Customer View Overview

• LAST UPDATE: 1/10/2018

• PRICING TIER: All

• APPOINTMENT VERSION: Single & Multiple 

What is the Customer View?

The Customer View is the webpage you can distribute to Customers to allow them to schedule their own Appointments and Events. To access the Customer View from Site Administration of your account, hover over the Customer View link at the top right corner of your account, then click on the Preview link. On the following page, you see the website link to the Customer View for the current Location.

The URL (displayed in the yellow bar) will be the website address you distribute to your Customers through email or add to your website (you can also create a Book Now button) for self-service scheduling purposes.

If your business does not have external Customers that would create Appointments with you or your Staff Members, you may still use the scheduling system as an internal or administrative application (Site Administration) without ever using the Customer View interface.

While the Customer View and Site Administration are displayed separately, preferences and pages in Site Administration are used to control the view and functionality that your Customers will see when scheduling Appointments. In this article, we'll cover the key sections in Site Administration that for customizing the Customer View:

• Customer View Settings
• Branding
• Customizing Text
• Other Configuration Options

In addition, how your application is set up with Appointments, Staff Members, Services and other application-specific settings will affect the ultimate version that is displayed to your customers on the Customer View.

To start, visit the Settings tab and then click the Customer View page. Your first task should be to read through and decide which preferences you would like to apply to your online scheduling system. As you explore these preferences, please note that you can check on the effects of changes by directly visiting the Preview Customer View link at any time.

NOTE: The Customer View URL is not publicly available until you add it to your website, emails or other marketing materials. Therefore, setup can be completed before your Customers ever access the self-service application.

Customer View Settings

Start Time Display Options

The first decision (Customer View preference #1) you'll want to make is the display of start times. Once a Customer has selected a Service, Staff Member, Date or other Appointment details from the drop-down fields, the Customer will be offered a list of available start times for their Appointment. You can choose to display times in either a "calendar" or "line" style. See the images below for an example of each style. 

Calendar Style

Line-Item Style

 

Customer Login Options

The Customer View has two options for "when" in the scheduling process your Customers will login or register. The default option requires your Customers to either register or login prior to starting any Appointment booking activities. This provides you with the most security for your system because Customers cannot review information about your schedules without first logging in or registering.

However, if you want to allow users to check out the availability of Services or Staff Members, change preference #3, "Require customers to log in before being able to make appointments.", to "No." With this setting, users will not be required to register (first time visitors) or log in (returning Customers) prior to reviewing your Appointment schedules. Customers will be able to create their Appointment (select a Staff Member, Service, Date and Time) prior to being prompted to login or register. Please take a few minutes to review your login format options to determine which login format option better suits your application.

Customer Registration

You have control over the information you will require your Customers to enter when registering with your system to schedule an Appointment. To access and review the default settings for Customer profiles, click on the Settings tab, then click on the Customer Fields/Terms page on the left under Preferences. The column marked "Customer View Registration" controls the fields that appear to your Customers on the Customer View. The two other columns control required fields when scheduling Appointments from Site Administration, either from the Customers tab or directly from the Appointments calendar.

Note: You can change the display name for these fields to personalize for your application.

Service Descriptions or Staff Member Profiles

You may offer a lot of Services for which you Customers can book an Appointment. It may be helpful for your Customers to review a description of each Service so that they are able to choose the right Service. Additionally, you may also want to promote your Staff Members by sharing a biography or profile. These customizations can help with the personalization and experience of your Customers when booking Appointments.

While on the Customer View preferences page, check the following options:

• Show the staff member profile under the Staff Member drop down.
  • For SAPTS accounts, this is #38
  • For MAPTS accounts, this is #40
• Show the service description under the Service drop down.
  • For SAPTS accounts, this is #39
  • For MAPTS accounts, this is #41

These settings are initially off, but you may wish to enable by clicking on the Yes option. Any information entered into the Service Description or the Staff Member Profile fields will then be displayed to your Customers.

Branding

The header of your Customer View page can be changed to adhere to your company branding or  to match your website. Select the Layout tab to access the tools used to customize the Customer View Header. Within the Layout section you can choose one of the following options:

• Customer View Header - Text display of your Company Name and other information you want to offer (tagline, address) and colors.
• Customer View Logo - Company logo or image display, through file upload.
• Custom Header - Advanced customization of the header using the WYSIWYG Web Editor. 

Customizing Text

You may find that you want to provide instructions or other information to your Customers. To see the areas of the Customer View where you can display customized text information, visit the Pages/Text tab from Site Administration. 

Each of the text options on this page define where the customized information will display. You may not need to customize or adjust all of these areas, so review each item to determine which items to edit.

For example, if you want to edit the text that displays on the Welcome page, click on the the Appointments link.

For a comprehensive description of all the text page options available to you on the Customer View, read the Pages/Text Overview article.

Other Configuration Options

Waiting List

Another option to review is whether to allow your Customers to place themselves on a waiting list. The waiting list functionality is controlled by preferences on the Waiting List page under the Settings tab. While Customers can select the desired Service or Staff Member, the waiting list does not tie into the scheduling system time slots. Instead, it simply places Customer on an overall waiting list. For more information, you may read the article about the Waiting List.

Other Customer View options

Please review the other Customer View preferences carefully to determine the set up that works best for your business and your Customers. Other options include displaying costs or durations for Services to your Customers, asking for the number of people attending the Appointment, how much time before an Appointment's date and time your Customer may cancel, and more.