, but paid later than timeout. In this case, if you receive a notification from PayPal/Stripe that client paid for a booking but too late, you can go to Reports//Payment transactions and approve this booking manually.

What is "Allow delay payment" option

When your clients are transferred to the payment page after "Details" tab, they usually have several options: your payment processor (1 or several) and "Pay Later". "Pay Later" means that client will pay right on the place when he/she arrives to the appointment. In your Dashboard, when you click on appointment, such booking in the field "service price" will have remark (Pay Later). If you want to disable "Pay later" option, choose "No" for "Allow delay payment" in the settings of Accept Payments Custom Feature.

How to change the currency for payments

You can change the currency in the settings of Accept Payments Custom Feature and in Manage//Services//pencil icon on the Service//Service price//Currency.
Please note: some payment processors do not support all currencies. Before settings the currency, check if the selected payment processor supports it.

How to add tax to services

Yes, you can set it in the settings of Accept payments Custom Feature in the field "Sales tax".

How to set the confirmation fee, not the whole price for the service: 1. Enable "Accept Payments" Custom Feature in the the Custom Feature section.; 2. Choose payment processor and fill in the necessary details.; 3. In Manage//Services//pencil icon on the Service//Service price set the price of your service (the confirmation fee you want to receive). In the description of the service write actual price.

Can I use other payment processor not listed in the Accept Payments Custom Feature?

Yes, please read this article and if you have a developer who can help you write the necessary code, we will gladly add it to our system.

Additional Fields

Additional Fields Custom Feature allows you to request more information from your clients on the booking page. You can ask several questions and they can be answered in many types of fields, such as text lines, drop-downs, text boxes etc.

How to use: 1. Enable Additional Fields Custom Feature in the Custom Feature section//Adding more to the booking page.

2. Press "Add new field" button in the settings of Custom Feature.

3. In the field "Title" write the question you want your clients to answer. For example: Age, preferences, Do you have any health problems?, etc.

4. Choose the field type:

digits - allows entering only numbers. Useful when you need to know the age, height or any other information that will require only digits.

text - usually used for short answers

text area - use this type of filed if you expect lengthy explanations from your clients

checkbox - creates a checkbox that clients should either check or leave unchecked. Useful for questions that require binary answer, for example "I will need additional services".

select - creates a drop down list with the ability to choose only 1 option. In order to create this field, you will need to enter comma separated list of values in the field "values". Example: Green, Red, Black, Blue. Also enter the Default value that will be assigned if nothing is chosen from the list.

5. Make it rather obligatory or not with the help of checkbox "make not obligatory".

6. If you wish to relate fields with certain services, click on the third green icon near the field (it is after you already created the field) and check the boxes near corresponding services.

7. If you want to include additional fields information to email templates, find the additional fields variables and add them to templates in Configuration//General Settings//Email and SMS settings//Templates.

Any Employee Selector

You can use this Custom Feature to add a service provider called "Any provider", and if the client chooses this provider, all times of available providers will show.

You can also use this Custom Feature to:

Hide employee step on the booking page
Auto allocate any available provider for selected service randomly

This way the client only chooses the service and the time so it simplifies the booking process.

API

With the help of this Custom Feature you can design your own solutions varying from simple widgets to multi-functional applications. Use it to authorize in Simplybook API with API key.

WordPress plugin

Joomla module

API documentation

API explorer

Appointment at Fixed Time

This Custom Feature allows advanced flexibility to your appointment start times. You can also define different time start for each separate service. Custom Feature can be used to define exact hour and/or minutes in an hour where your services are available (e.g. 10.00, 14.30, 16.25). It can be used to set the start hour and then choose fixed or multiple interval in minutes when your services are available (e.g. multiple of 15 min 10.00, 10.15, 10.30, 10.45).

Approve Bookings

Approve Bookings Custom Feature is essential if you need to look at customers specifically before you can approve their booking. It allows you to check information given by clients before you accept their bookings. You can find all new bookings in "Pending" tab in your calendar. When your clients book an appointment, at the end they will see a notice that confirmation email will be sent when their booking is approved.

Please note! If you have Accept Payments Custom Feature enabled, paid bookings will be approved automatically, only free services and bookings with "Pay Later" option can be approved/rejected.

Book Soon Notification System

Make sure your clients come again! This Custom Feature will remind your clients to come back as you can send them a message x-number of days after their last appointment. For example, you can compose your own message and send a reminder always 30 days after an appointment.

How to use Book Soon notification Custom Feature.: 1. Enable Custom Feature.; 2. In the settings press "Add new".; 3. Configure email and /or sms notifications by writing subject and the text (you can insert variables in your message).; 4. In the field "Book soon notifications" name this notification to distinguish it from other notifications you may want to create in future.; 5. Set notification delay days (number of days after the appointment when notification should be sent); 6. Select service and provider for which the notification will be applied to (optional).

Calendar Sync

Calendar Sync Custom Feature is used for 2-way synchronization with Google and Outlook calendars. You can export bookings from SimplyBook to Google or Outlook calendars and also block times occupied by Google/Outlook Calendar event in your SimplyBook dashboard.

How to use: 1. Enable Calendar Sync Custom Feature in the Custom Feature section.; 2. Click on "Add new calendar" in its Settings and connect Google or Outlook account.; 3. Select calendar.; 4. Press "export" to export your old bookings to Google or Outlook calendar (optional); 5. Check the box "sync busy time" if you want to block times in the simplybook dashboard occupied by Google/Outlook Calendar events.; 6. All Google/Outlook calendar events will block time in SimplyBook only in Service Provider view in calendar (because you connect calendar to provider). Nothing will be visible in Day and Week view because those views are for all providers (if you have several providers, it would be impossible to show all Google/Outlook events in 1 calendar).

Simplybook doesn’t sync with Google/Outlook calendar

Possible reasons:

1. please, notice that synchronization can take up to 10 mins;

2. if Google/Outlook updates calendar app, press “Export” button again to sync;

3. wrong calendar was chosen (in Custom Features//Calendar Sync//Settings//Select calendar);

4. Google calendar events should be marked as “busy” for 2-way synchronization, Outlook calendar events should not be marked as "free" to block times on the booking page.

SimplyBook.me event is listed twice in Google calendar

It can be because of the Google calendar setting to automatically add events from your emails. Therefore, if you receive confirmation emails with booking details, Google automatically adds them to your calendar. To turn off this option: click Settings icon in the top right corner of Google calendar//Settings//Automatically add invitations to my calendar//No.

Cancellation Policy

You can restrict time when clients can cancel appointments with the help of Cancellation Policy Custom Feature. Simply set the number of hours before appointment when cancellation is possible or prohibit cancellations at all. If client tries to cancel an appointment beyond the limit, he/she will see a warning notice that the booking cannot be cancelled.

Clean History

Use this Custom Feature to clean all old bookings from the system. You can set when the bookings should be deleted and then the Custom Feature will take care of never having older bookings on record than according to your definition. Please use with care as we can not get deleted bookings back for you!

Client Login

Use this Custom Feature to allow clients to register online, quickly make bookings and see their booking history. You can block and unblock clients from making bookings on your booking page and also turn off or on the ability for clients to register an account. If you close for client registrations, only clients you have registered and granted access can make bookings.

Click on "Settings" button to enable/disable sign up on the booking page and set notification templates about creating new user, password reset and change.

To have bookings only from clients that already exist in the system please uncheck the box “Allow clients to sign up on site” If it is checked anyone will be able to sign up and make a booking.

To block/unblock some clients from booking please go to Manage//Clients and click on “Block” or “Unblock” buttons there.

Please note! If you block the client he/she will not receive information about your promotions as well.

If you need to merge clients please follow these instructions:.

1) Go to Manage//Clients, and click on "Merge clients" at the top.

2) Then check the boxes with necessary clients and click on "Merge"

Contact Widget

Enable this Custom Feature if you need to add Book and Contact widget to your own website. With this Custom Feature, your clients will be able to book directly from your website and also send you a contact with detailed information. See the instructions how to add booking widget to your website

Custom CSS

Make your own booking interface with this CSS Custom Feature. It allows to change the styles of different elements, hide them, change fonts, colors, font-sizes, etc. If you know CSS coding, please use tools of browser to find identifiers of elements and write rules in the settings of Custom Feature, if you have no deep knowledge of CSS, please contact support and they will try to find the best solution for you.

Please note! Custom CSS does not work with new themes.

See most common requests how to remove elements with CSS here (phone, email fields, social tabs, our time, etc)

Daily Report

Every morning this Custom Feature will send you an updated status of all bookings for the day. You will also receive a list with your active bookings for the upcoming week. In the settings of this Custom Feature you can decide whether you want to include today's new bookings, today's cancelled bookings, decide the period for upcoming bookings like 1 day, 3, 7, 14, 21, 30 days and set notification time.

Facebook Client Info

The Facebook Custom Feature will simplify your life and your customer's life. They can log in and make appointments with their Facebook profile. On top of that it allows you to see their Facebook profile photo in your dashboard so you will recognize the person when he/she walks in. Please note, that services may be visible on his/her timeline.

Flexible Notifications

The Flexible Notifications Custom Feature allows you to customize messages per service, per provider or using a combination of services and providers. It means that certain service can have a message different from the general outgoing reminder message for other services. A certain provider may also want to include different instructions for clients who book a certain service. The Flexible Notifications Custom Feature gives you all the flexibility that you may need in such instances!

How to use

1. Go to Custom Features//Booking related section and find Flexible Notifications Custom Feature//press "enable".

2. In the settings of Flexible Notifications Custom Feature, press "new flexible template settings".

3. In the new template select services to apply to bookings and/or select providers to apply to bookings. Then select notification type to add/change template and edit the text. Please use variables on the right to include to your templates if necessary.

Google Adwords and Analytics

Use the Google Analytics Custom Feature to see how many customers visit your site both on an everyday basis and during promotion campaigns. Use the adwords analytics to count how many actually book after clicking an adwords advertisement.

The Google analytics id can be found in your Google analytics accounts. Go to Analytics home, you will see a list of your sites, and on the right side of the site name, there is your analytics number.

It should be in the format: UA-XXXXXXXX-X Where XXXXXXX-X is some number.

An example of this id would be: UA-70295750-1

To start tracking visitors, you only need to set your analytics account id. However to track results of an adwords campaign you need to set up an adwords campaign conversion id and insert this id into the SimplyBook.me Custom Feature.

Sign in to your AdWords account at https://adwords.google.com.

1. Click Tools

2. Select Conversions

3. Click + to create conversions and Select Website conversions.

4. Set it up, and Save.

When you save, you will see a code like:

/* <![CDATA[ */

var google_conversion_id = 1020314917; <----- This line shows the conversion code to insert into the Custom Feature settings.

var google_conversion_language = "en";

var google_conversion_format = "3";

var google_conversion_color = "ffffff";

var google_conversion_label = "O0bzCMrgj2sQpYrD5gM";

var google_remarketing_only = false;

/* ]]> */

Google conversion value value is the conversion value that you give to a client that hits your target. It can for example be set as 20 for $20 per conversion if the average price of your service is $20. We set it default to 1, which could mean $1 value per conversion but you should change this to the right value for you.

Group Bookings

Group bookings is useful when you need your customers to be able to book appointment or reservation for many individuals at the same time. This Custom Feature creates a drop-down menu with the number of participants in the group. With this Custom Feature you can also use payment Custom Feature at the same time so that the total payment for all participants will be paid in one payment at time of check-out even though only the group leader/organizer is registered.

How to use: 1. Make sure that the Service provider is set able to accept X many clients at same time. For this go Manage//Providers//Pencil icon on the service provider//How many clients can this provider serve at same time? and set the X number of clients.; 2. Activate Group Bookings Custom Feature, and in its settings you can specify how many people can be booked in same booking, by same client.

HIPAA

The personal information Custom Feature is designed to help SimplyBook.me users to protect their client's and patient's data. It does not replace user's own security procedures but enhances SimplyBook.me data security by using double authentication during login process for all user who access the system (users need to register their mobile phone number to receive authentication code SMS). This Custom Feature includes a “Timeout” setting which automatically logs user out to reduce the risk of unauthorized users accessing the system. The system blocks all access for SimplyBook support personnel further reducing access by unrelated people to the system. It is possible to further reduce exposure of personal information to unauthorized people by using the Delete History Custom Feature. This way old data gets deleted and is therefore not accessible. REMARK! This Custom Feature does NOT replace the SimplyBook.me user's own security controls which also need to be in place for client and patient data protection. Please refer to relevant documentation in your country and get assistance from qualified advisors in the field of client/patient data protection.

How to validate phone number

1. After you enabled HIPAA Custom Feature press "validate admin phone number" in the settings of Custom Feature.

2. You will be transferred to Users page. Click on edit option of the user, insert the phone and press "validate phone number".

3. You will receive sms with the code, enter the code into the filed and press "check code".

Please note, that [service] and [client] variables in notification templates do not work when this Custom Feature is enabled due to security reasons.

HTML Description Field for Events

Allows inserting HTML formatting (background and font color, bold, italic, underline, alignment and other HTML elements) for Service, Service Providers, Locations and Categories description fields.

Insights

This Custom Feature creates a variety of charts with key performance indicators in your new financial dashboard.

Providers availability, total bookings, payment per provider etc

Limit Bookings

This Custom Feature allows you to restrict booking quantity which can be booked at the same time. This Custom Feature is useful when your services require additional things like dental chair or room in the studio etc. When the booking limit is reached the corresponding time interval will looks like breaktime at the booking page (and in the admin interface if you haven't set to skip this restrictions for admin). It is possible to limit booking number at the same time generally, and also you can set certain limit for each service separately.

For example, you have 2 providers and 1 room and both of your providers are available at 10.00. 
Each of providers is set up to serve 1 person at a time and totally, 2 people can book service at 10.00. 
But you need to limit that number to 1 person, because only 1 room is available. You need to enable Limit Bookings Custom Feature and set it to 1. 
In such way, when someone books 10.00, this time will be closed for another provider.

Limit the number of bookings for certain service

If you have Limit bookings Custom Feature enabled, you can limit the number of clients for a certain service in Manage//Services//Pencil icon on the Service//How many bookings can be reserved at the same time for this service?

Mobile Application

This Custom Feature allows you to use our IOS app to manage bookings and to receive instant push notifications.

Multiple Bookings

Allows clients to book more than one service before they check-out and pay for all booking with one payment. This Custom Feature adds "Add more Bookings" button to the "Details" tab of the booking page. This Custom Feature allows clients to book several services on different time or day of the week.

News

Give your website a fresh life by managing news on your main page in our booking system.

Photo Gallery

With Photo Gallery Custom Feature you can upload the photos of your services to attract more clients. Simply browse photos and they will appear in the separate tab on your booking page.

Provider's Color Coding

Some users like to simplify the dashboard view by having providers with certain colors. With this Custom Feature, you can give each of your providers their own color so when you quickly glance over the dashboard, it can be easily seen what bookings belong to each provider.

Please note, if you use Status Custom Feature, it has higher priority than Provider's Color Coding Custom Feature. Therefore, colors of the booking statuses will be displayed.

How to use: 1. Enable Custom Feature; 2. In Manage//Providers//Pen icon//assign color to each provider to make them easily distinguished in the calendar.

Service Categories

With the help of this Custom Feature you can create categories and group your services to make it easier and faster for your clients to find the necessary service.

How to use

1. Enable Service Categories Custom Feature in the Custom Feature section//Adding more to booking page.

2. In Manage//Services//Add category create all necessary categories. Insert title, picture, description and assign services to category.

3. Click on "Manage" icon of the category to edit any information or connect services from the drop-down list.

Simply Smart Promotions

Send promotions to your clients with Simply Smart Promotions Custom Feature! Reward your clients for telling others about your promotions. You can decide both rewards and discounts. Use this to get more business all year long and especially during low season and promote your business. Customize your promotions with defined dates, messages and codes.

How to use.: 1. Enable Simply Smart Promotions Custom Feature.; 2. In left-side menu go to Promotions//New promotion and create new promotion

3. On the first step indicate:

your discount in %;
is this promotion related to specific service or all services;
who can claim the deal (all clients or new clients only);
how many times code can be used;
how many times each client can use promotion;
edit texts of your deal if necessary;
proceed to the next step.

4. On the second step decide whether you will offer reward for sharing your promotion. This step is very important because it can help you to easily get more clients.

write what reward you offer;
indicate the number of times client should share promotion to receive the reward;
how many times 1 client can claim the reward;
insert reward picture;
check "send email" if you want clients to receive email about being rewarded and change email if necessary;
adjust the texts of reward;
proceed to the next step.

5. On the third step enter the details of your campaign

change the promotion code if needed;
add campaign image;
add dates that clients can book;
add period when they can redeem the code;
set time limitation if needed;
proceed to the next step.

6. On the fourth step announce your promotion

get the link of the deal to share with your clients;
choose how to notify your clients, by email or sms (please change the text of email or sms (1 sms 70 symbols in unicode, 140 plain English text without special char.));
configure whom you will send the deal, select whether client booked/did not book, use filters by service, provider, dates;
select clients and send the promotion (or save it without sending).

SMTP

It allows you to use your own SMTP server so all email sent from the SimplyBook.me system on your behalf, comes from your own email address.
You can enable this Custom Feature in your Custom Feature section and set your SMTP server details in Custom Feature settings.
Remark that if you have a gmail address or g-suite email, you can send up to 1.000 emails per day through that address.

How to store a copy of outgoing emails in your Gmail:

1. You need to log into your Gmail or Google Apps email Settings and Click on the Forwarding/IMAP tab and scroll down to the IMAP Access section.

2. Please set the IMAP as enabled in order for emails to be properly copied to your sent folder.

For added security, you can setup double authentication for the email that you plan to use.

If you send more than 1.000 notifications/promotions per day, you can look at other smtp services like sendinblue.com, sendgrid.com, mailjet.com, or authsmtp.com.

Please check video tutorial here.

SSL

Make all client's connections with the server through a secure layer. This is a very important if given information is delicate.

Status

If you have a company with many providers, and a service desk accepting clients you can add status possibility to events to see the status. This is for example used to mark appointment with one status as "client has arrived", and then another as "Client has left and paid" whatever suits your needs.

Please note, if you use Provider's Color Coding Custom Feature, Status Custom Feature has higher priority than Provider's Color Coding Custom Feature. Therefore, colors of the booking statuses will be displayed.

How to use: 1. Activate Custom Feature in the Custom Feature section//Booking related.; 2. In the settings of Status Custom Feature Press "Add New Status"; 3. Insert "Title", "Description" and assign color to this status. If you press "is default", status will automatically apply to all new bookings.

Take Me Back Home

The Take Me Back Home Custom Feature, allows you to bring clients back to your home page or selected URL after a booking has been performed on the booking page. Clients can press a link or they will be brought back to your homepage after a few seconds by a redirect script.

How to use: 1. Enable Take Me Back Home Custom Feature in the Custom Feature section//Look and Feel.; 2. Insert the link where you want your clients to be redirected.; 3. Write a text for this link.; 4. Insert the link where you want your clients to be redirected (mobile version).; 5. Write a text for this link.; 6. Check or leave unchecked "Enable auto redirect to your site". If checked, it will redirect your clients automatically to the page you indicated in the "link to your website" filed in 10 seconds.; 7. Write auto redirect text that will be displayed in case the checkbox "Enable auto redirect to your site" is checked.

Terms and Conditions

If you want your business to be bulletproof then this Custom Feature is a MUST. Use it to create and manage terms & conditions for your company towards your clients. The text inserted in the Custom Feature will be displayed in the "Details" page above the "Book Now" button in the block of text "When you click on the button, you agree to simplybook.me terms & conditions and Company name terms & conditions".

Unit Location

Allows creating multiple locations and relating them with service providers.

How to use

1. Enable Unit Location Custom Feature in Custom Feature section//Adding more to booking page. 2. Add locations either in the settings of the Custom Feature or in Manage//Providers//Add location.

3. Click on "Manage" icon of the location and from the drop-down list select service providers to connect with location.
4. (Optional) In Settings // General settings // Email and SMS settings insert the following variables into your email templates:

[location] - value of field "Location name"

[location_address] - value of field "Location address"

[location_phone] - value of field "Location phone"

How to set schedule for location?

You can set individual schedule for the provider and then relate provider to the location. Thus working hours of the provider related to location will automatically apply to location.

1. To set individual schedule for provider go to Settings//Service providers//Working hours, there you can see on the right side a clock sign, just press it and you can set opening hours, break times, and special days for this specific employees. Just take care that opening hours of employees must be within opening hours of company.

2. To relate provider and location go to Settings//Service Providers//Service Providers//Manage locations and order, drag and drop providers to corresponding locations.

How can I relate service to location.

Locations can be related only to service providers, thus if you need to relate service to particular location, you need initially to relate service to service provider:

1. In Settings// Service providers//Connect services to service providers, drag and drop boxes with services to corresponding service providers.

2. Settings//Service Providers//Service Providers//Manage locations and order, drag and drop providers to corresponding locations.

Visitor Counter

Use Visitor Counter Custom Feature to get up-to-date information about visits to your booking website or to the page with your booking widget. This Custom Feature will help you to evaluate the visits and bookings and can help you to decide if you should do promotions to get more visitors and potential clients. You will see all this information in the main Dashboard of the SImplyBook.me system.

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 [[File: Accept-payments.png‎|left]]
 Accept Payments Custom Feature allows you to accept payments from your clients online. You can set the price for your service and when your clients make a booking, they will be redirected to the payment page.
-You can accept payments via PayPal, STRIPE, Bitcoins, Skrill, and Dwolla.
+You can accept payments via Paypal, Zooz, Skrill, Stripe, LiqPay, Bitcoins and Borgun.

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