In this article, you'll learn how to turn on online booking so customers can pick a time without calling you. You get fewer phone calls and less back-and-forth, and the time they pick lands on your CRM calendar.
Online booking has two parts, and each is switched on in a different place:
- The booking page on your website. You turn it on in your Review Monster dashboard, not in the CRM.
- Online booking in the CRM. This is a Settings page with its own switch, Let customers schedule online. It lets a customer pick a time right after approving an estimate, and it unlocks the booking form you can paste into a website we didn't build.
You don't need to switch anything on in Features for either one.
Turn on the booking page on your website
The booking page only works on a website we host for you. If your site isn't live yet, the Scheduling page says so, and you'll manage booking there once it is.
To open the Scheduling page:
- In your Review Monster dashboard menu, click Website.
- Click Scheduling.
You'll see three choices:
- Off: no booking page on your website.
- Use your own CRM's booking page: if you already book jobs in another system, paste its booking link into Booking page link. The link has to start with https://.
- Use your Review Monster CRM: customers pick from your real availability, and the job lands on your CRM calendar the moment they book.
To book customers straight onto your CRM calendar:
- Click Use your Review Monster CRM.
- Work through the sections that open below it: When customers can book, Appointment slots, New bookings are…, What the form asks for, Message to the customer and Who hears about new bookings.
- Click Save changes. The button only wakes up once you've changed something, and Saved shows beside it when it's done.
After you save, the top of the page reads "Your booking page is live at", followed by your domain and /book. That's the page your customers use, and a Book Online link appears in your website's menu. If you have microsites, they follow whatever you picked here.
Turn on online booking in the CRM
The CRM's Online booking page is where the switch for estimates lives. Business hours come from your Schedule settings.
To open Online booking on the web:
- At the bottom of the CRM menu, click the gear (Settings).
- Under Phone & booking, click Online booking.
To turn it on:
- Tick Let customers schedule online.
- Check Appointment length, Bookings per time slot, Advance notice (hours), Booking window (days) and Buffer between bookings (min) under Availability.
- Under New bookings are…, pick Scheduled instantly or Requests you approve.
- Under Messaging, fill in Text the customer after booking, Notify the office by text and Notify the office by email.
- Click Save settings. Saved appears next to the button.
The phone app has the same page. Open the menu, tap the gear at the bottom, then tap Online booking under Phone & booking. On a phone, whether in the app or on the web, it's a switch instead of a checkbox, and the button is still Save settings.
Put the booking form on a website we didn't build
If someone else hosts your site, you can still take bookings on it. The CRM gives you a snippet to paste in, the same way you'd add a video. This page is on the web only, not in the phone app.
To get the code:
- Click the gear (Settings), then under Phone & booking click Website forms.
- Pick a Button color if you want the form to match your site.
- In the Online booking card, click Copy.
- Paste the code into your website where you want the form. Open preview shows you what visitors will see.
The card only shows the code once Let customers schedule online is on. Until then it tells you to turn on online booking first in Settings › Online booking.
Share your booking link
If we host your site, your booking link is your domain followed by /book. Paste it into your Facebook or Instagram profile, a post or a text to a customer. There's no separate link for social pages.