I've been using this feature since it came out, and I've noticed a few reoccuring issues with it. I want to preface all of this with a few things:
- My clients are smart, can generally figure things out, and are generally pretty adaptable to new processes and things like that.
- I don't know if any of this is impacted by the layout of my website, but I don't think that's the case.
- I have worked through the flow myself, and I can see why my customers get confused or have issues.
All that being said, I feel like the way this works is a bit clunky. I have clients who think they are booking an appointment, but actually just join the waitlist instead... even clients who have booked many appointments with me. The way the button shows up, it looks like it's just part of the booking process. The "Don't see your preference?" font is exactly the same as the other options above it, and it's not separated from the booking flow at all.
I also wish there was a way to customize this. My hours are 11-5 M-F. I get people joining the waitlist all the time, requesting Saturdays, or hours after that, and sometimes they are new clients. Obviously there will never be an opening at that time, so unless I make it a point to check the waitlist for these things and reach out to the client, they would never know. And there is no indication on the page they need to fill out about my hours or anything.
The last thing is, it would be nice if they could select multiple services. Sometimes it's clients (tattoo clients) that are wanting work done on a bigger piece, and they could really come in for anywhere from 2-6 hours. The only way they can get on the waitlist with this is if they submit an entire entry for each separate thing (2 hour session, 3 hour session, 4 hour session, etc.).
Before the waitlist on square was a thing, I had a google sheet that people could sign up on, and it asked all the details I needed, like if this was for a new session or if they were hoping to move up an already scheduled session, and things like that. The ONLY benefit to using the square waitlist is that it notifies them automatically of openings. But I did have a lot more people signing up for the waitlist when I did the google sheet, because I feel like it was a lot more prominant. I feel like I'm losing out on a lot of new potential clients because of the way this is set up.
