Waitlist and booking rules

Whether it runs at all

The waitlist can be switched off for a branch entirely. Customers get a clear explanation rather than a form that fails, which is the right way to close for a refit.

Capacity

Cap how many people can be in line at once. Beyond the cap, the join page says the waitlist is full and asks them to check back — which is kinder than letting somebody join a queue you cannot work through before closing.

Both waiting and called visits count towards it, since both are still on the line.

Who may join

• Existing customers only — for membership businesses and private practices.
• One live registration per person — stops somebody holding two places.
• Only from nearby — requires the visitor to be within a set distance of the branch. Useful against somebody joining from home an hour away; it does need the customer to share their location.

These three need something only the visitor can supply, so they are checked when somebody submits rather than before the form is drawn.

What customers can do themselves

Each of these appears on the customer's status page when switched on: telling you they have arrived, telling you they are running late, confirming they are still coming, correcting their details, and leaving the line.

What they see

Whether the status page shows the number of people waiting, an estimated wait, or both. Showing a queue of twenty puts some customers off — which is either honest or costly depending on your business.

Two models

• Classic — takes the average gap between recent calls and multiplies by position, plus a buffer you set. It needs nothing configured and adapts to how busy you actually are, which makes it the right starting point.
• Intelligent — uses your service durations and how many visits your resources can handle at once. More precise when your durations are honest and your resources are modelled, and worse than classic when they are not.

The buffer applies to the classic model only; the intelligent one takes its timing from the durations themselves.

Ranges

Showing “20–30 minutes” rather than “25 minutes” is generally the better choice. A single number reads as a promise, and a customer who is called at twenty-eight minutes feels let down by a promise you never quite made.

The booking window

How soon from now, and how far ahead, somebody can book. A service can be stricter than this; nothing can be looser.

How many at once

A location-level cap on simultaneous bookings, for businesses that do not model resources. Where you do use resources, they are the real constraint and this is a backstop.

Approval

Bookings can arrive needing your approval rather than being confirmed outright. This is right where you need to check something first, and friction everywhere else — an unconfirmed booking is a customer who does not yet know whether they have an appointment.

Reminders

On by default, a day ahead. A day is late enough to be remembered and early enough that a cancelled slot can be re-sold. This is the cheapest no-show reduction available to you.

Limits per customer

Cap how many bookings one person can hold in a period, for businesses where a handful of customers would otherwise take the whole diary.

What customers can do themselves

Rescheduling, cancelling, confirming, telling you they have arrived or are running late, and correcting their details. Rescheduling and cancelling are the two worth allowing: a customer who can move their own appointment does not become a no-show, and a slot given back is a slot you can sell.