Introduction to Meevo's Online Booking

Meevo's Online Booking is a client-facing website that allows clients to book appointments, purchase gift certificates, update personal information, and manage notification settings themselves using a web browser on a computer or mobile device.

Note: Meevo's client-facing Online Booking website adheres to accessibility standards put forth in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Standards for Accessible Design and complies with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0.

How do I route clients to my Online Booking site?

Meevo's Online Booking is specifically designed to be embedded within a website, but you can also simply provide a URL to clients if you wish to offer OB through a separate site.

By embedding within a website (recommended)

Do-it-yourself Web developers or website builders should be able to embed Online Booking within your site without difficulty. Here are some general guidelines around embedding OB within an existing site:

Do not pad the sides of the embedded OB site: Padding may cause OB's container to shrink horizontally. As the embedding gets more thin, it can introduce issues into how things are displayed in OB. This can be especially apparent on mobile devices. Also consider removing elements such as sidebars or anything else that might cause OB to take up less horizontal space on mobile.
Reduce the amount of padding above and below the embedded OB site: Padding introduced above and below the site (for example padding introduced via headers or footers) can lead to visual issues. Make an effort to minimize any unnecessary padding.
Size heights/widths dynamically by device size: The height of the embedded iFrame should be dynamic with respect to the device size you are using. For example, the height should be less for smaller mobile sizes, while it should be larger for bigger mobile sizes, tablets, and desktop views. Having the height of the iFrame match the height of the device it is being displayed from will improve the look and behavior of the embedded site. Additionally, for mobile specifically, it's advised that the embedded site take up the full width of the device screen to reduce the horizontal squishing (as mentioned in point 1 above).
Take the announcement banner out of OB: Visually, it's a much cleaner look to present a banner through your business site rather than a banner within the embedded OB site.

By providing a link

Go to Online Booking Settings. At the top of the form, your Online Booking website URL appears in read-only format. You can copy that URL and paste it in a communication to a client, such as through Meevo Messenger, or even place a link on your business website.

Tip: Multi-locations should read the FAQ towards the bottom of this article for details on how to direct clients to a specific location's OB site.

How does Online Booking integrate with Meevo?

Client profiles: When a client creates an Online Booking login account, they enter their name and email address. Meevo checks client profiles at your business to see if that email address is already being used. If it is not, Meevo creates the client profile using the information provided during OB registration, and appointments made through OB are linked to the new client profile. If the email is already being used in a profile, no changes are made to the profile, and appointments made through OB are linked to the existing client profile.
Cards on file: If a client is logged into OB and that client has a card on file in their Meevo profile, then that client can use their card on file to complete the purchase. Clients can add and remove cards on file through OB (including membership cards on file).
Notification opt-ins: Clients can define their appointment notification preferences (including opting into text messages) as well as opting into marketing communications:
Wait List: If a client decides to add themselves to the Wait List via Online Booking, they will be able to set specific notification options for this Wait List entry, depending on their opt-in status:
- If the client is already opted-in for text messaging, they can choose to receive texts for this specific Wait List entry.
- If the client is opted-out for text messaging, they can choose to receive an opt-in message and notifications.
- If the client does not have a phone number on their profile, they will have the option to add their phone number, opt-in, and receive notifications.
Yield Management and Memberships: When a client is logged into OB, Online Booking will display Yield Management / membership pricing, same as you would see in the Meevo register.

How do Online Booking and eGift interact?

If your business uses both Online Booking and eGift, a client who registers for one will automatically be registered for the other using the same username and password. It is important for you to communicate this to the client. Otherwise, the client may run into issues if attempting to register with an email address that is already being used.

Also, it's important to note that if a client updates their profile information in Online Booking or eGift (such as a home address), the profile information is updated across all three platforms: Meevo, Online Booking, and eGift.

What can a client do through Online Booking?

Note: We highly recommend periodically reviewing the options available in Online Booking Settings, as we often update and add new functionality to Online Booking. Be sure to review our Release Notes with each release to keep up with what's available in Online Booking.

Using Online Booking, a client can:

Book a service, including service add-ons.
Reschedule an appointment (if Allow clients to reschedule their appointment(s) is enabled in Online Booking Settings).
Cancel a booked appointment (if Allow Online Appointment Cancellation is enabled in Online Booking Settings). There are also settings that define when a client can cancel (that is, how close to the appointment start time they will be allowed to cancel).
Opt into or out of appointment and marketing notifications.
Add or edit phone numbers for notifications purposes.
Check gift card and point balances.
Manage client profile card on file and/or membership card on file.
View their service history (you can hide pricing when viewing history if Display Prices in My History is disabled in Online Booking Settings).
Edit their email address via My Account > Profile, which will also update the client's email address in Meevo and eGift (see below for details on this).
Select links to open your business's Social Media sites (if Social Media Links are configured in Business Information).
Add themselves to the Wait List if no openings are found (if Allow clients to add themselves to Wait List is enabled in Online Booking Settings).

Do clients have to log into OB to view available openings?

That's up to you! The Online Booking Settings option Initial Login Required determines if clients must log in before they can view openings.

Important: To ensure you adhere to Google's policies, we recommend turning the Online Booking setting Initial Login Required OFF in Online Booking Settings when using this integration. If the Initial Login Required option is on, Meevo will ignore that login setting for clients who arrive at Online Booking via Google's Book Online button.

Is there an option to restrict NEW clients from booking online?

Yes! The Online Booking Settings option All new clients can access Online Booking determines whether new clients are able to book online immediately after signing up and creating a profile.

Can clients book a resource-only service that does not require an employee?

Yes! By configuring a resource-only service that does not require an employee, clients can book the service in the resource. The appointment will appear in Meevo in the Appointment Book's Resource View with an "unassigned" employee.

I am a multi-location business; how do clients find a specific location in OB?

Multi-location businesses have two options for routing clients to a specific location's Online Booking:

If your business website lists your locations, you can make each location a link to their OB site. To get a location-specific URL, go to Online Booking Settings from within the location in Meevo and copy the location-specific URL. Do this for each location.
If your business website does not offer that kind of navigation, you can use the "multi-location booking URL." This is the URL provided in Central Office Online Booking Settings.

With the multi-location URL, clients will arrive at a Location "hub" where the first step is to select a location. Clients can search for a location by city, state, or ZIP when they arrive at the Central Office OB site.

How does Online Booking know which openings to offer?

To put it simply, the Scan For Opening engine takes into account many factors, such as employee schedule, resource availability, equipment availability, employee booking restrictions, employee masking, client-specific timing, and more to offer specific openings for the client to select from. Once the openings are found, Scan provides a randomized selection of employees and shows their openings. A rescan of the same date range may result in different randomized employee openings.